How To: Avoid Strobe Mistakes, Shoot Portraits with One Flash, Photograph Concerts, and More...

Today we shed some light on strobes.
Among our monthly roundup of photo tutorials from around the internet is a video from photographer Michael Corsentino of Behind the Shutter, who details 10 things he wishes he knew before he started using strobes. Insight number one: The first thing you need to know before using strobes is the nature of light — its quantity, quality, direction and distance.
Another insight from Corsentino is that you don’t need two, three or four strobes to get started. And as luck would have it, we also have a tutorial from photographer Sean Tucker on how to shoot portraits with just one speedlight.
More into action photography? We have a video from photographer Barry Mountford on how to shoot high-speed action pictures with flash and a slow shutter speed.
Beyond lighting, there are lessons on wide-angle lens basics, how to shoot music concerts, landscape composition, and even some
more exotic techniques — for instance, how to shoot double exposures with a tilt-shift lens.
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1. Ten Things I Wish I’d Known Before
I Started Using Strobes
Flat light or directional light? Soft light or hard light? One strobe or two? Or three? Photographer Michael Corsentino of Behind the Shutter runs through the
basics of light and shares what he’s learned about using strobes over the years.
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2. Shooting Portraits With One Speedlight
As Corsentino notes, you can
shoot professional-quality images with a single strobe. This video from photographer Sean Tucker shows how to shoot portraits with a single speedlight.
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3. Cinematic
Lighting 101 — Understanding Different Light Modifiers
This video from Aputure shows how a number of different light modifiers render your subject. Before you can make creative choices, you have
to know what your options are.
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4. High-Speed Action Photos with Flash and Slow Shutter
Speaking of creative options: Would you like to capture motion while
freezing action at the same time? In this video from Barry Mountford, you’ll find out how to do it.
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5. Wide-Angle Lens Basics
Wide-angles lenses can be
tricky to use—they can render backgrounds and foregrounds in distorted ways, for instance. This video from Photography Life explains the basics and sets you on a path toward wide-angle
enlightenment.
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6. Improve Your Landscape Compositions
Once you’ve mastered wide-angle lenses, you can think about how to use them to shoot landscapes. This
video from Attilio Ruffo delves into landscape composition. Learn where to direct the viewer’s attention.
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7. Bird Photography with a Telephoto
Lens
Want to photograph birds? A telephoto lens lets you get spectacular close-ups of our feathered friends. But with a limited field of view provided by the lens, you may have trouble locating your
subject. Here photographer Ryan Mense explains a few techniques to finding wildlife with a telephoto.
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8. Photographing a Concert
Want to become a concert
photographer? This four-minute video from Mango Street runs through the whole process, starting with how secure a pass to the event. You'll also learn how to shoot it and then edit your images.
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9. Shooting Double-Exposure Photos with a Tilt-Shift Lens
Maybe it’s time to expand your photographic repertoire. Here, photographer Eric Floberg explains how he
creates in-camera double-exposure photos using a tilt-shift lens, a technique he calls his “creative bread and butter.”
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10. Expand Your Creativity With
These Six Decision
Every photograph starts with some essential choices — from a basic concept to a choice of location to lighting. Here Jay P Morgan of The Slanted Lens explains how to create a good photograph by making six decisions.
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At top: From “Ten Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Started
Using Strobes,” Michael Corsentino of Behind the Shutter


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