Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Light is vital to photography. Without it, we wouldn’t have photographs. Our sensors would just be recording blackness. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of making my own light. Mostly with flash, and mostly on location. This has meant that I’ve had to dip into the world of high speed sync a lot.
But what is high speed sync? And why would you want to use it? In the latest Laws of Light video, Jay P Morgan answers those questions and more.
The Lume Cube, Litra Torch and similar lights have become quite popular since they first appeared. Powerful little LED lights that are just as tough and rugged as the action cameras they’re designed to be used with. But that’s not all they’re good for. Light is light, as they say, and you can use small lights for all kinds of uses.
Take this video, for example. In it, Jay P Morgan of The Slanted Lens uses 100 Lume Cubes to light up three different sets. And while it may sound complicated the same principles apply whether you’re using a hundred lights or just one.
Anybody who knows me knows that portable power on location is a big deal to me. Whether it’s being able to recharge batteries in the middle of nowhere or directly powering cameras and other devices, I need portable power. I usually use my lipo batteries, USB batteries, and more recently the Novoo AC power bank, but these aren’t the only options.
In this video, Jay P Morgan at The Slanted Lens looks at a range of products from IndiPro that allow you to get all kinds of different power options when shooting on location.
I’ve never had the chance to have a good look around an active film lab. I’ve been developing my own film at home for years now, and film labs have mostly died out since then. But there are still a few out there, and they seem to be making enough to stay in business, too.
Jay P Morgan at The Slanted Lens had the opportunity to get a good behind the scenes look at what goes on inside one of them. The Richard Photo Lab in Valencia, California. And, fortunately for us, he filmed it.
Lighting a room can be deceptively difficult. You’d think it would be straightforward, but it’s easy to do it badly if you’re not careful. In this video, Jay P Morgan walks us through five different lighting setups in one room. Jay uses LiteCloth LED panels for the demonstration, but you could just ass easily do this with most other types of continuous light or flashes with the right modifiers.
Even though harsh midday sun is far from an ideal lighting situation, sometimes you’ll have no other choice. In this video, Jay P. Morgan shows you four ways to make the best of that direct sunlight and turn it into your advantage. He demonstrates three setups that only use the sunlight, and the fourth one adds a strobe to the equation. But in all cases, you’ll end up with great portraits even in the otherwise unflattering direct sunlight.
Since the Samsung Galaxy’s exploding battery issue, people have become concerned about flying with Lithium-Ion batteries. TSA has some restrictions when it comes to carrying them on a plane, and it can be confusing and frustrating if you need to travel for a photo shoot. In this video, Jay P. Morgan shares plenty of useful information that will help you prepare your batteries for a flight and arrive happily and safely to your shooting destination.
Everybody seems to be getting into film photography these days. New photographers are discovering it for the first time, and many who made the switch from film to digital are now adding it back into the mix. But the film choices today aren’t quite the same as they were in film’s heyday. In this video, Jay P Morgan compares a whole bunch of 120 medium format colour and black & white films from Ilford, Kodak, Fujifilm and CineStill.
Flags, nets, and silks can help you control lighting in a variety of ways. You can shape, cut and diffuse light, and get much more control over your images. In this great video tutorial, Jay P Morgan shows you all the tricks you can do with different flags in order to shape light in your photos.
Panasonic says that the GH5S is a direct response to feedback they received from filmmakers about the very popular GH5. We got to check one out for ourselves during The Photography Show recently, and it does have some noticeable improvements.
It has a new sensor, dual native ISO, the maximum framerate has gone up to 240fps, V-Log L gamma curve is included, and a host of other features. The Slanted Lens put the two cameras through a range of side-by-side tests to see how well the real world experience matches up with the on-paper specs.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
Find my work on My website or follow me on Facebook or My page
