Photography Blog Written by Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Photography Gear

DigiBee DB800 by Paul C. Buff

I honestly think the Digibee – the DigiBee DB800 by Paul C. Buff, to be exact – is the most underrated flash unit on the market today. This DigiBee DB800 has been on the market for just about a year now and I will admit that I just started using…
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Photography Advice

80% Of Portrait Photography Is Psychology

I have mentioned often that 80% of portrait photography is psychology and 20% of it is photography. I go into the psychology in a lot of other pieces, so I wanted to take a moment to address that 20%. 20% of portrait photography. . . Understand that the 20% that…
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DIY Photography Tips from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Portrait Lighting Arrangements With DIY LED Studio Lights

Now that you have your own DIY LED studio lights- or you maybe you are planning to build a set- you need to learn how to use it. I’ll walk you through a dozen different ways that I use these lights, plus I’ll give you some not-so-obvious tips that I…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Direct Flash Glamour Shots and Beauty Portraits

If you have tried using direct flash without any modifiers or, even worse yet, put a speed light on top of your camera and aimed it straight at your subject, or even if you haven’t, chances are you’ve heard that direct flash is not a good idea when you’re photographing…
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Photography Gear

Speedlight Photography: What Is a Speedlight Flash?

Speedlights, or speedlites, or speedlight flashes, or hot shoe flashes…. what are they? Why and when should you use them? And how do you use them? A speedlight, like this now discontinued LumoPro 180 below, is simply a small battery-powered flash that is designed to work both on and off…
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Photography Gear

Review of the Lumopro LP180r Off-camera Flash

The LumoPro LP180R, like its predecessor the LP180, is an incredibly well built flash. Unlike the LP180, though, which is a manual-only flash, the LP180R has the Phottix Odin and Strato II Multi receivers built in, plus it has an internal receiver that enables remote power, zoom adjustments, and off-camera…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Bikini Glamour Photography Setup

A few years back, I did this bikini glamour shot for a model’s portfolio. My goal was to do a bikini glamour shot with some personality and energy. Keep in mind, though, that in a commercial modeling portfolio, you don’t want the photos to be too sexy. Mainstream advertisers are…
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Shoot Breakdown

Three light Portrait, Headshot and Beauty Lighting

I want to show you some beauty lighting and a series of headshots done with three lights and a reflector – and NO modifiers on the lights. The modifier was the room that I shot in. In this series of headshots and beauty shots, I was working in my home…
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Photo Shoot Tips

How To Shoot Tethered

Do you prefer to shoot tethered? Do you even know what it means to shoot tethered? How do you decide if you should shoot tethered? It wasn’t that long ago that shooting tethered was reserved for photographers who had big budgets, assistants and super high end gear. Now pretty much…
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Photography Gear

How to Windproof Your Light Stands With a StandDaddy

I have found a cool new gadget called StandDaddy that is easy to transport, easy to set up, lets you easily move your stands, and works great as a stabilizer for both light stands and tripods. Have you ever tried shooting outside on a breezy or windy day and had…
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Photography Advice

Work the Shot to Dramatically Improve Your Photography

Before I go any further, let’s make sure that you know not to be that cliché guy with a camera telling your model “work it baby – that’s hot!” If you really want to improve your photography, work the shot. I’ll also share with you at the end what your…
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DIY Photography Tips from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

DIY Photography LED Studio Lights

Studio lighting can be darn expensive. I’m going to walk you through the steps that I took to build my DIY Kino Flo lights with LED light bulbs for less than 300 dollars! About four years ago I posted a video about building a four light studio light setup with…
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Shoot Breakdown

2 Light Lingerie Glamour Lighting Setup

I’m going to walk you through another one of my keep it super simple (KISS IT) glamour lighting arrangements that requires only two lights and a medium softbox. I also use the all-purpose box that I showed you in my DIY Home Studio blog article and showed you how to…
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Photography Gear

Best Studio Light Modifier: Softbox, Umbrella or Beauty Dish?

Softboxes, Umbrellas, Brolly Boxes, Parabolic Reflectors, Beauty Dishes… which light modifier should I use? Is it better to get silver or white? Which one should I buy first? In this article I’ll help you answer all those questions and more. I get lots of questions about lighting, and one of…
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Shoot Breakdown

Halloween Inspired Three Light Beauty Portrait

Today I have a Halloween-inspired three light beauty portrait tutorial for you guys, done with mixed light sources and with some cool orange gels for effect. This is a fun beauty shot that I did for Halloween a few years back. Like many of my shots, the real credit for…
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Shoot Breakdown

Beauty Portrait with a Beauty Dish, 4 lights & Red Gels

Today I’m going to show you a beauty shot I did with four lights, some red gels and a beauty dish. I will also show you a few awesome variations that I got by working the shot. Watch the VIDEO… This is a beauty shot that I did with a…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

EASY Portrait Lighting that can also be used for a Beauty Shot

A few years ago, I did a simple beauty shot with a three-light portrait lighting setup to help a young makeup artist build her portfolio as well as to help a young model add to her book. The Backstory I am frequently contacted by makeup artists and hair stylists as…
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DIY Photography Tips from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

DIY Portable Background Stand for Studio or Location Shooting

Everybody loves a bargain – especially when you don’t have to sacrifice quality in the process. I want to show you a simple, easy-to-find and inexpensive material that makes a great portrait background that’s also available in loads of different colors. I can even show you how you can use…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Create an Awesome 1 Light Fashion Shot Using Two DIY Gobos

Here’s a one light fashion shot that I did that you can do with a few DIY gobos and a speedlight or a monolight. Plus, I’ll show you how to make this work in almost any sized space. Did I just hear a bunch of people ask what the heck…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Gorgeous Backlit Glamour Lighting

I have a super simple two light fun and sexy glamour lighting setup that puts all the light behind the model. Yes – I said behind the model. I was a child of the 1960’s and one of my absolute favorite sets of photos is a group of black and…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

4 Light Portrait Lighting

Let’s walk through a very flattering and easy -to-work-with four light lighting arrangement that is great for portraits, headshots and beauty shots. I have said many, many times in my videos – Keep it simple stupid. When I am photographing a model or working on a portrait for a client,…
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Shoot Breakdown

One Light & Reflector for Dramatic Portraits

I have a really simple one light portrait lighting set-up that I use for beauty shots and dramatic portraits. I’ll walk you through it and show you how you can add more lights and gels to turn this simple arrangement into a bold and colorful set-up. Are you tired of…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Creative Shutter Drag Technique Combining Flash and Ambient Light

Shutter drag or dragging the shutter is a flash technique. You can do it with speedlights or monolights and it can be used in a studio or on location, depending on the circumstances and the results that you’re after. I’m going to show you some images that use this technique,…
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DIY Photography Tips from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

DIY Gobos

Did you know that a dog toy, a toddler’s wheelbarrow, a house plant, a can of cheap hair spray and even a roll of toilet paper could be some of the best accessories you could own for shooting portraits and models? They can be used as gobos! You’re probably thinking…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Direct Flash Glamour Lighting Tutorial

Somewhere in the learning curve of lighting and photographing beautiful women, photographers are taught that direct flash sucks and you should never use it. Yet, ironically, magazines like Maxim publish several covers a year shot with one light direct flash and the model or celebrity standing in front of a…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

White Background Lighting technique with a softbox or OctoDome

I love white backgrounds for portraits, headshots, and beauty shots. Here, I’ll be walking you through a simple and quick technique to get a pure white background for portraits or product shots. It requires minimal gear, it’s portable, and you can use it in tight space. Read on and I’ll even…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Learn Portrait Lighting With set.a.light 3D Studio Lighting Software

Have you ever found yourself wanting to practice your portrait lighting techniques, but you don’t have a subject available? Do you get nervous when you are shooting someone, because you are afraid that if you run into a problem with your lighting, your subject will lose faith in you? You’re…
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Photography Advice

10 Tips To Find Your Photographic Style

How do I find my photographic style? This question has been coming up a lot lately. Do you know what your style is? More importantly, does it even matter? Here, I list 10 steps you need to take to find YOUR photographic style. More and more, I am finding new…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

One Light Portrait Lighting for Portraits & Headshots

Great lighting is not the result of owning lots of lights. Great light comes from learning to see light. I want to show you how you can create some awesome one-light portrait lighting for portraits and headshots! Every single day, I receive messages asking about lighting. So over a few…
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Photography Advice

What Does It Mean To Be a Professional Photographer?

When can I call myself a professional photographer? What makes a photographer a professional? I have been asked these two questions a lot recently and I have learned that my answer tends to surprise people. So I think it’s time to sit down and have a little talk about what…
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Shoot Breakdown

How To Shoot a Fitness Magazine Cover Shot

Have you ever thought about shooting a fitness magazine cover? You know, the ones with the white background, clean, crisp commercial lighting, three quarter length pose, really fit and sexy subject who looks really happy. . . sound familiar? You see these all the time when you’re in the checkout…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

How To Shoot a Casual Portrait With One Light and One Modifier

The casual portrait is taken in a studio… Which is not exactly a casual setting… So what does it really mean? For me it starts with an attractive subject, photographed in simple casual clothing, in a relaxed posture with simple, flattering light. This is a shot that I would do…
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Photo Shoot Tips

How To Plan a Portrait or Headshot Shoot

Today’s assignment: a headshot sitting, a good old-fashioned business headshot. This isn’t going to be one of those crazy beauty shots with all kinds of makeup and stuff blowing around. This is for marketing purposes for a young woman who’s setting up a practice as a therapist. So let’s get…
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Photography Gear

Best Software Options for Shooting Tethered

Are you ready to start shooting tethered? Are you looking for the best software to use? Tethering doesn’t have to be difficult. In this article, I will break down your options and look at why you might pick one over the other, and I’ll even explain how I create backups…
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Photography Gear

Light Blaster by Spiffy Gear

Stop! Don’t move! Now click that “like” button, or I’ll blast you with my Light Blaster! I bet you’re wondering ‘What the heck is a Light Blaster?’ The Light Blaster is a strobe-based image projector that will let you to turn a simple backdrop into an exciting new background with…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Photographing People With Glasses – How To Avoid Glare in Eyeglasses

One of the most common questions I receive: what’s the best lighting to use for photographing people with glasses, so that you don’t have reflections or glare on eyeglasses? The answer is easy… and I can use any kind of lighting arrangement I want to. I just set my lights,…
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Marketing for Photographers

How To Create an Automated Photo Backup System With Cloud Storage

How many photos do you have stored on your hard drive? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? Maybe a Million? Or, are you like me with 13tb of digital files stored on hard drives? Do you have backups? That’s correct, backups, plural… meaning more than one. If you don’t…
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Marketing for Photographers

How To Create a Killer Photography Website for Your Business

Social Media? Check! Domain Name? Check! Website Hosting? Check! Now what???? Time to put yourself out there and create the website that people will visit to look at your work, learn more about you, contact you and hopefully hire you to photograph their events, their products, their portraits or weddings.…
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Marketing for Photographers

How To Choose the Best Domain Name for a Photography Website

Are you just a little techno-phobic? Does the the thought of building a website give you chills? To begin with you need the best domain name for a photography website to help you stand out in a crowd. If you are getting ready to build a website and trying to…
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Photography Advice

The BEST Photography Composition Rule

If you want to learn about photography composition, fill the frame, fill the frame, fill the frame! Seriously, fill the frame. Hey, gang. Guess what this conversation is about? Yeah, photography composition and why you should fill the frame. I’m honestly kind of dumbfounded. As I’m lecturing and I’m spending…
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Photography Advice

The Most Important Question For Photographers To Ask

I wanted to take a moment to share with you an article that I saw on digital-photography-school.com. It’s about a topic that’s been discussed many, many times for year over. It’s about why asking what camera settings were used is not as helpful as you think. “Can you tell me…
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Photo Shoot Tips

7 Most Important Things To Know About Working With a Makeup Artist

I have had new photographers tell me they are intimidated by the thought of working with a makeup artist. They don’t know how to find one, they don’t know how much to pay them, they don’t know how to communicate with them. And, in all honesty, working with a makeup…
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Photo Shoot Tips

Best Way To Find the Good Side of a Person’s Face

My left side is my good side… no wait – it’s my right side… oh come on – with a face like this – there is no bad side :-) Keep reading and I will explain how to find the good side of a person’s face – to make your…
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Photography Advice

How Important are Photography Conventions and Conferences?

Where can you meet and learn from the most well known photographers? Touch, try, and drool on the latest and greatest photography gear? Meet other like minded photographers and talk and share ideas and stories? At Photography Conventions or Conferences. In this post I am going to talk you to…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Learn How to SEE Light. Remember the Egg!

When I started telling the egg story in my workshops many years ago, I got the sense that people were just humoring me as they sat there nodding their heads as if they understood the message. So I went ahead and recorded a video to show what I was talking…
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Photo Shoot Tips

6 Best Reasons to Work with a Makeup Artist

For better portraits, headshots and beauty images, work with a makeup artist! Do you think this young woman would prefer to look like this? Or this? That’s what I thought. So until next time, keep learning, keep… Huh, ohhh you expected me to make a long and passionate speech about…
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DIY Photography Tips from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

DIY Home Photography Studio Setup

If you are going to photograph people in a studio setting, well, you need to own or rent a photography studio, right? Wrong! You can build a home photography studio similar to what I have, in your own basement. Ten years ago, I decided it was time to give up…
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Photography Gear

Best Lens for Portrait Photography and Headshots

So you’re ready to begin shooting portraits or headshots. Now, the question is: what is the best lens for portrait photography?? This is a question that has multiple answers depending on several factors. First and MOST important – what is your style of photography and what kind of portrait does…
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Photography Advice

STOP asking for Constructive Criticism on your Photography

And STOP being so quick to give bad constructive criticism! Stop it, stop it, stop it! Posting your pictures on Facebook, Flickr, 500px or ANY website with those two horrible words – Constructive Criticism – is NOT helping your photography. For years, I have watched photographers posting their works online…
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Photography Advice

Best Way to Dramatically Improve Your Photography Skills

Hey gang! If you’re reading this, then you’re either really bored, think I write better than J. K. Rowling (which I assure you I do not), or you want to improve your photography skills. If the last one is the case, BRAVO! You’ve come to the right place. Improving as…
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Photography Advice

It’s Okay To Suck if You Want To Be a Great Photographer

You heard me right… Don’t be afraid to SUCK! if you want to become a great photographer. Yes, it’s okay to fail in order to become a better photographer. In fact, you need to fail if you want to improve your skills! Think about it- the lessons that tend to…
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Marketing for Photographers

Social Media for Photographers

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, SnapChat, TikTok, 500pixels, Flickr… so many choices, so little time. Where should you post your photos? Do you need to be on all of those websites? Which ones will help you find new customers? How often do you need to post? What days and what…
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Marketing for Photographers

Top Ten Social Media Tips for Photographers

Do you like to share your photos online? Are you trying to build a following so that you can turn semi-pro or even become a full-time professional? Are you already pro and struggling to build your business? In this article I will share my top ten social media tips to…
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Photography Advice

Don’t be a ZOMBIE Photographer

Merry Christmas! Happy Hannukah, Habari gani… well, you get the idea. It’s the holiday season and as we near the end of 2016 I wanted to take a few minutes and share with you MY Holiday wish lists for all of you. This year has been an incredible ride, meeting…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

How To Use a Reflector the Right Way for Better Portraits

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Seriously – PLEASE STOP using reflectors to create crappy unflattering light. TV shows, movies, and unfortunately even YouTube photographers seem to think it’s really cool to do that low angle gold reflector that blinds your subject, makes ridiculously bright catchlights in the bottom of…
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Photography Gear

DIY Fluorescent Studio Lighting

I have received an incredible response from the article and video series that I produced about the DIY Fluorescent Studio Lighting Set-up (See original video below). I have also received TONS of questions about the fixtures and how to use them so it is time to write a quick follow-up…
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Shoot Breakdown

Body Painting – The Mermaid Model Project

The Mermaid Model Project is a body painting and digital scenery shot that was conceived and executed by Philadelphia based makeup artist Morgan Chalfant. (www.MorganTheMakeupArtist.com) Body Painting Concept We made the decision early in our discussions that we didn’t want a Disney styled mermaid. We wanted a look that was…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

High Key Lighting With Three Studio Lights And A White Room

“High Key Lighting is a bright even light that is designed to eliminate most of the shadows in a photograph“ This set-up is a high key lighting arrangement that uses three studio strobes (You could also do it with Speedlight’s or hot lights) and it takes advantage of the studio…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Dramatic Beauty Portrait – Shot With 2 Lights

Here is a recent dramatic beauty portrait lighting technique that I did at the end of a modeling portfolio shoot. I did the shot with just 2 flash heads and one of them; was BOUNCED onto the ceiling. The model is a young 16-year-old from Cleveland, Ohio who traveled here…
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Photography Lighting Techniques from Joe Edelman (Cr.Photog.)

Lighting Setup for the Sci-FI Geisha Girl Shoot

Sci-fi Geisha Girl! That’s the name that my makeup artist gave to her latest creation. Let’s take a peek behind the scenes at my lighting setup and I will show you how we did this beauty shot. Let me start out by saying that this is one of those pictures…
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