Finally saw what proper lighting does for sharp photos after 3 years of blaming my lens

I kept getting soft shots on my old Canon even in decent light, so I blamed the kit lens forever. Then last month at a friend's studio in Austin, they showed me a shot taken with a cheap 50mm f/1.8 but with a $20 LED panel aimed just right. The before was blurry and flat, the after was crisp and popped like crazy. I jumped on Amazon that night and picked up a Neewer light for $35, now my photos look way cleaner without me even touching the focus. Has anyone else noticed that adding a simple light source fixes more blur than swapping glass?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_river16d ago

Add a bounce or a reflector to that light setup and you will see an even bigger difference. A white foam board from the dollar store works just as good as a $50 reflector panel. Have you tried flagging the light to control spill yet?

elliotw3716d ago

Oh man, have you tried a 5-in-1 reflector yet? I got one for $15 and just bouncing window light with the white side turned my soft shots into keepers, no strobe needed.