The Updated, Essential Strobist Bookshelf

A great photo book (whether lighting or otherwise) is an amazing value. You get to rent someone else's brain for the price of a good dinner. And depending on who's brain you're renting and what you do with the info, the return on investment can be hundreds or even thousands of time what you invested.

Now more than ever, it is a wonderful time to be a lighting photographer. I have long maintained a book list on Strobist, but it has gotten out of date. Today I am correcting that with a tight list of books that I can absolutely recommend for photographers who want to learn.

The list includes just five books on lighting, a book on the interpersonal aspects of photography and a massive, magnum opus that is not even out yet. (But I've seen it!)

Read more »

Read More

How to Gel a Beauty Dish, v.2.0

One thing I have learned about light and lighting: there's always different—and often better—way to do something.

A few months ago we ran a piece on gelling various soft light modifiers, wherein I listed my go-to ways to color soft light. But someone in the comments offered a different way—a way better way—and I have been using it ever since. Here's what he suggested.

Read more »

Read More

Low Frequency, High Amplitude

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently about the next step in my weird, one-off career. And this tweet, by a man who I truly admire, summed up my thoughts in just four words.

As a photographer, you could hardly ask for better advice. I’m taking it to heart, both for myself and for Strobist.

Read more »

Read More

Chokra-and-Awe: Loren Wohl Blasts Through The Fog and Noise

On the face of it, music photographer Loren Wohl's backlit photos of performance artist Chokra are themselves a series of cool photos. But dig a little deeper and they are a textbook example of gaining access and building out your book.

And the latter is just as important—if not more so—as the former.

Read more »

Read More

Pentatonix' Daft Punk Video: Low Budget Meets Awesome Creativity

If you are one of the five people on the internet who have not yet seen the new video of Pentatonix covering Daft Punk this week, you're in for a treat.

And as cool as it is, dig a little deeper and it gets way better. This video is one percent budget and 99 percent pure talent and creativity — the latter of which will trump budget and scale every time.

Read more »

Read More

We All Screw Up. Don't Worry About It.

Look, no one is born a lighting genius. We all make mistakes. And we are all gonna make mistakes in the future.

And just to make you feel a little better about it, today I am gonna tell you about my stupidest moment as a lighting photographer.

So far.

Read more »

Read More