Jake Hicks Photography Techniques Archive 2017

Using Coloured Gels with your Lensbaby

Often a scene can be visually confusing, especially if there’s multiple colours and objects in focus that are fighting for our viewers attention. This simple technique that I'm sharing here uses a single dominant coloured gel to simplify the scene visually, then we can draw the attention of our viewer with our Lensbaby lens.

Skin Retouching with Dodge & Burn - How to Maintain Skin Detail

Theres so many different ways to retouch the skin in our digital photos. Some offer a balance between quality and speed and some offer a more specialised look. But if you're after maximum quality without destroying any skin texture, there really only method to use and thats the Dodge & Burn technique.

Should I be using a White or Grey Background with Coloured Gels?

There's plenty of photography myths floating about out there and I believe that using a grey background for gels is one of them. Take a look at my resulting imagery in this article to see what I mean.

Cheap DIY Lighting Modifiers - Turn household lights into studio lighting modifiers

There is certainly some very expensive lighting modifiers out there, but there are also cheaper alternatives. Like the ones we make ourselves. In this article I show you some great examples of DIY dome modifiers.

What is TTL and is it any good on the Godox/PixaPro Citi 600TTL

In this weeks post I look at what TTL does and what it can do for us as photographers, plus I review the TTL function on the Godox/PixaPro Citi 600.

What will next years most popular colours be? - Who decides this & why?

Have you heard of 'colour of the year'? In this article I take a look at what that means to us , who decides it and why.

How to Avoid Colour Banding when using Coloured Gels

Another monster article this week and this time around I look at how we can avoid colour banding when using gels. This article goes into detail on some colour theory and why we should avoid using certain colour combinations.

Getting Creative with Speedlights - 5 Simple DIY Setups

How creative can we get with speedlights? In this article I share some creative ideas using household items to produce visually engaging and creative shots.

5 Hidden Tips & Tricks in Photoshop

In this weeks post I look at 5 less well known tools, functions and techniques that may well have been hidden to you up until now in Photoshop.

Shooting through Prisms at Home or in the Studio

Using glass prisms outside to shoot through is easy, in this article I show you some tips and techniques to consider when brining the prisms indoors.

Comparing the Lensbaby Lens Effects

Ever thought about getting one of the Lensbaby lenses? Not sure which lens effect you prefer? This article shows you exactly what each of the lenses does and compares them side-by-side.

Studio Polyboards & DIY Alternatives

Ever wanted those studio big studio polyboards in your home studio? Well in this article I show you some realistic alternatives that wont cost you the Earth.

5 Classic Portrait Lighting Mistakes You Might be Making

Are there rules to portrait lighting? Maybe not but, there's certainly things that you might be doing wrong. Take a look at these top five tips to better portrait lighting.

What's in my quick and nimble lone-wolf lighting kit?

Everybody loves gear and in this article I share with you the kit that I take with me to those lone-wolf gigs.

How to contact and book a photoshoot with a model

Is contacting a model really that hard? Well as I found out, there is certainly a right and wrong way to do it. In this monster article I asked 40 models what they thought and share the results with you.

DIY Camera Case Dividers for Less Than £10

It cant just be me that couldn't find the right camera case dividers for my Pelican Case right? I decided to make my own for next to nothing. Here's what I did.

RGG EDU Podcast with Jake Hicks Photography

The crazy boys over at RGG EDU interview me for their podcast. Check it out to hear what we got up to.

Lensbaby Velvet 85mm - Lens Review

I take a look at the latest art-lens offering from Lensbaby, I put it through it's paces and share a shoot and example images with the new lens.

Video Interview with Steve Brown Creative

I sit down with London based advertising and portrait photographer Steve Brown.
In this interview Steve shares how sets up and shoots in the high pressure and fast paced world of T.V. Steve discusses how he copes when he only has as little as 45 seconds to get the shot of famous actors, singers and sports personalities.

One Light Coloured Glow - A quick & simple single light setup with colour

How to use a single light and some colour balancing gels to create some gorgeous soft coloured lighting effects.

Interview with Wayne Johns about his role in the production of the Fuji GFX Camera

In this sit down discussion with Fujifilm ambassador Wayne Johns, we discuss his role in the development of the new Fujifilm GFX camera and his part leading up to the release.

Fuji GFX Camera - First Impressions My hands-on first impressions after having shot with the new Fuji GFX camera.
I discuss the basic specs and features, review some of its incredible raw files and speak about my personal thoughts regarding Fuji's first medium format mirror less camera.

Comparing the Nikon D610 vs Fuji X T-2 vs Sony A7R II

Aside from the aparent random string of letters and numbers in the title this actually proved to be a pretty interesting test. For those that have followed me for a while know, I've shot with Nikon cameras for many years but in recent times I have been less than convinced that Nikon has been at the forefront of camera technology. I wanted to see what else was out there and test some newer and different cameras outside of the Nikon sphere for myself to see if I really was missing out on anything.

Should I be Hiring Independent or Agency Represented Models?

Thanks to the rise in digital photography and its incredibly low barrier to entry in recent years, there are now more photographers out there than ever before, and more and more of us are keen to use our shiny new cameras to photograph models. As a result, the basic laws of supply-and-demand mean that there are also now more models available to be photographed than ever before too. But should you be photographing independent models or agency represented models?

Finally - A Good News Copyright Infringement Story!

It's rare that I get the opportunity to combine the words 'good news' and 'copyright infringement' in the same article but I thought today I'd take the opportunity to do so.

Sharpening in Photoshop - The Three Levels of Sharpening you Should be Applying to Your Images

With this Photoshop tutorial article I look at the three distinct levels of sharpening that I use with all of my images; detail, global and local.

The Modelling Industry - What Photographers Need to Know

In this article I attempt to break down and expelling the modelling industry into three distinct demographics. The international ad campaign and catwalk model, the more traditional agency model and the independent model.

Using Household Items to Create Stunning Foreground Bokeh

A lighting technique article where I use a simple household product to produce fantastic foreground bokeh. Lighting diagrams and plenty of example of shots included.

What's the Effect of Doubling up Your Gels?

In this article I look at some of the myths surrounding the doubling up of gels on your lights. Does doubling the gel really increase the saturation? Are there any gels that I should never double up on?

Comparing the Lensbaby Edge 80 to a Standard 85m Lens

I think some of the art lenses like the Lensbaby Edge 80 available to us today can be easy and mistakenly overlooked. With a little knowledge of how some of these lens work we can actually get some pretty impressive shots. I look at comparing the Edge 80 to a standard 85mm to see the differences that can achieved.

Hacks for Getting Sharper Focus Shots - Part 2

Although there are a few tips we can apply from part 1 on getting sharper manual focus shots, thankfully there are a few gadgets we can also get that will assist us in ensuring we nail every shot. I go over three of the top items I use to help in the manual focusing nightmare.

Tips on Getting Sharper Images with Manual Focus Lenses - Part 1

There are literally thousands of manual focus lenses available out there and to not take advantage of some of the looks they can offer would be a mistake. Alas manual focusing lenses accurately can be tricky so in this article I go over three key tips to maximise your manual focus hit-rate.