Recently Linda Ralston, one of my Facebook friends, asked me how I go about setting my flash exposure for some nighttime wedding shots I had posted. The conversation on Facebook led to what I dubbed …

Although you may think that no two situations are alike, the fact is that there are quite a few constants that you can rely on to give you a good starting point. The sun is one of these things you can count on to be consistent. Of course there are things that affect the sun’s output like the time of day, haze, fog, and clouds, but on a bright sunny day the light output is very consistent and knowing the camera settings for this condition will give you a guideline to make adjustments. This is where the “sunny 16″ rule comes into play.

I have told many of my customers that not only do I stand behind the products, but I also support them to make sure that they are creating the best images possible. Beginning …

Back before Christmas we started selling some photography lighting gear products. A few months into it and the products were moved to their own website at BlackBeltLighting.com (get it, Dojo – BlackBelt, see the connection?). …

We have covered using colored gels for backgrounds in the past (here) and a very common question is how to get the background color dialed in properly. In this article we will walk through a …

Did you miss the recent webinar about color space and color management? Fret not as it was recorded and is now available for viewing at your convenience.

Tonight on the Live Learning Lab Jason Anderson and I will be discussing RGB/sRGB/ProPhoto Colorspace and what this means to you as a photographer, when to use which, and how this affects your images. You …

I get asked quite a bit about the difference in using an umbrella versus a softbox so I figured it was about time to do an article about it and see if I could help …

While today’s cameras do a pretty good job when in fully automatic mode, in order to make the most of your camera you should learn how to use your camera on the manual setting. To go full manual you will need to have an understanding of shutter speed, aperture settings, and ISO speed. In this article we will get you going and get you shooting like a pro.

When done well, a photograph that has good control over the depth of field can add dramatically to the impact of the picture. When we are talking about depth of field, what we are referring to is a shot were the main subject of the picture is in sharp focus but other elements in the picture are blurred or out of focus. Two key terms to learn here are focal plane which is the area of the image that we want to have in sharp focus and bokeh which is the out of focus sections.

Some of the more interesting photographs are often of ordinary things viewed from a different perspective. A blade of grass from ground level looking up, a bride and groom looked down on from a balcony, etc. What makes these different is that the person viewing the photograph is able to see things from a perspective that is not normal.

How would you like the opportunity to learn from some of the best photographers in the business? Well, Nations Photo Lab is given you this unique opportunity. Some of the prizes that are available include:

1 …