The Prince of Cheap here! I’ve been at it again and I gotta say, we got TONS of questions, comments and info from other photographers like you about the first 10 or more things cheap list from last year and this year. Here we go again! This time I looked for lowest price & most …
Category Archives: Studio Lighting Tips
Out of Warranty, Out of Luck?
Late last month, I took an old digital camera in for repair; I have this little old Canon Digital Ixus V3 (a.k.a. Powershot S230) which had served me in good stead since it was bought way back in December of 2003. Last Christmas 2007, it stopped taking pictures, there was just a blob of …
A Lesson In Hard Light – Complimenting Mid Day Sunlight
Here again is the Prince of Cheap! This time around I’m bringing you a lesson in hard light. Recently I was out on an outdoor fashion shoot with the wildly talented (and braided) Mr. Shannon and Stephanos. Mr. Shannon and Stephanos can be found at Model Mayhem – ID #358293 for Mr. Shannon and ID …
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The El Cheapo eBay Octabox: Unbelievable Light at a Cheap Price!
For years photographers have sought broad soft light sources that: enhance skin, reduce the need to have a fill source, and create forgiving areas of soft predictable light coverage. This is what makes large light modifiers the easiest lights to position as well as some of the most desirable to portrait photographers across the globe …
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Just Follow The Bouncing Light!
Prince Cheap here again! Okay this is going to educate you on the “rubberband” property of light! You’ll be able to use lit like you’ve never used it before! Take a look at these images and evaluate their lighting. How do you think they were lit? All Natural Light Outdoors. Homemade Hand held Reflector (Prince …
How Much Power Do I Need? (Low Powered Strobes)
“I’m starting out and I don’t know how much power I need,” someone recently said to me. So I just asked them a question right back, “What type of images are you creating?” The person said, “Headshots, family portraits, actors, models, my teacher, mars and my mother …everything!” I responded, “Ooooooookaaaaay, you gotta figure out …
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A Quick Start Guide to the One Light Setup
The Prince of Cheap is here again! In my pursuit of (cheapness) one light perfection, I am about to give you a gem or two that will keep you from complaining about having only one light. In fact, if you fully understand this… you may even come to prefer one light images! Why on earth …
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Studio Quality High Key Lighting without the Studio!
I call the sun my outdoor studio because it offers unlimited backgrounds, unlimited lighting patterns and near unlimited possibilities! I love it! This article will show you a great way to get the high key studio look using the sun as your light source. The tools needed: A camera which allows you to manually control …
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Lighting Eyeglasses
Photographing people while wearing their eyeglasses can be quite difficult in the studio setting. Often the glass lenses reflect the lights and obscure the subjects eyes. This is especially true when the fill light is near the camera axis. Below are several suggestions for dealing with eyeglasses in the photography studio. Raise the camera – …
Choosing the Right Studio Strobe
When dealing with studio lights for the first time, it’s easy to get bogged down in the “what brand should I get” questions. Unfortunately, as the technology is constantly changing, any document that tried to answer that definitively would be out of date by the time it was written. Rather than do that, I’ve aimed …