After a month I finally got back to the NYIP course. Today was lesson 13, Electronic Flash and Strobe. I didn't really understand all that I read in this lesson. Lighting in photography is a broad subject. There are different kinds of lighting, different kinds of flashes,diffuser and reflectors and light boxes, guide numbers, and ratios. Learning lighting is going to take some more study and practice.
They used the term "hot shoe" in the NYIP lesson today, but if they ever defined it I missed it (which could very well have happened - my mind goes on walks without me all the time). A hot shoe is the thingee on top of your camera where you can attach a flash. Best Family Photography Tips has a picture of a hot shoe along with an explanation of its use. [Note added 4/3/2011: NYIP's lesson did indeed define hot shoe and had a picture of it.]
Photo Tuts+ has several tutorials on lighting including The Complete Guide to Your Hot Shoe Flash which isn't really a complete guide except it does tell you a little about a lot of different flashes and it's a good place to start. While you're there don't miss The Complete Beginners Guide to Natural Light.
I'm not sure how to define lighting ratios except to say it refers to using multiple lights and how "strong" each light is. Photography Master Class has a video tutorial on lighting ratio and lighting techniques. They have other photography videos as well.
Studio Lighting approaches lighting ratios from another angle (pun intended). This site has a ton of free articles and tutorials on lighting.
If you believe the saying "one picture is worth a thousand words", study the 30 photographs that illustrate the use of natural light on Web Design Ledger. No words, just pictures.
April 2, 2011
March 26, 2011
Updates
I haven't signed up with Lynda.com yet so this is a short update on that site. I have not been inundated with emails from them wanting to know why I haven't. I got 2 or 3 maybe 4 emails total from them in the month since I signed up for the 2 week free trial.
This is good. Companies that won't take no for an answer and send me a gazillion emails should be banned from the Internet. Lynda.com does not appear to be that kind of company.
On another note, I have not been keeping up with my NYIP lessons as I got side-tracked last month and haven't been able to get back to them. (Procrastinator is my middle name.) I did receive the lesson materials for the rest of the units a couple of weeks ago along with a reflector umbrella. The umbrella looks like this one but I think it's smaller. I'm not sure if umbrellas are measured across or over the top. The one I got is 33" across the top, 23" diameter.
A couple of months ago I also got the lens cleaning cloth from NYIP that I had to request because they were out when they sent the first unit. The cloth is a generous 15" x 15", probably a $5 - $10 value.
Photoflex Lighting School has a free lesson on using umbrellas if you're interested. They have several free lighting lessons because they sell lighting equipment.
Web Photo School also has a free lesson on using umbrellas with strobe lighting.
LightenUpandShoot.com has some suggestions for umbrella brackets. This is an irreverent photography site from two fun dudes. Check it out.
This is good. Companies that won't take no for an answer and send me a gazillion emails should be banned from the Internet. Lynda.com does not appear to be that kind of company.
On another note, I have not been keeping up with my NYIP lessons as I got side-tracked last month and haven't been able to get back to them. (Procrastinator is my middle name.) I did receive the lesson materials for the rest of the units a couple of weeks ago along with a reflector umbrella. The umbrella looks like this one but I think it's smaller. I'm not sure if umbrellas are measured across or over the top. The one I got is 33" across the top, 23" diameter.
A couple of months ago I also got the lens cleaning cloth from NYIP that I had to request because they were out when they sent the first unit. The cloth is a generous 15" x 15", probably a $5 - $10 value.
Photoflex Lighting School has a free lesson on using umbrellas if you're interested. They have several free lighting lessons because they sell lighting equipment.
Web Photo School also has a free lesson on using umbrellas with strobe lighting.
LightenUpandShoot.com has some suggestions for umbrella brackets. This is an irreverent photography site from two fun dudes. Check it out.
March 19, 2011
Time Flies When Nothing Else Will
March is half over and I've been busier than an old lady likes to be. Sometimes work gets in the way of living. I haven't had time to keep up with the photography course or this blog this month. Haven't had much time to do anything!
I did watch some of the videos from the Foundations of Photography: Exposure course on lynda.com during my free trial period, but I got caught up in extra work and didn't have time to get through more than 1/2 of the lessons so now I'm going to have to sign up to watch the rest of them. Which is OK because now I can take the one on Lenses also.
The videos in this course reinforced what I've learned in the NYIP course so far. I found the instructor, Ben Long, easy to follow and understand, but I'm not sure I would have understood it as well if I hadn't been reading up on exposure (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) with NYIP for the past few months.
However, I liked the instructor's teaching style so well that I bought one of his books: Complete Digital Photography.
It's a fairly large book - over 600 pages - and covers the camera, exposure, lighting, composition, editing, etc, etc, etc. Quite a large portion of the book is on editing photographs. I haven't had time to read anything but the introduction yet, so I'll review the book in a later post after I've had time to do more than just look at the pictures. (This book does include many beautiful photographs.)
I did watch some of the videos from the Foundations of Photography: Exposure course on lynda.com during my free trial period, but I got caught up in extra work and didn't have time to get through more than 1/2 of the lessons so now I'm going to have to sign up to watch the rest of them. Which is OK because now I can take the one on Lenses also.
The videos in this course reinforced what I've learned in the NYIP course so far. I found the instructor, Ben Long, easy to follow and understand, but I'm not sure I would have understood it as well if I hadn't been reading up on exposure (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) with NYIP for the past few months.
However, I liked the instructor's teaching style so well that I bought one of his books: Complete Digital Photography.
It's a fairly large book - over 600 pages - and covers the camera, exposure, lighting, composition, editing, etc, etc, etc. Quite a large portion of the book is on editing photographs. I haven't had time to read anything but the introduction yet, so I'll review the book in a later post after I've had time to do more than just look at the pictures. (This book does include many beautiful photographs.)
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