#LIGHT REFLECTOR PHOTOGRAPHY AMAZON HOW TO#

The first one I would think of is tin foil. The famous example would be the BigMac box that was used as a light modifier, but let’s be real and consider some everyday objects you can use as light modifiers. That’s just how seeing works: your eye catches the reflections from a surface and translates that. Everything we see interacts with light hence, it’s a light modifier. To highlight the importance of being able to work with one light, I spent a whole lesson on it in my lighting tutorial. Adding more lights sometimes creates more problems than it solves. Even if you do own several lights, I encourage you to play around with them and see what you can achieve by moving the light to unusual places. Having one light and one modifier is a limitation that pushes you to explore just how much you can do with it. When I travel and only bring a backpack with me, I can only bring a single light (as well as the sun).

#LIGHT REFLECTOR PHOTOGRAPHY AMAZON HOW TO#

This comes down to knowing how to modify and shape light. Even if all you have is one speedlite, you can still make outstanding work. While it is nice to have an unlimited light supply, we need to be realistic. One Light Can Do a LotĪ common complaint I hear from the photographers I coach is that they only have one or two lights. Instead, he said to find out my own way of doing his light, and it will be even better because it will be authentic. When I asked him what light he uses, he did not tell me. It will never be perfect, but you can get close to what you’re trying to achieve. During the process of figuring out a light setup, you learn much more than just the setup itself you learn about how modifiers work and how light works. The same applies to learning light by copying others' light setups.Ĭopying can only be interesting if you are experimenting and trying to achieve a look you saw in an image. While I hate to use the word “wrong,” I will say this: Learning light by copying light setups from the internet is wrong. I was only concerned with nailing the light setup and nothing else. Little did I know, my images ended up looking like everyone else's, and I didn’t think much about getting an authentic look. This was a task that allowed me to solve a specific problem and get a specific look.

When I first started with off-camera flash, I was browsing YouTube and the internet at large, trying to find as many lighting setups as possible.

I won't lie when I was asked to do headshots, I did a style similar to what that photographer was doing. It’s a good image nonetheless, and a much more profitable business model than what I am doing. Rather, I’ve been fascinated by how certain headshot photographers have managed to create a following of students that essentially do the same image that one photographer does. At least I was not able to see that authentic voice in headshot photography. There really isn't too much authenticity or creativity that goes into taking a headshot. Each light has a purpose and solves a challenge. If you’ve ever had your headshot taken and saw the lighting setup in the studio, you might’ve thought of it as complicated, but it really isn’t. Flash photography is not easy, but it’s not impossible either. While I can understand why using off-camera lighting is considered an advanced skill in photography, I believe that just placing it into this category makes it seem harder than it really is.

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