resources

strobist

The key to good photography is simply one thing: lighting. You have to know how to use the light, or your flash, to make your photos look the way you want. Otherwise getting good photos is hit and miss. I love fine art photography a lot more than commercial photography, but I do often find that artists don’t know all the same techniques that the commercial photographers know, and sometimes their photos could be a lot better if the lighting was improved. If lighting is mysterious and confusing or you don’t even know what I really mean by “lighting” then the website Strobist should be your new best friend. No matter what type of photography you’re interested in shooting, you’re going to have to know how to light.

Basically Strobist focuses on teaching you how to use your small off camera flash.

The Canon Speedlight is an example of the kind of flash that they specialize in teaching how to use. These are pretty affordable compared to larger strobes, not to mention extremely portable. Strobist’s philosophy is that bigger, expensive equipment usually stays packed away or in the studio. At the same time, smaller does not necessarily mean limiting, and they want to show you how you can take less powerful equipment and use it to light any situation.

There are over 1,000 articles on how to light with small strobes, as well as a ton of lighting techniques using non- professional lights.

The website is divided into two parts, Lighting 101 (and Lighting 102) which is like a course you can take that “begins with you getting your flash off of the camera. Learn how to position it, clamp it, synch it, bounce it, soften it, snoot it, cookie it and balance it with ambient light.”  The second part is On Assignment where they take commercial photos and break down exactly how to light them so you can learn all the professional lighting techniques that commercial photographers use. Sounds amazing, right? And the coolest part is that it’s all free information.

The only real difference between an amateur and a pro is knowing how to light. Check out Strobist if you want to learn how to get the photo you want all the time. It’s a resource I constantly browse through and I am always learning new things!

photojojo

Photojojo is my favourite photo newsletter ever. I can’t even begin to describe the vast amount of useful, cool, and completely awesome photo tips, projects and more that they publish and currently reside in their archives. It’s tends to be a bit on the crafty side, geared more towards non-professionals, but there’s tons of inspiring ideas and gear and projects for everyone no matter what your skill level is. Photojojo definitely will get you excited about taking more photos.

If you’re looking to be inspired, you should definitely sign up. I’ve been signed up since the first newsletter and I still look forward to every single one.