One of the first very important skills I acquired in my Australian Photography course was the ability to breakdown lighting and determine approximate camera settings in images taken by other photographers. If you understand how the direction of light and its degree of diffusion are controlled and how they affect images, it should be easy for you to train yourself to "read"

Photo shoot portrait

Photographer Kirsty Wiseman didn't want to shell out money for a real beauty dish -- she doesn't really need one -- so she built this funny-looking DIY

There are times when I find myself shooting the same stuff or using the same lighting setup over and over again. Repetition helps to improve and fine-tune my skills, but sometimes it just feels boring and degrading, let alone useless for my portfolio. But as much as I dislike feeling stuck and repeating myself, I now realize how such times in fact help me to become a better

Nikon D800, Nikkor 135mm f/2 2x large stripboxes on either side of the model with colour gels on, as main 40cm beauty dish with grid in front left of the model

Directing Lea is always fun. She's up for anything and knows exactly how to respond to any given setup. This time though, I just faked dropping a pencil. One 50cm silver beauty dish with two homemade diffuser socks.

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Instagram's top makeup artists dish on their best beauty secrets specifically for women of color including what products they love

When it comes to shaping the light sources photographers use, there are a lot of modifiers available. Each lighting modifier has it's own characteristics which can make it difficult to determine the best light for your project. Karl Taylor has produced one of the best videos I've ever seen showing exactly how the light fall off, contrast, and specularity differs between the