Light Works Images

A blog by Phase Two Portraits for sharing useful photography tips and techniques

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A popular technique right now for bringing some drama and fun to a shoot is to shoot with powder. There are a ton of ways to pull off a cool powder look, but this video also shows how to use photoshop to enhance the image with some color. Check it out!

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Only have one light? Great! You can do so much with just one light and honestly it forces you to think creatively about what you can accomplish. This is a great video on using one light box in 10 different ways. Check it out!

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Using Photoshop to make a dreamy glow.

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Great video to stretch the mind about what you can do with one flash in a studio setup. The thing that made my jaw drop was finding that Photoshop has content aware scaling! So cool.

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Cool photoshop work. It blows my mind to see so many different images blended together for this teen portrait. I wanna do this!

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What? COLOR LOOKUP in PS 6 & CC? How did I not know about this feature? This is going to put some serious hurt on some third party apps and plug-ins.

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This is a great photoshop tutorial on adding dramatic color to your images. He used processes and layers that make me realize I'm just a kid with a crayon when I use photoshop. These are great techniques that I need to add to the toolkit.

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I love the look of ambient light being overpowered by flash. It isn't a tool to be used all the time, but with photographing teenagers, they love the edgy look. This video includes both the capturing of the image as well as a quick how-to for photoshop. It is great! I wish I would have known this stuff years ago.

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Super creative DIY Projects for prints. Really cool!

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Ok - I post 99% about off-camera flash - but this video is straight up on camera flash and looks amazing. He also gives a great tip for creating an amazing backdrop.

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I am pretty much constantly studying lighting. I am fascinated. I weird my family out when I go to a movie and stand at stare at the movie posters to figure out where lights were placed. I read a ton of books, buy stupid expensive DVDs and watch YouTube videos WAY more than I should. Sometimes I find something in a video that isn't at all the reason I was watching the video, but it blows me away. This is one of those times. This DIY light setup is cool, but LOOK WHAT THEY DID WITH BUBBLE WRAP. Mind blown.

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This is an awesome technique that works with either speed lights or studio flash using rear shutter sync. I love dragging the shutter to use ambient light. This photographer uses this with mixed lighting for some amazing effects. Another project to try this summer!

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Fairy lights - how to get the lights to glow while getting a good exposure. This is the technique I used for the tutu image.

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Fairy lights added to a tutu. Getting a correct exposure did not show the lights at all. I had to really slow the shutter speed to allow the time for the small lights in the tutu to register. The video above describes the process.

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This video has two parts. Part one - going from bare bulb to 7 foot umbrella to see the differences in the quality of light that comes from each size. Part 2 is really interesting too. The photographer shows some simple photoshop techniques to enhance the lighting even more. Both parts are interesting.

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Photography is about creativity. Here are 7 fun creative effects using light.

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The Creature in the Wall - Joe McNally. So creative in his ideas and use of lighting. Joe always encourages me to SLOW DOWN and take time for the little details. He uses gels better than anyone in the business.