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Quick tip: Use tent pegs to stop your light stands falling over on location

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One of the most common questions I see on social media, especially just after somebody’s posted an image shot on location with flash, is “How do you stop your light stands from falling over?” – which isn’t an unreasonable question to expect. When it’s just you and your subject, how do people stop their light stands from falling over?

Well, you could carry a bunch of heavy sandbags around with you, or make sure to hire an assistant for all of your location shoots, but photographer Wayne Speer has another idea – especially when shooting in locations with soft ground. He uses tent pegs and rope.

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This speedlight diffuser is either brilliantly stupid or stupidly brilliant

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I haven’t quite made my mind up about this one yet, and I think I’d actually have to try it – or at least see some results shot using it vs a regular Stofen style diffuser – before I’m able to, but Irish accessory manufacturer, Hahnel has released a new speedlight diffuser that’s… Well, it’s interesting, to say the least.

The humble Stofen style diffuser has been around for years and serves 99% of people quite well. The other 1% believe that other products will serve them better. Whether or not this one will, though, I’m not entirely sure. I love the concept and would be very happy to know that it works to diffuse the light while offering better output performance than the existing options, but I’m not convinced.

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How to light and shoot portraits of yourself or your family in your home

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There are lots of videos out there on lighting and shooting portraits, but they often show huge studios, with the kind of space that no reasonable person would have available in their home. That observation was pointed out to photographer Nathan Elson on a video he posted shooting self-portraits at his studio. So, he’s made another one, to show how you can use smaller equipment to get a similar look in a small space in your home.

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Frustrated with your flash gear? Here’s some therapy for you

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Flash equipment can be a pain. No matter who the brand is, they all have their little issues. Maybe the buttons stop working, perhaps there’s too much interference on the frequency they use stopping them from firing, too many cryptic buttons and menus? Sometimes they decide to just not play ball for no apparent reason whatsoever.

This video comes from US-based lighting and accessories retailer, MoLight and parodies one scene in the movie Office Space perfectly (if you’ve seen it, you know what I mean), including the pre-cursor clips of frustration leading to the inevitable demise of… well, you know.

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How to use light, shadows and highlights for dramatic portrait lighting – Part 2

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Hey guys! In episode 2 from my Light, Shadow, and Hi-light series, I will take you behind the scenes of the image below. I will break down the lighting setup one by one and I will go through the camera gear used so you can easily recreate this look in your own style. Think of it as a great starting point.

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How to use light, shadows and highlights for dramatic portrait lighting – Part 1

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Hey, folks! Its a brand new year and one I am pumped for! 2020 is gonna be another great year! To kick this new decade off, I wanted to share with you some lighting setups and behind the scenes from a portrait session where we tried out a few different setups, if you prefer to watch the video you can check it out above.

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Paul C. Buff is back with the LINK battery-powered, TTL & HSS-capable strobe

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It’s been a while since Paul C Buff has really released anything new. Sure, they announced the “DigiBee” back in 2016, but that was more of a refresh of the old AlienBees than an entirely new product, swapping out the modelling light for an LED, and it was still pretty limited in capability. You still needed power from the wall (or a portable mains inverter), you still couldn’t do HSS, and it still required a separate radio transceiver.

Now, though, Paul C Buff has announced its new LINK strobe, an 800Ws strobe which features TTL, High Speed Sync, and a built-in wireless transceiver. It looks like PCB is finally moving into the 21st century.

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This is what low contrast lens filters are and how you can use them in portraits

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As the name of the filter alludes to, these lens filters do indeed lower the overall contrast of a shot. To clarify what that means in relation to photography; these filters will reduce the darkness of the shadows by allowing light to bleed into them from surrounding highlights.

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The iPhone 11 will receive 3rd party flash support built right into future iOS version

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Although not common, flash support is something that quite a few people have been asking for with smartphones. Nobody’s seriously looking to replace their DSLRs and mirrorless cameras with phones, but being able to fire your strobes from your phone can be handy for things like behind the scenes shots.

According to 9to5Mac, though, new specs shared with manufacturers on Apple’s Made-for-iPhone (MFi) licensing programme show that the iPhone 11 may soon support for some degree of native 3rd party flash support.

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One way or another, this video will help you understand the Inverse Square Law

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The Inverse Square Law pops up in photography often, particularly for users of flash or continuous LED lights. It’s a topic that still confuses a lot of people, although the mathematics of it can be translated into easy-to-understand practical terms. In this video, from ZY Productions, we get to see both explanations to satisfy both the maths geeks as well as those who just want to know what it means in the real world.

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