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How to create a natural light portrait studio in your garage in under 5 minutes

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While I’m a big proponent of using flash in my photography, particularly portraits, there are times when the natural light gives you everything you need without the addition of flash. And sometimes, it’s almost there, but might need a little help from a reflector or two to help wrangle the natural light to fit the look you’re after.

That last bit is the principle used here as Pye Jirsa walks us through building up a home portrait studio in a garage in under 5 minutes. It’s a setup that lets you create some great looking portraits that look like they could have been done in a large studio with a ton of fancy expensive lighting, except, it wasn’t. It was a garage.

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Follow these four tips when mixing natural light with strobes

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Shooting in bright sunlight can be tricky, even though there are ways to make fantastic photos using nothing but natural light. Still, you may need to add some strobes to even out the light, and there are some tricks that will make it look more natural and appealing. In this video, Dan and Sally Watson host Miguel Quiles, who shares four helpful tips for everyone who want to mix strobes with sunlight.

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Four quick and helpful tips for shooting in natural light

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Shooting outdoors with natural light only can be demanding and tricky, especially if you’re shooting on a sunny day. But, although it’s challenging, it’s definitely not impossible to take impressive portraits even in the harsh midday sun. In this video, Miguel Quiles teams up with Dan and Sally Watson to bring you four quick and useful tips for shooting when you’ve got nothing but sunlight available.

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What is “good light” and how to find it and use it in portrait photography

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How do you know when you’ve found “good light?” In this video, photographer Sean Tucker will try to answer this question. This is the first video in a series that deals with finding and using good natural light in your work. Since photography literally means “writing with light,” Sean’s goal is to help you learn “how to write with it.”

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Should you underexpose your photos on purpose?

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Sometimes our photos end up being underexposed by accident, or because of poor lighting conditions. But what about doing it on purpose? Photographer Manny Ortiz admits he tends to underexpose his photos for one or two stops. In this video, he talks about why he does it and about the benefits of this approach.

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Is there really bad light: how to take awesome travel photos in all lighting conditions

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Natural light is a valuable “tool” of every travel and documentary photographer. Most of us don’t really like shooting in the harsh midday sun, but sometimes there’s no other choice, especially when your time at a location is limited. In this video, photographer Mitchell Kanashkevich shares tips that will help you get the best of any lighting conditions. He will guide you through all weather conditions and parts of the day and teach you how to get the best out of the light they give you.

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7 truths of shooting natural light only

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Natural light is beautiful and can give you incredible shots if you know how to use it. But should you limit yourself only to the natural light? Photographer Jason Lanier discusses this matter in a very honest and objective way. As a photographer who used to shoot only in natural light and later learned artificial lighting, you’ll hear seven truths about being a “natural light photographer.”

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Natural Light Photography In a Parking Garage

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This past weekend I had the extreme pleasure* of attending my daughter’s second (she and I agree last) dance recital.

In what can only be described as a three and a half hour long gong show featuring 56 acts – non stop – it was still an important accomplishment for her, so of course it was up to me to at least snap a few obligatory family photos.

It turned into to interesting lesson on natural light photography and photographing kids that I thought I’d share.
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Natural Light Photography – Not Just For Uncle Bob and Moms on Maternity Leave Any More

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I will admit that I am a little snobby when it comes to anyone who proclaims to be a “natural light photographer”.  To me “natural light photographer” essentially equals “beginner that doesn’t know how to use light”.

However, with a little influence from a certain ruthless stock editor ;) some of my work has been evolving into a more natural and organic look, and I have to admit I am really starting to enjoy the simplicity!

In this article, I am going to describe how I used natural light to photograph this series of photos of a woman practicing the cello and discuss some of the characteristics of natural light photography.

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It’s The Light, Stupid

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Some of you may be old enough to remember the 1992 US presidential election between Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr.

One of the key mantras for the Clinton campaign was the phrase “The Economy, Stupid”, which was meant to remind the campaign team that the economy was the crux of the whole election.

So, what does the election of Bill Clinton twenty one years ago to be the President of the United States have to do with photography?

Nothing – it’s just an interesting back story.

But, now that you’re paying attention, I’m going to apply some political spin, and the famous “It’s The Economy, Stupid” phrase to photography:

It’s The Light, Stupid.

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