Bonus - "A few of my (photo) favourite things."

Me like light.

I broke up with my on board flash yesterday.

It wasn’t easy, but it was for the best. That thing was frying everything I saw.

Luckily I’ve got a few suitors waiting in the wings. When it comes to photography, I’m addicted to light. I’m fascinated by the ways photographers use light to set the mood, create a tone and take a better picture.

So it’s no wonder that my favourite things aren’t my cameras – they’re the things I use to light. Three simple things I love:

Clouds.

Big, dark, gray clouds are perfect for better portraits – and moody landscapes. They create nice, soft, flattering light for just about every situation. Too sunny out? Use a white sheet to filter the giant ball of fire and make your subject look super duper pretty.

My pop-up reflector.

Most camera shops sell these round, oval or triangular reflectors. They’re typically covered by white, gold and/or silver fabric and they bounce light back onto a subject. Don’t want to go that far? No problem. Pretty much any white/silver/gold surface works. A wall. Tinfoil. Even the inside of a book. Use this anytime you want to make the darks a whole lot lighter.

My portable flashes.

Advanced tip. Everything I don’t like about my onboard flash is solved by my portable flashes – like the Canon 580 EXII or the Nikon SB900. These put out a whole lot of light and I can use them in clever ways to get some brightness back into a scene (like bouncing it up into the ceiling for great birthday party pics). Want to learn more about lighting with flash? Try strobist.com’s Lighting 101 series. 

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