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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 Unfortunately, as the technology is constantly changing, any document that tried to answer that definitively would be out of date by the time it was written.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 …