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Five clamps and brackets every studio shooter and strobist needs

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What even is a ‘studio shooter’ today? Years ago it was a little easier to define, but due to us having tons of heavy, cumbersome lighting and cameras, we were all pretty grounded in the actual home-base of a studio. Today though, the vast majority of my own jobs are not shot in my own space. I shoot wherever I’m needed and whether that be in a home, an office, hair salon or even another hired studio, I’m always on the move. 

The clamps and brackets I’m about to run though in this article are great for all types of studio shooters, and although they will be ideal for those of you who may never shoot outside of your own controlled space, many of these items will be invaluable to those of you, who like me, need to carry, assemble and breakdown their studio setups regularly in a multitude of spaces. 

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This is my favourite $1 lighting modifier

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I’ve always been drawn to interesting looking light. The simple, soft and flat light of softboxes and other standard modifiers rarely hold my attention and I’ve often felt like that softbox lighting doesn’t exist outside of the studio. It’s always looked a little too clinical for me.

We’re shown interesting light all of the time when we’re observing daylight. Dappled light as it falls through leaves, dancing sparkles of light on water, rays of light through buildings and other structures, but we rarely try and bring that interesting looking light into the studio. In fact, many of us chase and covet this idea of ‘perfect’ light from a generic modifier and although there is certainly a time and a place for that, today I’d like to share a lighting technique that is a little more visually engaging.

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Are you still chasing “perfect” colour?

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It’s my belief that colour is actually one of the most subjective elements that we as humans all understand, yet we actually have no real way of enforcing or translating it to one another.

Think of colour like a language. I may say the word ‘Red’ to you and you will have an idea of what I mean, but it’s still extremely vague.

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How to create natural looking window light at home with flash and a diffused scrim

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Unbelievably soft lighting is actually trickier to do than many think. Sure we can place a large softbox in front of our subject to light them, but does that really look good?

No, I’m not trying to trigger anyone here and I’m genuinely curious because, to me, the classic softbox look is a unique look to studio-style lighting. Does that softbox light really look like daylight? If that’s the look you’re after, is a softbox really the best solution we have?

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Make your own DIY scrim/silk frame for huge diffused lighting modifier

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So before the film school nerds explode, let me just explain what a ‘scrim’ actually is and what the term colloquially means to us photographers.

Technically scrims are large sheets of black woven fabric that reduce the brightness of a light when placed in front of them (these are usually constant HMI lights that don’t have individual brightness adjusters).

There are alternative large sheets of fabric that are placed in front of lights called ‘silks’ and these are actually white in colour. When ‘silks’ are placed in front of the lights, they diffuse the light and spread it over a far wider area resulting in very soft lighting. You could consider that a softbox is actually just a small silk as it has a large sheet of diffusion material in front of the light that softens it as it passes through it.

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Colour in Cinema: Ad Astra – The Most Colourful Movie You Never Saw

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Have you seen Ad Astra? Do you remember it being one of the most colourful movies you’ve ever seen? No? Why not?

Many modern space films have been guilty of looking a little drab and desaturated, but can we blame them? Space, as far as many of us see it, is pretty colourless. It’s just a vast black void punctuated only by blindingly bright light. We don’t immediately associate that limitless void with bold, striking colours that exist between those two extremes. So how does a film about space inject colour into its scenes whilst still remaining somewhat realistic?

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Colour in cinema: Abstract colour in Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira

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Many new people who find my work today, think my lighting is simply inspired by me watching a couple of modern films. Either that or I get asked which photographer inspires me the most. The truth behind my lighting and colour inspiration is routed far further back than that though, and not even by cinematographers or photographers at all.

Although I’ve never consciously tried to be inspired by this, my best guess assessment of what inspired me and my work all those years ago was in fact not a photographer at all, but rather a comic.

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Should you re-retouch your old photos?

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Getting better at something does take time, but getting better is something that is ultimately inevitable, even if it doesn’t always feel like it. Every time you pick up your camera, you body and mind will learn something new no matter how small it may be. But this principle isn’t just applicable to the picture taking process, we’re also getting better every single time we use our picture editing software too.

But before we talk about software, first let’s take a quick look at how camera technology has evolved over the last couple of decades and what significance that plays in our retouching today.

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DIY backdrops for home shoots and lighting setup

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Bored of being stuck indoors yet? Shooting against the same white background all the time can get tiresome, so why not switch it up with some creative DIY alternatives.

Early on in my photographic career, I spent literally thousands of hours photographing subjects in front of white walls. This was an incredibly popular look in the 90’s as we moved away from the grey and brown cloudy backdrops of the 1980’s, but times are changing once again as we tire of the stark and clinical look of a pure white backdrop.

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How to create foreground flare effects in-camera instead of in post

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Adding creative lighting effects after the shot has been taken is easy, but nothing beats doing it properly.

There are a million-and-one ways to add creative flares and effects to your shots in post-production after you’ve taken the image, but nothing beats the look and feel of an image that has used in-camera flares and bokeh effects.

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