Doug McKinlay

Spice up your food photography by backlighting it with a light box

Mar 22, 2017 by John Aldred 1 Comment

Backlighting translucent objects is always great fun to experiment with. Sometimes it’s quite easy. You just put a light on a stand, place it behind your subject, and start shooting away. But food can get a little messy, and it’s not easy to just hang up in front of a light.

This is where a light box comes into use. Some of us might still have one of these laying around from the days of film. But, they can be quite inexpensive to buy. Or, you can build your own. This video from photographer Doug McKinlay shows us how to use it.

Make your own light tent out of a cardboard box and household items

Feb 7, 2017 by John Aldred 1 Comment

Light tents can be a wonderful thing. They’re certainly not going to get your best product photos, but they’re a great way to photograph a lot of things quickly. Once they’re set up, you just keep swapping items out as you shoot. Light tents aren’t always that expensive, either. You can pick them up online fairly inexpensively. But then you have to wait for them to show up.

So, what can you do to get shooting right now? Well, you can make your own. Like photographer Doug McKinlay does in this video. It’ll cost you virtually nothing to make, as you’ll probably have most of the required items in your home already. And, best of all, you won’t need to wait for the delivery guy.

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

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