Today we’ll take a look at one of the most basic and most used types of diffusion tools: softboxes and octaboxes. These two light diffusion tools look very similar, and you could almost say that octaboxes are a type of softbox. But these tools have subtle differences. The differences may at first glance seem to be mere details. However, details are what separate the good photos from the bad.

When photographing landscapes gets old, and you’re tired of the city, you often end up photographing people. Now, pictures of your friends at the bar do have a certain something,

Most cameras have a built-in flash. But much more can be done with an external flash, especially when you position it away from the camera. There are a few issues you have to solve with an off-camera flash though, such as how to actually tell the flash to fire.

Sure, the pros may use a wide array of expensive lights to take their studio portraits of celebrities. But you can pay nothing and get unique indoor portraits with just one—the Sun.

Most articles for beginning photographers are about how to create technically perfect photographs. They teach correct exposure, the very highest contrast, precise white balance, and so on. But several special