Shooting long exposures with your smartphone
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Slow Shutter
Long exposure can create awesome effects, like light trails from cars, creamy water, night images, beautiful night skies and so on.
There is a rich collection of apps for long expo for iPhone and Android. We looked at two, Long Expo and Slow Shutter. (more…)
Do you need a light meter? Try an app for your mobile before you buy
Read morePhotometer Pro is simple to use, looks like an antique light meter, but works fine. It measures both reflected and incoming light with your iPhone.
For Android phones there is a similar app called Beecam, which also have (more…)
How to choose the right tripod
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The tripod is more useful than you think. But it’s important to know your requirements before buying. There are so many models on the market. It is often hard to know which is right for you.It is easier to streamline the production of many images if you want all images taken from the same height and angle. There i always less risk for blur when using a tripod.
The tripod is also necessary for (more…)
Lenses for your iPhone and other smartphones
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A macro lens is a must-have if you like to shoot flowers and insects.
There are quite a few add-on lenses for iPhone on the market. They often come in different combinations of fisheye, wide-angle, macro and telephoto. Most of them are crap. But still, it can be fun to have, especially wide angle and macro.
Fisheye taken with an Olliclip.
The wide-angle and fisheye lenses certainly don’t improve the quality of the images. Especially the fisheye lenses create images more bended, then with wider angle.
But there are cases when wider angles are useful. For instance if (more…)
The best HDR app for your iPhone and Android
Read morePro HDR is easy to use and will considerably improve your images in most cases.
Pro HDR is easy to use. When the image is taken, make some adjustments until you are satisfied.
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and methods of producing images that look more like you perceive the reality. A very common problem with photography is that the sky often is overexposed and the shadows to dark, only the area in between looks the way we see it in reality.
Normally you camera or phone expose after a mix of the darker and the lighter parts of the motive.
Real HDR usually means that you take (more…)
Backgrounds are simple, cheap and necessary in the home studio
Read moreThe backdop is more photographed than any model. There are basically two types of equipment for making photo backdrops. We have tried both.
A set with a couple of stands and a cross bar can be used to support anything.
Backgrounds can be very disturbing and irrelevant. Arranging a studio take can be much easier than creating or finding the perfect environment for the shoot and to wait for the perfect light. The ability to isolate a motive with a white background is (more…)
The reflector – an inexpensive tool that will make better portraits
Read moreThe reflecting and diffusing screen is perhaps the cheapest item of all accessories available. And yet this simple tool may do all the difference. Especially if you like shooting portraits.
The screens often comes as 4 in one ore 5 in one, with a diffusing white screen with different slipcovers with sides in silver, gold, white and black. There are mainly three shapes, triangular, round and oval, and of course they come in different sizes.
What you should choose depends on (more…)
What is snoot, barn door, beauty dish and all that?
Read moreAre you curious about studio gear? We will try and enlighten you, show what it looks like, explain advantages and when and how to use it. We’ll also give you some examples.
It’s preferable to attach something to your studio strobes in order to enable different lighting effects. When buying accessories you need to make sure (more…)
How to choose equipment for a home studio
Read moreThere are no precise rules for how to configure your home studio. Every photographer has his or hers own recipes, but they all work with a main light, fill light and rim light. One main source defines the highlights, one the shadows and the rim light can enhance contours and give a lustrous effect to the hair of your model. Different effects can be achieved by the strength of your light sources, kind of light modifiers and distance between the motive and strobes.
You can get fine results with only (more…)
Do you want to come closer with your iPhone 5?
Read moreWe have reviewed a telescope lens and a microscope lens for iPhone 5. Sceptically we unpacked the equipment. What could it be worth for that money?
How to use your on-camera flashes as studio lighting
Read moreWe tested a kit with stand and umbrella with two ordinary on camera flashes. You can easily get much better portraits by using your ordinary flash like the pros use studio strobes. It is also very light equipment that will fit in a common camera bag.
In addition to your camera you need a couple of light studio stands, hot shoe flash adapters and umbrellas- If you already have one flash you need to get one more.
The flashes have to support (more…)
Choosing a mini tripod – not as easy as you would expect
Read moreHow hard can it be? Constructing a small tripod for your camera or smartphone shouldn’t be rocket science. But unfortunately there is plenty of garbage on that market.
How to turn your living room into a photo studio
Read moreMost of us have visited a photo studio at some time, but very few actually bothered to turn the living room into one. So we did. What should you keep in mind? What do you need? How difficult is it?
