PhotoVision – Education and solutions for pro photographers!

I love PhotoVision! I LOOOOOVVVEEE PHOTOVISION!! Do you understand what I’m trying to say here?! PhotoVision has been around over a decade and has tens of thousands of pro photographers learning from them.

PhotoVision has much to offer in the way of educational videos. I ran across their products around five or six years ago and I’ve been a fan ever since. The DVDs I bought back then are still helpful and I love to go back and watch them all the time.

PhotoVision offers other stuff as well like products such as calibration targets but what they are most known for and rightly so are their instructional videos.

For a yearly subscription, you can receive their videos six times a year. They also have other DVDs available with all subjects related to portrait photography from top portrait photographers in each given genres such as children’s photography, wedding and senior portraits. Names such as Kirk Voclain, Kia Bondurant, Sarah Petty and Sarah Antisdel. What they ask for membership is so worth the money. If you haven’t purchased their videos before you can go back and get 2009 at a very discounted rate! But even full rate is worth it in my opinion.

Also, check out their facebook page!

How To Use Sunset to Light Portraits

Using frontal light for portrait subjects can be quite flattering

Today’s post was found on was found on Digital Photography School, a great website that has tons of helpful tips and advice for digital photographers. Since the writers of our site are portrait photographers and many of our readers are as well, I thought I would share today’s post with you as it is simple but great advice for photographing outside.

The article being featured today is “How To Use Sunset to Light Portraits“. They briefly but very helpfully explain using the sun to front, side and back light your subject outdoors. A good article for beginners and a good reminder for everyone else as well. We all need a good reminder here and there, every once in a while.

Using the sun as backlight can be very interesting and appealing if done right

If you are unaware of Digital Photography School, their website describes it as the following

Welcome to Digital Photography School! Discover how to use your digital camera with our Digital Photography Tips. We are a community of photographers of all experience levels who come together to learn, share and grow in our understanding of photography.

Definitely a site worth checking out! I would suggest making their site part of your continuing education as there is always something new, interesting and helpful on their site.

Take the mystery out of Lighting

From the late great Monte Zucker, a master of portraiture, comes an extremely helpful article on his site about lighting called Take the Mystery out of Lighting. He was a master of it and in his words he explains in very helpful and clear writing exactly what a new photographer needs to hear.

His explanation is concise and it does away with the notion that lighting has to be something confusing and mysterious. For those willing to learn and try, it is actually quite simple. Good lighting however, that will be performed over and over and over correctly and without fail takes time and practice, but it can be mastered. Here are the fundementals.

StudioLighting.net – awesome resource for studio photographers

When I first began becoming interested in learning more about studio lighting than what I was already doing, I found studiolighting.net. Bill and Ed are the photographers behind this amazing resource for studio shooters.

StudioLighting.net is most likely known and popular for their great podcast Lightsource. This podcasts interviews really great and technically proficient photographers about their lighting, their diffusion choices and even their experiences with subjects, but it really does narrow down to their lighting. Lightsource is certainly the reason I keep going back to this site. Of course, you can subscribe to their podcast through itunes.

Other things StudioLighting.net has to offer are articles, book reviews, news, diy tutorials and much more. This site has been in existence for years and continues to be a source of help and inspiration for studio photographers everywhere.  Definitely one of my favorite sites out there. Check it out!