A while back, Stephanie at I Speak Film did a piece about Rembrandt light, and I have been meaning to play around a little with what I’ve learned ever since then.
The key in Rembrandt lighting is to have one side of your subject’s face lit from a main light source, with the other side [...]

So you’ve pulled out your camera manual, figured out what your optical zoom level is (and how to make sure you don’t exceed it) and how to turn on macro, right? Good. Now you’re ready to begin playing around. Actually getting depth of field effects with a point & shoot can feel [...]

Conrad L. Hall was one of the greatest cinematographers in the history of moviemaking. He was the director of photography for such movies as The Road to Perdition, American Beauty, Love Affair, Searching for Bobby Fischer, In Cold Blood, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I wrote my Master’s Thesis on [...]

There’s this place up in Monrovia, CA called Jake’s Roadhouse where Amy and I go to indulge ourselves with smoked polish sausages and veggie omelets. For a while it was our Sunday morning getaway. We just went there on my birthday and happened to bring the camera along.

So maybe I’d had a few too many Zimas. Maybe I just was too tired. Either way, the cop wasn’t about to give me a break on this one. I’d already smashed through the sign of the donut shop and toppled the water tower, so when they finally cornered [...]

A simple bounce card may be the most useful tool in a photographer’s arsenal (other than the camera, of course). Here’s how to make and use this inexpensive tool.