Lighting Technique

Flash & Artificial Lighting

Flash Photography: Stop Relying on Camera Settings and Start Understanding Light

Flash Photography: Stop Relying on Camera Settings and Start Understanding Light I’m going to say something that will upset some people: your camera settings don’t matter nearly as much as you think they do. What matters is understanding how flash behaves, then building your lighting around that behavior. After twenty years of shooting with flash—from cramped hotel rooms to purpose-built studios—I’ve learned that photographers spend too much time fiddling with shutter speed and ISO, and far too little time understanding the actual light in front of their subject.

May 16, 2026

Video Tutorials

Master Portable Strobe Photography: The One-Light Setup That Replaces a Studio

I’ve spent enough time on location shoots to know that less gear doesn’t mean less control—it means smarter control. In this excellent tutorial, Joel Grimes presents portrait photographer Eli Infante demonstrating exactly how to leverage a single portable strobe to create multiple portrait looks that rival studio-quality results. The setup? A Westcott FJ250, a beauty dish, and a painter’s pole. No assistants required. No elaborate light stands. Just methodology. I’m going to break down what makes this approach work, expand on the techniques shown, and give you my honest assessment of when and why this portable system outperforms larger alternatives.

February 25, 2026

Technique

Lighting Glasses: How to Avoid Glare and Reflections

Glasses are a portrait photographer’s recurring challenge. Those curved glass surfaces act as mirrors, reflecting your lights, your softbox shape, and sometimes your entire studio back at the camera. Every solution involves either preventing the reflection from forming, redirecting it away from the camera, or positioning the lights so the reflection falls outside the lens area. Why Glasses Create Reflections Glass reflects light at the same angle it receives it — the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.

February 19, 2026