Lighting is an essential part of photography. 

Without good lighting, your pictures can appear too dark, too bright or will suffer from unfortunate shadows or glare. If you don’t have much experience with lighting, it may seem a bit confusing when you start looking at different lighting options. Finding photography lighting equipment for beginners is a lot easier when you know what it is that you’re supposed to be looking for.

Fortunately, the process becomes easier as you gain a better understanding of how photo lighting works and the effect it can have on the pictures you take. A good beginner’s lighting kit can help you to learn this, providing you with a good base of equipment that you can expand on later as needed.

The Importance of Good Lighting

Good lighting is important because it ensures that your subject is visible without washing them out with too much light or making some parts of the subject difficult to see. 

When the lighting is good it provides a consistent level of light to all parts of the subject while also ensuring that the background or backdrop isn’t affected by unwanted shadows or other unintended obstructions.

This isn’t to say that you have to have perfect lighting to take good pictures, of course. There are absolutely amazing photos that have been taken in poor lighting or with heavy shadows or other issues affecting them. The better your lighting is, though, the easier it becomes to get good shots. 

This is why it’s often recommended to find a good set of photography lighting equipment for beginners when you’re just starting out as a photographer since it can not only boost the quality of some of your photos, but also help you to learn how different pieces of lighting equipment are used. 

Flash Lights

Camera flashes are the most commonly recognized lighting that you’ll see as a photographer, with the most basic flashes attaching to the camera itself. 

External flash modules are available as well, however, giving additional angles to the light at the point that a picture is taken. You’ve likely seen external flash units like this in photo studios or other professional shoots in an enclosed space; since the other lighting is already controlled, the flash just provides additional illumination to the scene to get rid of unwanted shadows.

Consistent Lighting Kits

One of the big things that you’ll need when you’re starting out is a consistent lighting kit. 

These lights provide you with even lighting throughout the shot. As the name implies, a consistent lighting kit provides even light that can be maintained throughout a photoshoot. These lights are typically positioned behind the camera to control the direction of shadows and highlights, and multiple lights may be used to create just the lighting profile that you want for your subject.

There are a few different options when it comes to consistent lighting, including tungsten bulbs, fluorescent light rigs and LED lights. Some of these lights make use of covers or softboxes to ensure that the light provided isn’t too harsh, while others use multiple coated bulbs of a low enough wattage that they don’t need anything to soften the light. 

Depending on the type of scene being photographed, multiple sets of these lights may be used together to provide brighter or more uniform lighting to an entire scene. 

Lighting Wands

Unlike a consistent lighting kit, a lighting wand is designed to provide light to a specific area only for as long as a photographer needs it. 

They are very useful when only a little bit of light is needed or if you need to fill in a shadow that wasn’t covered by the consistent lighting that you’ve used in your scene. Lighting wands are one of the more useful camera accessories that you can carry with you since they provide light just where you need it and don’t require a lot of room to set up or stage. Once you’re done with the light you can put it away with no breakdown time.

Filter Kits

Being able to filter the light that’s cast on a scene is an important part of any good lighting kit. 

These filters can affect the light in a number of ways, most notably changing the color of the light as it passes through. This is useful for situations in which a scene needs a specific shade to accent some of its features or if you want to create specialized lighting effects through the use of colored lights. 

Softboxes

Softboxes are one of the most common pieces of lighting equipment outside of the lights themselves. 

These cloth-like boxes feature multiple sides that are made of a dark material that light can’t penetrate and then have one side that is white for the lights inside to shine against. This allows light to illuminate your scene but removes any harshness or excessive intensity from your lighting. The remaining light is soft and uniform, letting you illuminate your scene while creating a more natural-looking lighting profile.

Umbrellas and Reflectors

Umbrellas and reflectors work on a similar principle to soft boxes in that they help to control the way that light illuminates your scene. 

Unlike softboxes, however, they do not soften the light or reduce its intensity. Umbrellas and reflectors use reflective material to redirect the light into your scene while allowing it to keep most of its original intensity. Different colors of material may be used to adjust the light slightly without the need for filtering.

One of the big differences between umbrellas and reflectors lies in how they’re used. Umbrellas are typically stationary, held to the lighting rig by adaptors that clip on to the light stand or another light component. Reflectors are more likely to be handheld, allowing you to adjust the lighting on the fly and only for as long as you need it for a shot.

Light Stands

While there are clamps and other options available for positioning your lighting, you will need light stands as well to ensure that your lights remain stationary and provide consistent lighting over the course of a photoshoot. 

Light stands allow you to adjust the height that light originates from, keeping your lights in place even if they’re positioned oddly. They also allow you to make small adjustments to the positioning of the lights that would be difficult to make if you were trying to have someone hold them or place them on existing shelving or other features.

Lighting Controls

In most cases, lighting such as flashes is controlled by the camera itself; before the picture is taken, the flashes illuminate briefly and then go out. 

There are additional control options for other lights as well, though, with remote controls and similar devices allowing you to adjust light intensity before taking a picture. Some lighting options may even allow for app control, letting you precisely control the level of the lighting through an on-screen dial or slider. 

While lighting controls aren’t common in all sets of photography lighting for beginners, the increasing popularity of wireless controls and connectivity means that you’ll likely encounter controls like these at some point in your photography hobby or career.

Other Equipment

There are a number of other options available to you once you start to get a feel for different pieces of lighting equipment. 

These include more advanced lighting options that are similar to some of the ones covered here as well as add-ons and other modifiers for some of these pieces. There may also be specialty lighting rigs that weren’t covered in this list because they are intended only for use in specific circumstances.

The post Photography Lighting Equipment for Beginners appeared first on The Motif Blog.

As a photographer, you have a lot of tools at your disposal. 

One of the more useful is also one of the most overlooked: the phone in your pocket. While you’re obviously aware that your iPhone has a camera on it, you might be concerned that it’s simply harder to capture that perfect shot using the same device you use for texting silly GIFs or slaying Candy Crush.

Phone photography doesn’t have to be difficult, though; there are a number of accessories available to make the whole process easier and to mimic the technology of more advanced camera equipment. Once you take away the awkward difficulty of using a phone for pictures, you might be surprised at how professional some of the pics you take with your phone can look. While it’s unlikely that you’ll ditch your digital camera for your phone, with the proper phone photography accessories, you might find that it makes a great backup that’s always by your side.

Our Top iPhone Photography Accessories

Here’s our round-up of the best iPhone accessories to up your photography game.

Snap-on Lenses

Snap-on and stick-on lenses are a great way to drastically improve the quality of your phone pics. These lenses attach over the existing lens on your phone’s camera, changing up the way that the camera perceives the world. There are a wide range of lenses available, too, so you can adapt to a variety of different shots. Whether you need micro-lenses, macro-lenses or something different entirely, you can change snap-on lenses on the fly to ensure you can always get the perfect shot.

Case Accessories

There are a number of case accessories available to enhance your photography. From case add-ons designed to make your phone easier to hold to cases that are designed to look and feel more like a traditional digital camera, these can really change the way that you take pictures with your phone. With the right case accessories, people viewing them will never know that they were taken on a pink phone with a fluffy unicorn sticker on the back. 

Tripods and Mounts

One thing that separates professional pictures from amateur snapshots is the stability of the camera when the picture is taken. This is where a phone mount or phone tripod can come in very handy. Just like traditional mounts and tripods, these can secure your phone and prevent movements or vibrations from ruining your shots. Because most phones are a little smaller and easier to manipulate than standard cameras, you may even have an easier time framing pictures from a mounted phone in some areas than you would with your standard camera.

Selfie Sticks

A lot of people hate selfie sticks, and there’s usually a good reason for it. Most of the time, selfie sticks just add a bit of wobble to the phone before a picture is taken and position the phone at weird angles on top of that. This doesn’t mean that they’re completely irredeemable, however; there are a few situations in which a selfie stick can be a wonderful thing in the hands of a skilled photographer.

The advantage that a selfie stick conveys is that it lets you position the phone away from you while still giving you precise control over the shutter. They’re typically used to take selfies, yes, but for the most part there’s nothing stopping you from using the higher-resolution rear camera on your phone with a selfie stick. You just need to put extra care into keeping the phone steady before taking the picture to avoid blurring or other issues. With a steady hand, though, your lowly selfie stick can unlock some great shots that would be hard to get elsewhere.

Battery Banks

There’s a good chance that you already have a battery pack for your phone in case you start running out of juice while away from home. They’re convenient, even if you don’t always use them that often. If you start taking more pictures with your phone’s camera, though, this ordinary iPhone accessory switches from a convenient gadget to a must-have add-on to your photography plans.

While you might not notice it if you only take occasional pictures with your phone, the camera uses up more power than some other phone functions. This drain is increased further if you make use of your flash. This is where having one or more portable batteries is extremely useful. Spare battery banks let you plug up your phone between shots so that you never have to worry about missing a shot due to having too little juice left.

Photo Editing Apps

Having some of the best photo editing apps at your fingertips gives you professional capabilities to edit on the go. An iPhone app may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of phone photography accessories, but having the right editing apps can really make or break your ability to effectively use your phone’s camera as an option for your photography.

The specific apps that you use will depend in large part on the types of editing that you prefer to do from your phone. Apps such as Snapseed and Adobe Lightroom offer a wide range of features to meet most of your mobile editing needs. You can also explore more specialized tools such as Prisma Photo Editor or Lens Distortion. Selecting at least a few apps that will let you make specific types of edits gives you a lot of flexibility when it comes to taking pictures and previewing them all solely through your phone.

“Maker” Apps

Another type of app that can be handy to keep on your phone is “maker” apps, or apps that allow you to actually design and buy a product based on your photographs. These apps allow you to create collages, books, calendars or other items. You can customize them with your own photos, order the finished designs and in most cases save your orders for easy access in case you want to buy the same products again in the future.  Motif is the perfect example of one of these apps. You can create a photo book, photo cards or calendars straight from your iPhone while also editing the photos to achieve exactly the look you’re going for.

Social Apps

Chances are, you already have apps for the social platforms you frequent on your phone. (Instagram, anyone?) If you don’t, however, it might be time to consider installing them. Not only will this allow you to monitor and manage your social media presence, but it will also make it easy for you to upload the pictures that you take and edit on your phone.

Consider setting up a separate personal Instagram and an IG account dedicated to your photography. You can either toggle back and forth between logins or consider installing the app twice to ensure that you won’t have to keep switching back and forth if you want some photos to post to your personal account and others to your photography page.

Choosing the Right Phone Photography Accessories

To pick the right accessories for your on-the-go photography aspirations, stop and think about how you plan on using your phone to take pictures. Consider how often you’ll use the accessories we’ve suggested and then choose accordingly. You’ll be amazed how great your iPhone photos turn out with just a little extra help from the right app or device!

Bringing Your Pictures to Life

Once you’ve seen how much of a difference some of these phone photography accessories can make, fire up the Motif app and put your newly taken pictures to use. You can design a photo book or other Motif offering right from your phone using the pictures that you just took. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to create and order without having to even touch a keyboard.

The post Phone Photography Accessories that Make a Difference appeared first on The Motif Blog.