Happy New Year to you! I hope that you had a safe and Happy New Year and that you set some good, achievable resolutions for 2012.

This is the first post of 2012 discussing special effect lighting with flash units. I briefly discuss special effect lighting and demonstrate how I used multiple flash units and gels to create a special effect photo for a client.

Just knowing how to point the camera and take a “creative” photo is not enough to out compete the competition. I’ve put together 7 essential skills every aspiring photographer must possess in order to get to the “next level” of their photography business.

OK, so, by now,  you may have heard the term grid spot? No, not grid square, which is an area on a map, but grid spots. If you don’t know what they are, no worries. I’ll tell you all about these light modifiers below. Once reserved for studio strobes, grid spots have found their way [...]

As photographers, we are faced with dealing with clients daily. Sometimes we run into that not so easy to deal with client. I’ve listed a few tips on dealing with them and saving the day, and your reputation. You can also discuss this issue in our new forum!!

Whether you are an amateur or a professional photographer you should consider employing some basic measures and habits when it comes to safeguarding your camera while you’re on vacation, or out taking pictures. I often hear from people that have their cameras stolen from them while at an event or that they drop it, just [...]

I think that Murphy guy was right when he said, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!  It seemed to be true in a recent photo shoot of mine anyway. I had been planning a photo shoot for several months. A casting was posted on LACastings.com for two actors to play a mature/senior adult [...]

The exploded view image, definition and its use in design Using exploded view photography in your design projects, especially product catalogs can dramatically enhance your designs as well as help readers understand the benefits of the product. But first, what exactly is an exploded view? Chances are you have used a set of instructions to [...]

While setting up a stock photography shoot with models is not a complicated task, it does require planning and a good sense of organization on your part. I recently organized a small stock photography shoot with a few other exclusive iStockphoto.com photographers: we where able to plan and organize the photo shoot in a week [...]

If someone would have told me in my high school photo class that I would be photographing people, I would have laughed…and hard. I can remember when I first began learning how to develop film and take photos in photo class back in high school. My only photographic interest was to capture scenic images.  Mainly [...]

Back in the day when I was using film to capture my images, I tended to favor black and white film over it’s color counterpart. My favorite choice for black and white was Illford FP4 or HP5 followed by Agfa APX25. Those where some great films that will be missed. As digital came along and [...]

In today’s competitive marketplace, a graphic designer must possess skills other than their technical expertise in design software and basic design principles. The modern graphic designer has to wear different hats if they are to survive and gain employment in the shrinking design and marketing departments of companies and agencies. Other than technical skills in [...]

Introducing the Senior Portrait Ambassador program from Alyn Stafford Photography. This year, I have added new services to my photography product line: high senior portraits. I’m particularly excited about the new services because I ‘m able to offer high school seniors what I have been offering couples and families all along; quality photography which represents [...]