Blog Photography Tips - ISO 1200 Magazine

It this video Jay P talks about how to work with direct harsh sunlight and get nice natural light portraits. In this Laws of Light tutorial Jay P takes a step by step look at how to photograph portraits in bright sunlight.

In this video, Mark Denney will walk you through a process that completely transformed the way he looks at shutter speed for his waterfall and seascape photography. When he first got into landscape photography he didn't pay much attention to the shutter speeds he chose, but after walking through the process in this video, his outlook on shutter speed was completely changed forever!

As this website reports, the earliest sightings of this kind of photographic “tool” was found back in 1879.

An issue of the “Photogarphic News” contained an article from C.W. Davis, that mentioned back then, that photographers were able to buy a mechanical bird that chirped when a pneumatic bulb was squeezed.

Unboxing the new iPhone 12 Pro Camera and putting it to work! Comparing different photos taken with the new modes and features!

When you first start shooting portraits you probably started outside right? I mean, maybe some us didn't start off with lighting kits or even know how to use them if we did. But the one thing that we did do was avoid direct sunlight like vampires lol. I know I did. We're not supposed to shoot in direct sunlight, that's the rule, right?

Wrong!

There are many situations where you CAN use direct sunlight to your advantage either on purpose to create beautiful hard light photos utilizing those harsh shadows, or if you basically have no choice.

So the sun at noon brings out harsh shadows, emphasizes textures, creates unflattering highlights and makes the eyes look sunken, so what do we do??

Well the 2 challenges we have to solve are the quality of light and the direction of light.

Here are 3 tips you can take with you the next time you have to shoot in midday sun.

Tip #1: Diffuse the sunlight -- this one is pretty straight forward. Use something like a 3 in 1 reflector/diffuser or try using a shoot-through umbrella. Note: You may need something larger than your typical one! When the sun hits the diffusion material it spreads out and becomes a larger softer light source and loses it specularity (aka shine) and instantly becomes more flattering to the skin.
Bonus tip: Be sure to lift the subject's head so that more of the light gets into their eyes, additionally you can add a reflector for fill light.

Tip #2: Bounce Reflectors - Look for a large preferably white surface (to avoid color cast) that you can use to bounce the light. This can be a sidewalk, a white wall, even the side of a van! (The metal surface will be highly reflective). When the sun hits the surface it bounces off and becomes a large soft light source, beautiful light. Be sure to have the subject's back to the sun, or place them in the shadow just opposite that bounce reflector.

If you can't find a natural bounce reflector (for instance if you're shooting in a field, all grass, in a park etc) than my go-to is using a v-flat (my favorites are from V-Flat World because they fold down nicely and are ultra portable then).

Tip #3: Embrace the Sunlight - So far I've shown you two examples on how to soften midday light, but what about just embracing it? Sunlight is hard, but it can also create beautiful high contrast images. Hard light images love black and white because of the contrast, so now is your opportunity to shoot keeping that end result in mind as well!

Bonus tip: Depending on your subject you may want to use blotting papers or matte makeup to help reduce oily skin to control unwanted textures.
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P.S. 🔥 Looking for creative ideas for shooting in direct sunlight? I recommend my Creative Natural Light Recipe Guide -- Over 20 ready-to-shoot examples that will help inspire and give you creative results! 👉 https://lindsayadler.photo/natural-light

Tish Murtha's Photography made a huge impression on him when Sean Tucker first saw it. Looking at her work, and reading up about her background and process, it was clear she was someone who cared deeply about her subjects and took the responsibility of telling their stories well very seriously. Sean thinks we can all learn a great deal about the art of documentary photography by spending time with her work.

Peter analyzes the brand new DJI gimbals, the RS2 and RSC2 and the results are awesome.

American people standing up to the Soviets! America needs Nixon! These are some of the phrases uttered as this photo was displayed during Nixon’s presidential campaign. If you were living in the early 60’s you would remember this poster. The old adage states a “picture is worth a thousand words” and behind every picture there is a story. This is one of those photos, where the story is just as good as the picture.

There are plenty of “rules” when it comes to the best place to put your lights and for the most part, the normal rules are actually very good advice. However, bending or breaking the rules can be lots of fun and might just reward you with some interesting results.

In this video, Gavin takes you through three very different one light set-ups, each of which breaks one of his personal lighting rules in some way. Once you’ve seen the problems, Gavin moves on to suggest how to make an extreme lighting position work.

So, if you’re looking for overhead light, side light, or direct flash, Gavin has some lighting tips and tricks for you.

It’s a small world out there – that was the motto for this week’s COOPH video that’s all about miniature figure photography. The idea behind this unique style of photography is to integrate a true-scale object into a miniature world.

The COOPH photographers cleaned their worktops, dusted off their keyboards and let their imagination transform mundane objects into a snowy ski resort, a busy construction scene and a sunny beachside. Check out their tips and hacks on miniature figure photography in this video!