Hardware Studio: equipment that will make your photo studio hum!

Hardware that you would use in studio by matthews and Kupo

Everyone has a light stand, even make up artists. Some photographers have boom arms but when you really want to refine your work, or make your life easier in the studio easier you’ll need an arsenal of hardware. And for the most part I am not talking about the durable goods you can pick up at Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Fashion Photography: DIY Light Saver

Chicago fashion photographer tuxedo male model 60616

Adapting the look of LED or Fluorescent tube backgrounds for still photography with a DIY approach using softboxes, a v-flat, a knife and three Profoto lights.

Fill is not a person, but he is your friend

Using passive and active fill to madimize shadow detail and dynamic range

As photographers we might obsess about this modifier or that one, believe me I have, but often times we fall short when it comes to shadow detail. This is something I struggle with from time to time when shooting in a new room and every shoot poses its own set of problems, so the purpose of this post is to share some basic concepts that I hope will help you maximize dynamic range and develop more details in your depictions.

What ARE those lights I keep putting in my photos…

Chicago Portrait Photographer Vintage Lights and Painted Backdrop

One of the most popular questions I am asked is: what are those lights in the background of my portraits? Aside from the one time that I used a Profoto Monolight unsuccessfully, every other occurrence I can recall featured a vintage light designed by Mole-Richardson.

Making a custom Cucoloris to create dramatic portraits

Cucoloris portrait with a fresnel by Chicago Photorgapher John Gress

After being inspired by Sophie Palmer’s portrait depicting boredom with a Catholic priest inside the confession booth, below, I decided to try my hand at projecting divine patterns on model Alex Mitchell’s face by making a custom Cucoloris.