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one light studio portrait

How to shoot great one-light portraits in a tiny home studio

Feb 16, 2023 by John Aldred 1 Comment
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Learning to shoot portraits at home is often a struggle. Even when you can convince one of your family members to hop in front of the camera so you can experiment and blast lights at them, you’re often constrained by space. It’s a home. It’s filled with furniture. Even if you can move it out of the way for a couple of hours, you usually don’t get a lot of room to set up and shoot.

In this video, though, Jiggie Alejandrino walks us through his journey, setting up some fantastic portrait lighting in his tiny home studio. Keeping the small space in mind, Jiggie only uses a single light for the setups in this video. But it’s more than just another “here’s how to light a subject with one light” video.

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Follow these five tips to make your first studio shoot less scary

Nov 2, 2022 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment
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If you’re used to natural lighting, photographing in a studio for the first time can be overwhelming. If you don’t have a place to play and experiment with artificial lighting, shooting in a studio for the first time is quite intimidating.

But hold on, don’t be afraid. Take a deep breath, relax, and watch this video from  Kayleigh June. In the video, she gives you five excellent tips that will make your first studio visit a way more pleasant, relaxed, and enjoyable experience.

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How to take creative portraits with Plexiglas and a single light

May 31, 2022 by Dunja Djudjic 1 Comment
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There are numerous setups you can create with just one light and take stunning portrait photos. Well, unless you’re in this unilluminable room. But if you add a sheet of Plexiglas and some water to the equation, the possibilities for creative portraits largely expand.

In this video from Adorama, Pye Jirsa shares a simple setup that will get you tons of creative studio portraits. With just one strobe, some Plexi, and a spray bottle, he builds up the set to show you how to take interesting foreground bokeh portraits.

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Create magical portraits using just one umbrella with these 5 different set ups

May 20, 2022 by Alex Baker 3 Comments
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It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with options when you first get started on artificial lighting. There seem to be so many tutorials out there for four or five light setups. But many of us begin shooting with natural light, and often from a single light source (ie. a window). It stands to reason then, that the easiest way to learn to shoot strobes is to begin with just one light.

In this video, photographer Emily Teague shows us five different setups using just one umbrella light. There’s no shame in only using one light if you know what you’re doing to manipulate it. Often the results are incredibly beautiful, and if you’re on location there’s something to be said for bringing less gear with you!

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Here are 21 lighting setup with one light in under six minutes

Jul 5, 2021 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment
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You probably already know that a single light can give you several different looks. You can make five, six, ten different setups? Actually, you can get as many as 21 different setups with a single studio light. In this video, Dima Metkin will show you how.

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Have you tried this unusual way of using a beauty dish?

Jun 18, 2021 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment
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One of my favorite things to do is using gear, props, or arts & crafts materials in unconventional ways. It often gives unexpectedly good results and you come up with some great new techniques. This is what Miguel Quiles does in his latest video. He uses a beauty dish in a way most of us probably wouldn’t, and he ends up with fantastic results.

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Follow these three tips to create dramatic portrait lighting with a single light

Apr 26, 2021 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment
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Lighting is one of the key elements in photography. It can make it or break it, and it adds a lot to the story you want to tell with your image. In this video, Adorama teams up with Emily Teague who talks about the use of dramatic lighting in portraits. She tells you about how to use it, and gives you a lighting demo to show you her simple setup for dramatic, moody portraits.

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Use this simple setup for gorgeous one-light portraits

Mar 11, 2021 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment
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While using one light for portraits is quite a simple approach, there are many ways in which you can use it. A single light lets you create all kinds of different setups, and Jiggie Alejandrino shows you one of them in his video. It’s a simple setup that will give you nice, flattering portrait light, and it will work great in a small studio space. Also, you can create it on a relatively small budget.

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Check out this amazing one-light portrait setup you’ve probably never even considered

Jan 29, 2021 by John Aldred 1 Comment
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Portrait photographer Jiggie Alejandrino is a big fan of shooting with just a single light for portraits. He’s already shown us some pretty cool and dramatic one-light setups in the last few months. But now he’s back with a very interesting setup that most of have probably never even considered. And that’s bringing the softbox overhead pointing straight down.

It’s certainly not something I’ve usually considered. At least, not for portraits. It’s a technique I use often for small products to simulate a big cloudy sky, but with larger subjects like people, that cast some pretty obvious shadows, how well does it work? Well, looking at Jiggie’s demonstration, it works pretty well!

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Watch these four awesome one-light portrait setups in just 10 minutes

Jan 4, 2021 by John Aldred Add Comment
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Most of us end up getting so bogged down with gear at some point that it can be difficult to choose exactly what gear we’re going to want to take to a session – especially when it comes to lighting. I’m sure I’m not the only one whose bags are comprised of 20% gear we’ll use and 80% “just in case” gear that we hardly ever use.

Sometimes, though, it’s nice to bring it down to the bare basics, carry less gear, and keep things simple with just one light. And for those just starting out, perhaps one light is all you may have. But fear not! In this video, photographer John Gress walks us through four very effective lighting setups that each use only a single light.

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Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave 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.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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