Light Painting Photography Video Tutorial

In this video, we’re going to show you how to capture a light painted portrait with both a DSLR and an iPhone using string lights to create motion in this quick 4-minute tutorial. This video is an excerpt from our course Creative Photography 101 that dives deep into a whole new world of unique and ingenious photo techniques that will set you apart no matter what camera you prefer to use.

Step-by-Step Tutorial for Lighting Painting Photography

Light painting photography is a fun and creative way to capture unique and stunning images. Whether you’re a professional photographer or a beginner, you can create incredible light paintings with any camera.   Let’s discuss the basic steps to light painting photography.

Get the Right Light Painting Gear

While you can create light paintings with just a camera and a light source, there are a few pieces of equipment that can make the process easier and more enjoyable. A tripod is essential for keeping your camera stable during long exposures, and a remote shutter release will prevent camera shake when taking the photo. Additionally, a flashlight or headlamp can be helpful for finding your way around in the dark.

Before we dive into the actual tutorial, let’s discuss what we used to create this technique:

• Cameras and Lenses – Canon 5D Mark IV paired with a Sigma 50mm Art f/1.4 and an iPhone 11 Pro Max to show you that light painting can be done on pretty much any camera, even your phone.
• Tripod – Peak Design Travel Tripod: This has become a staple in our collection, especially when it comes to mobile phone photography. With different mount options available, this tripod helps to stabilize phones for creative mobile photography like you’ll see in this video. For light painting, it is required to have a tripod to stabilize your shot.
• Light Painting Source – When it comes to choosing light sources, there are many options available. Some popular choices include flashlights, glow sticks, sparklers, LED Hybrid Light, amazon String Lightsand even fireworks. Each type of light source produces a different effect, so it’s worth experimenting with different options to find the look that best suits your style.•
• Colored Film Gels or colored tissue paper – If you don’t have a light source that can change colors, use gels to change the color of the light source.
• Wireless Shutter Remote Control Release – A wireless shutter remote will allow you to capture the photos without touching the camera.  This will be helpful to prevent camera shake.
• Editing Tools – Both images you’ll see as the final products in the tutorial were edited in Lightroom & Lightroom Mobile using Visual Flow Presets.

Determine Your Light Painting Location

Light painting photography often requires a controlled dark environment to achieve the desired results, and various light sources, such as flashlights, LED lights, or even fire, can be utilized to add a diverse range of colors and shapes to the final photograph.  Here are a few things to consider when choosing a light painting location:

• Dark Location – Whether you are shooting in a studio or your home, find a dark space where you can cut away most of the ambient light. Since we are slowing down our shutter speed, we will be opening up the light coming into the camera which means our ambient light exposure needs to be pitch black.
• Interesting Background – Choose a location that will provide interesting backgrounds and surfaces for your light paintings.
• Permission – Make sure you have permission to be in the location and that it’s safe to shoot at night.

It’s also a good idea to prepare your light sources ahead of time. For example, if you’re using glow sticks, activate them and attach them to your light source so they’re ready to go when you start shooting.

Place Your Camera on a Tripod

We mentioned above that the Peak Design Travel Tripod is one of our favorites in our kit; and it’s largely in part because of the multiple mounts that you can get for when you don’t want to lug around your DSLR or mirrorless camera everywhere. A tripod is crucial for this technique because we want to prevent camera shake since our shutter speed is so slow.

Dial-in Ambient Light Exposure

In terms of camera settings, you’ll want to use a low ISO setting to reduce noise in your images, and a small aperture to create a greater depth of field. Additionally, shooting in manual mode will give you full control over your camera’s settings, allowing you to make adjustments as needed. Use an an exposure that doesn’t blow out, i.e. overexpose your light source and retains the highlights.

The key to light painting is using a long exposure time, typically between 5 and 30 seconds, to capture the light trails and patterns created by your light sources. The longer the exposure time, the more time you have to create intricate and detailed light paintings. Start with a shutter speed of 5 to 10 seconds when light painting and then dial your Aperture and ISO to black out the room.  Then shorten or extend the shutter speed time to taste as you play around.

Bulb Mode – You can also turn your camera to the B or Bulb Mode, a setting that keeps the shutter open for as long as you need to paint your picture. You’ll control that with your wireless shutter.

iPhone – If you’re on an iPhone, newer models such as the one we used in this video, have Night Mode which allows you to slow your shutter speed down in the native camera app. Fret not – if you own an older model or a different phone altogether you can download the Pro Camera App by Moment which has become one of my must-have photography apps.

Instruct Your Subject to Hold Still

Another crucial element to nailing focus in a shot like this is to advise your subject to remain as still as possible. Since we are creating movement with the string lights, we want our subject to be still throughout the shutter drag. You can even explain to them what you are attempting to do so that they have a clearer understanding of how to pose.

Get Creative with Light Painting

There are many different techniques you can use to create unique and interesting light paintings. One popular approach is to paint light around your subject’s face or body, creating a dramatic and dynamic effect.

All that’s left is to step behind the subject, set your camera on a timer and press the shutter. Once the shutter opens start spinning the lights to create a pattern. For this tutorial, we kept it simple and just had the lights spinning in a circle but you can try different shapes, outline the subject’s body, or even change your positioning. Play around and see which one you like best but make sure to take a couple of shots to ensure that your subject is in fact still and there is no blur of their face or body parts. Here are the final images with Shiv’s shot on the Canon 5D Mark IV and Jae’s shot on an iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Creative Light Painting Photography Ideas

To solidify your understanding of these concepts, here is another Light Painting Video Tutorial. In this video, we’re going to walk through more creative light painting photography effects featuring our lovely model Renee.

These three photos were taken consecutively, as you’ll see in the video. It just goes to show what kind of variety in the imagery you can get with light painting photography.

Creative Idea 1 | Circular Motion Light Painting

To achieve this look swipe the light in a semi-circle or circular motion, depending on how far around your hand can rotate. Keep the light close to the subject to fill more of the frame, or back up and create a circular frame surrounding the subject’s body. With all of these light painting photography ideas, make sure you take multiple shots to ensure that they are sharp and your subject isn’t moving.

Creative Idea 2 | Waves in Light Painting

Adding a bit more motion, swipe the light from left to right in windshield wiper-like motion. This allows you to see the tiny LED light streaks across the frame and adds a bit more interest to the light. Test out a few different wave patterns and make sure they are pleasing to the eye rather than being a distraction for the viewer. You can use these as leading lines as well.

Creative Idea 3 | Highlight with Light Painting

Use the light to paint out the subject and chisel them from the background. You can see that this is a much tighter composition, however, it still shows great detail and graphically interesting.

Bonus Light Painting Tips

To create more than one letter or shape without having them run together, simply turn the flashlight off after you finish one word, then move over a bit and turn the flashlight on for your next letter. You can get some funky effects if you have some light spill onto the person doing the painting.

Conclusion

Light painting photography is a fun and creative way to explore your artistic side and capture stunning images. With the right equipment, techniques, and post-processing, you can create amazing light paintings with any camera. Remember to be patient, persistent, and creative, and don’t be afraid to experiment with different approaches and techniques to find the ones that work best for you.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, make sure you check out our Tik Tok where we’ve been sharing fun mobile photography tutorials just like this one! Be sure to sign up to be the first to know when our Creative Photography 101 course releases to learn more fun tips & tricks to level up your creativity game.

Video: How to Use Portrait Mode on iPhone

In this short masterclass, we expand on the 20 Tips and Tricks for iPhone Photography that we covered in a previous article and teach you all about the iPhones Portrait Mode.  No matter how tempting, I am going to advise you not to photograph something as basic and boring as the image on the left. I’ll walk you through exactly how we achieved the image on the right and how to use Portrait Mode on iPhone so you won’t struggle with it ever again!

Watch the full tutorial below, and if you enjoy this type of content, make sure you check out our newest release: Creative Photography 101! 

iPhone Portrait Mode Tips

Here are the tips we presented in the short video, along with additional tips for capturing beautiful iPhone Portrait Mode photos.

Understand when to use it and when not to use it

The Portrait mode is specifically designed for standard portraits, where the subject is the primary focus. It excels at creating a pleasing separation between the subject and the background, blurring the latter for an aesthetically pleasing effect.

However, it may not be suitable for wide-angle shots or environmental portraits, where you want to capture more of the surroundings.  It can also struggle with large groups. While in each of these scenarios, the phone will still take a picture, you’re better off using the standard photo mode. Consider the context and intent of your photo to decide whether to use Portrait mode or opt for other shooting modes.

Understand the limitations and sacrifices of Portrait mode

Before diving into Portrait mode, it’s important to be aware of its limitations.

• Firstly, Portrait mode may not support live mode.
• Additionally, there might be a slight delay between pressing the shutter button and when the photo is actually captured. Therefore, timing your shots becomes crucial to capture the desired moment.
• Portrait mode might also result in a slower frame rate compared to regular shooting modes, making it challenging to capture moving subjects.

Find a Background, Less Busier the Better!

In order to create the Portrait Mode look (shallow depth of field), the iPhone camera uses depth mapping to figure out what is in the foreground of the image.  Data from the wide-angle and telephoto lenses are used to compute a depth map, which then artificially blurs objects depending on how far they are from the in-focus subject.

Opt for backgrounds that are less busy and less distracting, allowing the subject to be the focal point. Solid-colored walls, natural landscapes, or simple textures can work well. By minimizing visual clutter, you can draw attention to the subject and create a visually pleasing composition.

Create Distance Between You and the Subject

To utilize Portrait mode effectively, create some distance between you (the photographer) and the subject. The iPhone prompts you to ‘Move Further Away’ when it can’t detect a clear subject. This likely means your camera is too close to the subject for the technology to map the depth. This will take some trial and error, but start making small adjustments by taking one step at a time away from your subject until you see the background blur. Portrait mode works best at a moderate distance. If you move too far away, the camera may struggle to detect the subject properly and apply the desired depth of field effect.

Choose a Flattering Perspective

Unlike the standard lens that comes with iPhones (~28mm equivalent), the Telephoto lens is a much more zoomed-in focal length (~52mm). This means that when you switch from the standard lens to Portrait Mode you’re going to see a more zoomed-in image on your phone. In this example, you’ll see that we can still see some of the concrete sidewalk in the frame, and it takes away from the green landscape around our subject. To avoid that, I rotated the lens and brought it closer to the ground to conceal the concrete. Play around with your framing to ensure you’re still in a position to blur out the background.

Pose & Photograph Your Portrait!

There’s nothing left but to shoot! If you move from your original position or have your subject move, the phone may take a couple of moments to adjust to the new position and give you the same message as we saw in Step 2; however, it should be pretty quick to detect subtle movements. The final image was edited in Lightroom Mobile using Visual Flow Presets using the Crush Pack!

Conclusion

With the iPhone Portrait mode, you have a powerful tool at your disposal to capture stunning portraits. By understanding its strengths, limitations, and following the tips outlined in this article, you can elevate your portrait photography game. Remember to experiment, practice, and develop your own style while utilizing the iPhone Portrait mode to create captivating and professional-looking portraits.

If you enjoyed this tutorial on how to use Portrait Mode with iPhones, check out Creative Photography 101, our newest course dedicated to teaching you how to shoot and edit pro photos with just your phone. All photos in this course were taken on my iPhone 11 Pro Max to emphasize that it isn’t about the gear, it’s about the magic you can create with any camera! 

How to Photograph the Milky Way | Table of Contents

1. Plan the Best Times for Milky Way Photography
2. Use Apps To Locate The Milky Way Core
3. Pick the Right Lens
4. Use a Sturdy Tripod
5. Scout the Location Before it Gets Dark
6. Choose the Right Exposure Settings
7. Set Perfect Focus on The Stars

Plan the Best Times and Locations for Milky Way Photography

When learning how to photograph the Milky Way, it’s important to remember that timing and Location are critical for good Milky Way photography.  The milky way core is not visible every single night of the year and varies by hemisphere.  Here is a brief summary for the northern hemisphere.  For the southern hemisphere, add or subtract 6 months.

• Mid-February – The Milky Way core will rise just before sunrise.
• April – The Milky Way will rise at about midnight, and be visible in the sky for the rest of the night.
• Mid-June, The Milky Way will rise just after sunset, and will be visible all night long.
• July – The Milk Way will have already risen by the time it gets completely dark and it will set during the night.
• August-October –The Milky Way will still be visible; however, it will set earlier and earlier each night, until in October when there will only be a very brief window of visibility before the Milky Way sets.
• November, December, and January, the Milky Way core will not be very visible at all.

In addition, Milky Way photography requires little to no light pollution, little to no moon light, and little to no clouds. We’ve dedicated an entire article on The Best Time To See The Milky Way, so be sure to read that before heading out!

Use Apps To Locate The Milky Way Core

The next step in learning how to photograph the Milky Way is get an app that shows you how to find the Milky Way. Mobile apps like Sun Surveyor, PhotoPills, and The Photographer’s Ephemeris are three of the most popular, and they should have both paid and free or trial versions. These apps will tell you where the Milky Way Core will be, and when.

For example, right now it’s winter here in the northern hemisphere, so the Milky Way isn’t visible at night, so I’m planning my Milky Way photography adventures for the spring of next year right now.

 Pick The Right Lens

If you want to learn how to take pictures of the milky way, you’ll first need a fast, wide-angle lens. Typically, astrophotographers recommend anything that is at least 24mm or wider. 24mm prime lenses are very popular because they can be even faster than f/2.8 zoom lenses.

A great option is the Samyang 24mm f/1.8 lens, which provides amazing image quality, yet it’s extremely compact, lightweight, and relatively affordable among 24mm prime lenses. You may want to go wider than 24mm, of course, and if so, you have a few more compact, lightweight, (and affordable) options such as Canon’s RF 16mm f/2.8, or, for Sony users, the  Samyang/Rokinon 18mm f/2.8. Alternatively, there’s the equivalent for APS-C cameras, the brand-new 12mm f/2 AF.

Last but not least, of course, the classic ultra-wide prime lens, the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 comes in quite a few different options, including AF versions for Sony and Canon mirrorless, and MF versions that are available for Sony, Canon, Nikon, and other mounts as well.

Either way, you want a 24mm or wider lens, with an aperture of f/2.8 or faster. In this article, we’re only recommending relatively affordable, portable options, however there are many exotic options, too! For more lens options, see our full list of the best lenses for milky way photography.

Use a Sturdy Tripod

Of course, you’ll need a tripod! You already knew that. But a really sturdy, strong tripod will be your new best friend (besides your favorite lens). Simply put, if you’re trying to use a cheap, wobbly tripod that you bought on Wish, you might still be getting blurry photos, even from a light breeze. Not all tripods are equal! So, even if you have a fancy lightweight travel tripod, you might also want to have a big, heavy, sturdy one for those shooting opportunities that don’t require lots of travel. Also, always check your tripod legs and make sure they are fully locked before you attach your camera! Always check and make sure your tripod head is tight and locked before you start shooting. Never step away from your tripod if there is a light breeze blowing! It’s impossible to learn how to take pictures of the milky way without establishing the importance of a tripod.  Here are some of our favorite tripods:

• Most compact for travel: Peak Design Travel Tripod ($379 | B&H)
• Best for ultralight hiking/backpacking: SLIK Sprint 150 Aluminum Tripod ($59 | B&H)
• Best for medium-duty, everyday work: Manfrotto Befree Aluminum Tripod ($179 | B&H)
• Best heavy-duty, large tripod: Slik 700DX Pro AMT Tripod ($99 | B&H)

Once again, note that here we are only recommending the affordable options because we believe this is where it is very important to avoid truly poor quality and get something durable. There are, of course, “exotic” tripods costing over $1,000 (including a head) and they’re all excellent choices too.

Scout the Location Before it Gets Dark

This one sounds basic but it’s very important, both for getting gorgeous photos and for your own safety! Stumbling around in the dark trying to find the right location, especially in the mountains or wilderness, is a very bad idea.

A great nightscape photo needs a good main subject besides the night sky! If you don’t figure out what your subject/foreground will be before it gets dark, there’s a good chance you’ll get either a boring photo or a shot with a poor composition/framing. So, get there early, look around, be safe, (avoid slippery slopes/cliffs/rivers, etc), and try to practice ‘Leave No Trace’ while you get yourself set up to spend a night under the stars outdoors.

Then, just enjoy the sunset, (take some pictures!) and wait for the stars to come out! Of course, you should also have an astrophotography app on your phone, like PhotoPills or Sun Surveyor, to tell you where things like the Milky Way are going to be, (and the moon phase, very important!) …so that you can point your camera in the right direction, on the right night, at the right time of year!

Milky Way Photography Camera Settings

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when learning how to photograph the Milky Way is not understanding exposure. You are going to be pushing the limits of your camera and lens, so it’s no surprise that many people come home with a lot of totally dark, under-exposed images, a few totally blown-out long exposures, and maybe if they’re lucky, a few half-decent exposures. How do you set a good exposure every time? Check your histogram every time! With ultra-dark conditions, especially if there is zero moonlight or “light painting” to shine on your scene, your camera’s LCD will deceive you every time. Check the histogram! Here’s the thing: you will have to forget about “ETTR” or “ETTL”, and just try to get your exposure in the middle of the histogram. That’s a good start!

If you expose the night sky very brightly, you’ll actually wash out the color in the stars, and they’ll all be white dots, or worse, if your shutter speed is too long, they’ll be star trails. If you expose the foreground of your scene too darkly, however, you will not be able to just recover the shadows like you can with a normal daytime landscape, because the high ISO you’ll be using will not have the same dynamic range. What exposure settings are a good start, by the way? ISO 3200 or 6400, f/2.8 or f/1.8, and anywhere between 4 seconds and 30 seconds, depending on the conditions. Start there, and then adjust your exposure as needed to get your histogram looking better!

Remember the 500 Rule

The 500 rule is based on a simple concept – the earth’s rotation causes stars to move in the sky, so if your shutter speed is too long, you’ll get a star trail. Before the days of high-resolution digital cameras, you used to be able to just take the number 500, divide it by your focal length, (say, 20mm) and that would give you a number that is the shutter speed, in seconds, that you can shoot at. However, now that we have 30, 40, even 50-megapixel cameras this rule just doesn’t work as well. For starters, just throw away the number 500, and start with the number 250 instead.

There’s one challenge that comes with finding the perfect exposure that makes things even more difficult sometimes. Unfortunately, if your shutter speed is too long, the stars will go from pinpoint dots to star trails. If you’re just posting low-res images on posting on social media, then all you really need to do is take the number 500, divide it by your focal length, and that is your shutter speed! (500/24mm = ~20 seconds!) However, if you’re going to make big prints from a high-megapixel camera and want pinpoint stars, try using the number 250 instead of 500 for your shutter speed calculation. By the way, DO NOT trust your camera’s LIVE histogram! They are often highly inaccurate in extremely dark conditions. ONLY trust the histogram of an actual test exposure.

Use the 2-Second Shutter Release

In order to prevent camera shake, set your camera to a 2-second shutter release so that way you can press the shutter button and avoid moving your setup. This is especially important for longer exposures and avoiding star movement.

For more information, see our article on the Ideal Camera Settings for Milky Way Photography.

Set Perfect Focus on The Stars

Setting focus on the stars can be extremely frustrating if you’re not using the right technique. The best way to do this is to use live view! First, point your camera toward the brightest star (or planet) in the sky. It doesn’t have to be in the exact center of the frame, but it’s a good idea if it’s not in a corner, too. Then, with your aperture set wide-open, magnify your live view to 100% or 200%, right on that star. Use manual focus, and start with the lens set near infinity. But, don’t just trust your camera or lens even if it says infinity, there can be a broad range for “infinity focus”, unfortunately. Manually focus back and forth a little bit around infinity, and watch that bright star come in and out of focus until you can perfectly nail it. Once you set focus, leave it alone!

The Samyang 24mm f/1.8 has a bonus feature that will prove very, very helpful for those wanting to learn how to take pictures of the milky way. Not only is the manual focusing very smooth and precise, allowing you to easily focus perfectly on stars, BUT, there is also a green light that will stay illuminated when it is set to perfect infinity! You can fine-tune the exact focus position that leaves this light illuminated, and it will remember the focus point within the lens’ optics themselves, not just an electronic measurement for focus.

Shoot Your Foreground Before It Gets 100% Dark!

Before it gets totally dark, however, set up your shot, frame the scene, lock down your tripod, and shoot a few exposures of the foreground as blue hour goes by. Because later, especially if you don’t have a super-fast lens or a camera body with stellar high-ISO performance, it might get so pitch-dark that the image quality of your foreground will be terribly noisy and underexposed.

Consider Milky Way Photography with Portraits

While challenging, photographing the milky way with people in the photo is possible.  This requires the subject to hold very still and for the photographer to use flash to help “freeze” the subject.  To learn this, see our guide on How To Photograph The Milky Way With A Portrait Subject.

Video: 5 Essential Tips on How to Take Pictures of the Milky Way

To help you digest all of this information, see this video that we created on How to take perfect milky way photos.

More Information

To learn more about Milky Way Photography, see our full Milky Way Workshop inside of SLR Lounge Premium.

Video: 10 Tips for Editing Wedding Photos in Less Than 1 Hour!

1. Shoot Compressed RAW
2. Shoot in Manual Mode
3. In-Camera Color Temperature
4. Use a High Speed Card/Reader
5. How You Import Matters!
6. Import to a Fast Internal Drive
7. Simplify Your Culling
8. Use AI-based Editors
9. Sync Photos Per Scene
10. Final Review & Signature Edit

Step #1: Shoot Compressed RAW

The first step to editing wedding photos begins before you shoot a single photograph. If your camera has the option, shoot medium or compressed RAW. Shooting in RAW is a given for its flexibility in post. However, today’s cameras often come with 50+ megapixels, but for portrait work, you don’t need more than 20-30.

By scaling down, you’ll not only save a ton of storage space, but your editing machine will run faster due to the smaller file sizes without a reduction in quality.

Step #2: Shoot in Manual Mode

Having consistent exposures is critical for batch processing and shooting in manual mode is your best bet for achieving this. Aperture/Shutter priority still rely on some level of auto-exposure that varies depending on what your camera is pointing at. These exposure differences will bog down your editing workflow since you’ll need to individually correct each image that is off.

Adjusting your camera settings on the fly to changing scenes gets easier with time. Once adjusted, you’ll get consistent exposures every time regardless of where you are.

Step #3: Adjust Color Temperature/Tint In-Camera

Once you’re comfortable with manual exposure, start adjusting your color temperature/tint in-camera. Much like having consistent exposures, having your color temperature already set will save a ton of time in post.

On top of that, it’ll help your AI-based editor immediately understand your intentions with your image. More on that later.

Step #4: Use a High Speed Card & Reader

While we’re waiting for direct-to-cloud capture, we’re stuck with memory cards. It’s important to keep in mind that memory cards and card readers are not created equally. Make sure you’re using a high speed memory card as well as a high speed memory card reader. Having a high speed memory card reader can save you 10 minutes just from the import process. Even more so if you’re uploading multiple full cards.

Step #5: How You Import Matters!

Use these settings when importing into Lightroom:

1. Build Preview > Minimal
2. Check “Build Smart Previews”
3. Check “Don’t Import Suspected Duplicates”
4. Leave other two options unchecked.
5. Select your baseline look or preset if you’re planning on editing manually.
6. Select “None” if you plan to edit using an AI-based editor.

Step #6: Import to Your Fastest Internal Drive

Don’t use external hard drives. Sorting through and editing high volumes of high-resolution images requires a ton of data bandwidth. An external hard drive will likely slow down that process (though if you must, make sure it’s an SSD connected to the fastest port available).

Ideally, you’ll want to import your images and keep your catalogs on a local SSD drive.

Step #7: Simplify Your Culling

I’ve seen many photographers assign specific meanings to their star-rating system. I’d advise against this as doing so only complicates your culling process.

Instead of having to spend more time on these complex judgment calls, try out what we call “Culling-In.” This means that you’re going to assume that every image is going to be rejected unless you flag it as a keeper. As you move through each image, you’ll only be thinking one thing: Do I want to deliver this image?

For added efficiency, turn on “Auto Advance” which will automatically move you to the next image after flagging, saving keystrokes.

Step #8: Use AI-Based Editors

Here, I want to introduce Impossible Things, our new AI-based Lightroom native plugin. It’s the only AI editor (that I know of) that can be used with your own presets.

After installing, simply go to Plug-in Extras > Edit Photos. From there, select your preset, select your additional settings such as AI Portrait Retouching, and hit proceed. Impossible things will do the rest and after a brief moment, your work will essentially be done.

If you choose to use an AI-based editor, you can skip to Step #10.

Step #9: Sync Your Photos Per Scene

If you’re editing wedding photos manually, you should have your preset applied on import. From here, I suggest that you work by camera and by scene.

Make your adjustments to the first image of a given scene. Then, select the last image in that scene, and copy all of your adjustments over. Repeat for each new scene until all of your images are edited.

If you’re working with multiple cameras, filter through your cameras by selecting “Camera Serial Number” (In case there are more than one of the same camera). Follow the steps to edit the first scene, then move to the same scene on the next camera(s), ensuring that any differences in camera profiles are corrected. Follow the same steps for each scene.

Note that AI-based editing tools such as Impossible Things will actually sync all of your cameras for you!

Related Reading: 4 Steps for Cohesive Editing in Lightroom

Step #10: Final Review & Signature Edits

Whether you’re editing wedding photos manually or using AI, always review for consistency and make any necessary minor adjustments. As you review, mark your favorites to add in your signature look. These are the images you’ll want to have featured in albums and blog posts so be sure to give them some extra love at the end.

Conclusion

That’s it! From there, export and prepare your images for delivery.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, be sure to check out our complete Mastering Lightroom course on SLR Lounge Premium. You can also visit Visual Flow for our entire library of Lightroom presets and retouching tools. Lastly, check out Impossible Things and how you can integrate them into your own professional workflow.

Don’t miss our next episode of Mastering Your Craft on Adorama’s YouTube channel next week! If you want to catch up on all the episodes, make sure you check out our playlist!

Video: How to Set Your Exposure Artistically Using Manual Mode

Before we dive in, be sure to give Sabrina a follow on Instagram. For today’s tutorial, I’ll be using the Canon EOS R5 with the RF 28-70mm f/2L lens.

The Exposure Triangle

The exposure triangle consists of the Aperture, ISO, and Shutter Speed. Each of these directly controls the overall exposure, however, they also have an artistic side. Within this framework, all we have to do is think of the artistic side first. Let’s see how each setting affects the photo.

Related Reading: How to Get the Correct Exposure | The Exposure Triangle

Shutter Speed

This is the speed at which the shutter of the camera opens and closes. A faster shutter speed will let less light in. The slower the shutter speed, the more light. Simple, right? The artistic side of the shutter speed is whether we want to freeze or show motion.

If we want to show motion, we use a slow shutter speed. To freeze motion, we use a higher shutter speed.

Aperture

The aperture is the size of the iris in the lens. The smaller the iris, the less light gets through. The larger the iris, the more light. In your camera settings, the higher numbers (f/22, f/16) correspond to a smaller iris, and the lower number (f/1.4, f/2.8) indicates a larger iris.

The aperture affects the depth of field. A wide open aperture captures a shallow depth of field, leaving much of the background and foreground blurred. A closed aperture captures a deep depth of field, meaning more of the image will be sharp.

ISO

Same thing with the ISO. The higher the ISO, the more light the sensor will capture. The lower the ISO, the less light. However, there is also an artistic side to this.

A high ISO will capture less quality in the color and detail. You’ll also begin see grain and noise. A lower ISO will capture a cleaner image.

Setting Your Exposure Settings

Let’s see this in action. I framed Sabrina so that she’s right in the highlight of the sun behind her.

1. Think of the most important setting to capturing your specific look. In this case, the background is pretty busy. To draw more focus to Sabrina, I’ll need to create depth and blur out the background. This means that I’ll have to start with the aperture by setting it as wide as it can to f/2.
2. Then, let’s look at the shutter speed. There’s hardly any motion in this simple portrait shot but I do want to make sure things are sharp. A shutter speed of 1/250 will do the trick.
3. At this point, my ISO is at 100, but the exposure indicates that it’s still a touch too bright. My options are to either lower the ISO or raise the shutter speed. I opted for the latter, and set my shutter speed to 1/320.

Lastly, I used the histogram to make sure I was capturing all the highlight detail while avoiding clipping the shadows.

Here’s the final exposure at 1/320 sec, f/2, ISO 100.

Conclusion

Let’s review with what to ask in each step of setting your exposure.

1. What is the most artistically significant setting?
2. What is the second most artistically significant setting?
3. Use ISO as the last piece to get the right exposure.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, check out SLR Lounge Premium where you can find everything you need to build your dream photography business. You’ll find courses such as Mastering Lightroom, Photography Business Training Course, Flash Photography Training System, and more.

You can also visit Visual Flow for our entire library of Lightroom presets and retouching tools, designed to make your editing workflow simple and seamless.

Don’t miss our next episode of Mastering Your Craft on Adorama’s YouTube channel next week! If you want to catch up on all the episodes, make sure you check out our playlist!

Video: 5 Best & Worst Things About Being a Professional Wedding Photographer

Pro #1: Your Weekday Schedule is Flexible
Con #1: Your Weekends Are Gone
Pro #2: You Can Make Great Money
Con #2: Your Income Fluctuates
Pro #3: Work is Meaningful & Enjoyable
Con #3: You Are Running a Business
Pro #4: Travel & Meet Tons of New People
Con #4: It’s Tough on the Body
Pro #5: The Sky is Your Limit
Con #5: You Create Your Structure

Related Reading: 10 Critical Tips for First-Time Wedding Photographers

Pro #1: Your Weekday Schedule is Flexible

Most weddings are on the weekends. That means your weekdays are free for you to design as you see fit. That doesn’t mean your weekdays will be completely free. You’ll have editing, client meetings, and likely local portrait sessions to take care of. However, you will have the flexibility to create your schedule, which is perfect if you have a family or other business ventures.

Con #1: Your Weekends Are Gone

While it’s awesome to have a flexible weekday schedule, the downside is that your weekends are almost exclusively reserved for bookings. This is especially the case earlier in your career when you aren’t yet able to command a premium rate. For the first few years as a professional wedding photographer, every weekend will likely be a grind. Once you hit those higher rates, you can start pulling back on the number of bookings. For reference, it took me 5 years to hit that $10K mark. At that rate, you can make a great living shooting only 10-20 weddings a year.

Pro #2: You Can Make GREAT Money

I still pinch myself that I make a fantastic income traveling and photographing large parties. As an established wedding photographer, this can be great money. However, I want to be realistic. All too often, we only talk about how much money we want to make. We don’t talk enough about what it takes to get there.

An established photographer or studio can charge over $10K per wedding. It just might take 5-10 years to get there. If you’re just starting out, you should expect to make just enough to cover basic expenses. At $1500 per event, you’ll need to shoot 30 weddings to net $45,000, and that’s before subtracting expenses. However, as you continue to grow, you can raise your rates. Stick it out, and you will make great money.

Con #2: Your Income Fluctuates

In this industry, it’s often either feast or famine. During the first few years as a professional wedding photographer, it’ll likely be a lot of famine. The key is to live frugally until you make it to the other side. Once you’ve made it, it’s still unlikely that you’ll have bookings every day. Even for established photographers who book 10-20 weddings a year, that income comes in spurts. One month can yield $40K while the next brings in nothing. This is where many wedding photographers go wrong and spend the money as it comes in, rather than budgeting for the periods they’re not booking.

Pro #3: Work is Meaningful & Enjoyable

Regardless of your niche as a photographer, you’re in a position to create work that is meaningful and enjoyable. Personally, I’ve tried it all: Automotive, commercial, fashion… In the end, I chose weddings because that’s what’s meaningful to me. I highly value family and the people I spend time around. As a wedding photographer, I get to create incredible artworks of my clients’ lives and amazing moments.

Con #3: You Are Running a Business

If you got into photography as a hobby, you have to understand that running a business is an entirely different game. As a hobbyist, you choose when and what you want to shoot. Wedding photography is a client serving industry. As a professional wedding photographer, you’re beholden to your clients and what they want. To be successful, you have to step out of thinking exclusively about your own creative process. When you’re relying on photography to pay for your rent and provide for your family, it’s no longer just about when you want to shoot.

Pro #4: Travel & Meet Tons of New People

If you love travel and love meeting new people, this is the job for you. I’ve visited so many incredible places and met so many incredible people on this journey. Many of them have become my lifelong friends. To me, this is one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do.

Con #4: It’s Tough on the Body

Wedding photography is challenging. To begin, you’re constantly traveling and always carrying around heavy and expensive gear. Then, the wedding days themselves can be 12-18 hours of nonstop hustling. On top of all that running around, you’re constantly interacting with other people and exercising your creativity. Simply put, wedding days are intense and can wreak havoc on your body.

Here are my tips for alleviating some of the stress:

1. Stay fit. Not only will staying fit and healthy make weddings much easier, post-wedding hangovers will soon become a thing of the past.
2. Drink lots of water and bring snacks that are easy to eat on the go. You might not always get time to stop to eat or they might just forget to feed you altogether. My snacks of choice are almonds and protein bars.
3. Wear good shoes and bring comfortable clothes.

Pro #5: The Sky is Your Limit

Unlike a corporate structure where you just grind and put in your time, as a professional wedding photographer, you’re an entrepreneur. The sky is your limit! How much you make in the end will be about you and the effort that you’re willing to put in. On top of shooting weddings, once you’re established, you can create other revenue streams. Example are workshops, education, and speaking engagements.

Not only did we scale Lin & Jirsa to one of the largest boutique wedding studios, we built SLR Lounge to teach others to do the same.

Con #5: YOU Create Your Structure

The other side of the limitless opportunities is that no one is there to tell you what to do. You’re free to sleep in, waste time watching Netflix, or procrastinate. There are no immediate repercussions such as getting a strike or even fired. You’re in charge of your own schedule and career trajectory and this is a weakness for many creatives. However, to make this work, you have to make it your strength. Once you create the structure, you have to then stick to it, even if the motivation isn’t there.

Conclusion

If your dream is to become a professional wedding photographer, check out SLR Lounge Premium. There, you’ll find everything you need to start your photography career, from the fundamentals and Lighting, to Editing, the Business of Photography, and an entire course dedicated to Wedding Photography itself!

Don’t miss our next episode of Mastering Your Craft on Adorama’s YouTube channel next week! If you want to catch up on all the episodes, make sure you check out our playlist!

Video: 4 Composition Tips for Improving Your Natural Light Portraits

Let’s start with our own walk-up shot of Kiara.

Not bad but it leaves a lot of room for improvements. I’m going to walk through 4 techniques that you can essentially “stack” to improve your natural light portraits step-by-step.

My toolbox today is simple: My Canon EOS R5 with my RF 28-70mm f/2. Let’s jump in.

Related Reading: Combining Compositional Techniques for Stronger Portraits

Technique #1: Shift Your Angle For Background Exposure

In our walk-up shot, the first thing you’ll notice is that the background is considerably brighter than Kiara. Instead, move around until you find a background that’s around the same brightness as your subject.

An immediate improvement, right?

Technique #2: Simplify the Background

I want to simplify the background and draw more attention to Kiara. If you have a busy background, you can try moving your subject by a wall.

You can also use a low aperture setting to further blur out a busy background.

Technique #3: Add a Foreground

So far, we’ve talked a lot about the background. Now, we’re going to add in a foreground by moving slightly behind the wall. Foreground elements are great for further isolating your subject or adding more interest to your natural light portraits.

Technique #4: Angle Your Subject Toward the Highlights

Our main light source here is simply the open sky. To help accentuate the highlights, turn your subject toward that light.

Conclusion

Super simple, right? These 4 steps are all you’ll need to start improving your natural light portraits instantly.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you’d like to go even deeper into how to improve your photography, check out SLR Lounge Premium. There, you’ll find tons of in-depth courses such as Flash Photography, Building a Photography Business, Mastering Lightroom Editing, and more. You can also visit Visual Flow for a ton of intuitive Lightroom presets and retouching tools for your own editing workflow.

Don’t miss our next episode of Mastering Your Craft on Adorama’s YouTube channel next week! If you want to catch up on all the episodes, make sure you check out our playlist!

Couples Poses Video

Let’s start with the full couples poses video that we created for Adorama TV.

First 5 Couples Poses You Should Learn

We created this Foundation Posing Framework for 4 very important reasons: simplicity, framework, client comfort, and consistency. If you’re new to posing and couples photography you’ll want to develop a good system of Foundation Poses so you can avoid making your couples look uncomfortable or unnatural in front of the camera. This is a two-part series so stay tuned for next week to see the next episode! Let’s start with our first pose, the V-up.

Couples Pose #1: V-Up

Description: The subjects’ shoulders are hinged on the back and their bodies form the shape of a V; facing toward each other. This is the first and most basic pose in the framework simply because it is a standard and universal way for a couple to pose, similar to what you see on red carpets or casual portraits.

Direction: “Pretend that the area where your shoulders are touching is like the hinge on a door.” Have their feet face slightly in towards each other and their arms wrapped around each others’ backs. Then when you give your subjects directions like, “open up” or “close the door,” they can easily understand and follow what you want them to do.

REWIND: Official Couples Posing Guide – Tips, Cues, & More!

Couples Pose #2: Closed Pose

Description: Couple is facing in towards each other with their chest and feet are facing in at each other. We call this the closed pose because their chests are closed and away from the camera.

Direction: “Go ahead and close the door and face in towards each other, chest to chest.”

Couples Pose #3: Open Pose

Description: The couple is open to the camera with their chest, feet, and hips all facing towards the lens. This is a great pose to set up before you direct your couple to start casually walking. This is also a great pose to show off their outfits and body shapes.

Direction: “Go ahead and open the door and face towards the camera and have your feet and hips follow.”

Couples Pose #4: Reversed Pose

Description: One person is facing one direction away from the camera, while the other person is facing the camera. It’s a great pose to get implied shots of just one person.

Direction: Have one subject turn their back to the camera while the other turns towards the camera.

Couples Pose #5: Stacked Pose

Description: One person is standing in front of the other; he is behind her, while her feet are stacked against his. This is similar to a prom pose but… elevated. We want to avoid having one subject hidden by the other so make sure to stagger the stance a bit so both faces are visible. Also, avoid having hands placed around her belly (unless this is a maternity shoot) because it could imply an entirely different meaning.

Direction: “Go ahead and stack your feet behind her/him.”

Conclusion

And there you have it, 5 simple poses that will give you the foundation to capture genuine and authentic moments with your couples. Remember, if your client feels uncomfortable, it will likely be seen in the photos. For more information on couples posing and directing make sure you check our SLR Lounge Premium. Tune in next week to watch the second part two this posing tutorial only on Adorama’s YouTube channel!