So, here we are, looking at the imminent closure of a favorite website for many of us, ProPhotoResource. I've totally enjoyed my affiliation with Cris Mitchell and, most certainly, with you, my audience and PPR subscribers. You have been extremely supportive of my efforts to explain the subtleties of light to you, and your comments, kind or otherwise, spurred me to explore light even more deeply. I can't thank you enough.

Unless you're a photographer who just lines people up against a wall in the cafeteria for a newsletter shot, your business is predicated on smoke and mirrors. An executive, for example, never looks as good under the fluorescent lights in the ceiling as he or she will when you add a little of your professional mojo to the scene. We are, after all, problem solvers. When a job demands that people do not look "lit," which is to say they look "natural," there are options we might employ to make the shot look like it was taken in a much more beautiful and perfectly lit location. Here's how to make your studio look like one.

The following article is an excerpt from Chris Grey's popular ProPhotoPublishing.com ebook "Guide to Posing and Lighting Successful Business Portraits"These are portraits with a different mindset. You will be photographing people who are used to (for the most part) being on camera or performing before a crowd. When photographing business people, your job is, sometimes, to take your impression of that person and manufacturer a persona that can be imaged. When shooting personalities, your job is to work with the persona they present to the public. You may find that some celebrity clients are actually quite shy in your presence. Thatʼs not unusual. What Iʼve always found interesting is how they change when theyʼre "on."

Just last month I sent a new book manuscript off to the publisher, Amherst Media. This one is a documentation and explanation of Classic lighting styles from 1910 – 1960, including those great Hollywood styles that have become revered and iconic. It should be ready for release toward the end of this year. One decade stood out in its singularity, the 1940s. If anything, we could call the '40s the Decade of Minimal Fill, for soft, flat light was almost abandoned in favor of images that were dark, dramatic and, in their own way, romantic.

I have been intrigued with the human body and how it reacts to light since I began my photographic career. Because it is infinitely flexible and, more importantly, because no two bodies look or react alike, the image possibilities when working with a nude model are endless. Photographing the nude is also, arguably, the most difficult subject. In addition to lighting, posing and composition issues, there are also a number of psychological issues that must be dealt with if one is to produce beautiful images. For example, while someone may agree to be photographed au naturel, it doesn't mean they're comfortable. I will tell a "new" model that she will experience five minutes of sheer terror (a deliberate overstatement) and then all will be well. In truth, and if your motivations are in the right place, it takes about 30 seconds for a willing model to become acclimated to you and the environment. Obviously, trust in you is paramount to a successful shoot.

When I made the jump to digital I happily gave up my darkroom as well.  It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it – I really did – but Photoshop easily took the place of stinky chemistry and orange safelight.  Being able to make minor changes in real time and without test prints was a miracle in itself. After the novelty wore off, I began to miss some of the things I used to routinely do in the darkroom.  Manipulating contrast and grain through processing tricks to create stellar black and white prints was just one of them.  In time I figured out how to recreate many of my favorite film/developer combinations in Photoshop but, frankly, it was a bit tedious.  I know that sounds silly, given the immediacy of digital manipulation, but it took time to get just the right Channel Mixer combination as well as a perfect grain structure.

Photography as a medium went through some astounding changes in the 1950s.  Studio strobes were more commonplace, although rather dangerous, and softer light began to replace the harder light popular in previous decades.  Color film stocks, both film and paper, were significantly improved, and, as more photographers worked in color, costs came down.

I continued my search for good, frugal light sources by making another trip to the hardware store.  My quest this month was to find and buy some “clamp lights,”  cheap lights that can be attached to most any surface by means of rubberized pincers, throwing light into work zones, usually construction areas.  They are also frequently used as personal shop lights.  They don’t exactly aim their light, they spray it in as many directions as their flimsy aluminum reflectors will allow.

When thinking outside the box, it’s important to look beyond the basics of lighting, posing and composition, and extend one’s frugal-thinking mind to any other factor that could influence the final look of your images.  Let’s take a look at just a few options we have for backgrounds, one aspect of shooting that’s frequently overlooked.  After all, you probably have a roll of white, gray and black seamless, maybe even a painted muslin or two.  What else could you need?

Last month, I had a great time creating a beautiful portrait with really cheap lighting.  Using just one 500 watt quartz halogen worklight and the Inverse Square Law, the final portrait showed great skin tone as well as wonderful depth to the light. This month, I wanted to adapt a couple of my favorite strobe lighting scenarios to the cheap worklights and knew I’d need more than one, so I stopped at the local hardware store and picked up another $12.97 unit.

During my much needed vacation last month I got to thinking about new directions for my columns here at ProPhotoResource.  You all know how much I enjoy working with my Profoto studio strobes – they’re easy to use and so dependable that working with them has become second nature.  They’re also pricey, a tagalong by-product of ease and dependability.

Many of us use soft window light for portraiture, and the results are typically beautiful.  When your kids look out a window, for example, the mellow indirect light will cause their faces to almost glow.