Every year I try to take a moment and look at what resonated with my audience over the past 12 months. Sure, I know what I love and what I consider to be my best articles and techniques, but what stood out and caught the attention of you guys in 2022?
The top five articles of 2022 are based on the number page visits throughout the year. No, this is far from an accurate way to rank these as the articles at the start of the year have more time to accumulate views, but it does give a rough guide at what’s popular and what’s not. Plus, I don’t think any of these articles are from the first half of 2022 anyway! I’ll share my missing faves at the bottom, but for now, here’s what was popular last year according to you guys.
Number 1
Lighting Technique: Sci-Fi Top Light
This lighting technique is certainly one of the darker-looking ones I’ve ever shared, but with dramatic top lighting and a subdued fill, the final shot can certainly catch your eye. Although I love this setup, I’m surprised to see it taking the top spot, but it just goes to show how dramatic and engaging lighting can catch a viewer’s attention.
If you’re after a simple, yet very cool-looking setup with some sci-fi vibes, give this one a try!
Number 2
DIY Diffusion Filter
As I told you guys over 18 months ago, the cinematic-style shots are exploding right now as we begin to become tired of the overly saccharin Instagram bombardment of clinical-looking portraits. One feature of these cinematic-style portraits we are starting to see is the more atmospheric settings the images appear to be taken in. TV and movies don’t appear to shoot a single scene these days without a chain-smoker’s convention-worth of haze and smoke, but what if you don’t have access to a smoke machine or even the time to use one? One trick to getting that atmospheric look, is to add a simple lens filter and a popular choice for me is the ‘diffusion’ filter.
Don’t want to buy one? Make one yourself on the cheap with this simple DIY diffusion filter method.
Seeing this article at number two is of no surprise as who doesn’t want to add cool in-camera lighting effects to their shots for a few quid?! Blue Peter badge at the ready…. Go!
Number 3
DIY Foldable V-Flats
Once again, an article in the Top 5 on how I can save you money in ‘the great depression 2.0’! Big shock!
Money for the ‘please let me turn the heating on in 2023’ fund aside, V-Flats are actually an incredibly useful tool to have in your arsenal and I honestly use my DIY V-flats in nearly every single shoot that I do now. Whether you’re using them to block light, bounce light or soften light, these V-flats do it all so if you don’t have any yet, take this as a wake-up call. Plus this article shows you how to make them far more cheaply than having to buy them, so what’s not to love?
Number 4
Lighting Setup: Simple Long Exposure Portraits
It’s fantastic to see this article in the top spots as some of my more ‘arty-farty’ setups rarely do as well as I would like. By arty-farty I usually mean long-exposure shots as the results are often slightly blurred and filled with motion that tends to put off many as they chase the more clinical 16K resolution ‘let me see the DNA in the pores of my model’ level of sharpness.
I’m guessing this particular lighting technique saw some extra traction due to it being a very subtle long-exposure technique, but subtle or not, the results speak for themselves as I love how this setup blends movement with sharpness. If you somehow missed this one the first time around, be sure to check it out again now.
Number 5
Lighting Setup: Pastel Coloured Light and Gobos
Towards the second half of 2022, I started to play with and use LED lights in my shoots. Fast forward to the first week of 2023 and I just finished a shoot where I ONLY used LEDs for the entire shoot. Not a single flash. I think it’s safe to say I’ll be continuing to use LED lighting more and more in 2023, but to see one of my first forays into LED make it into the Top 5 articles last year is certainly pretty cool.
If you missed it, this setup uses soft and hard LED light to cast some visually engaging patterns on the subject via a DIY gobo in the form of a cheap flower trellis. This is a very creative and colourful setup that results in some gorgeously soft pastel colours along with some visually engaging textured light. This one is definitely worth a look if you’re after some inspiration for your next shoot.
Closing comments…
Did you recognise any of those articles? Miss any of them when they were originally posted? Either way, this is a nice little catch-up on some of my more popular posts from the previous year and not only is it a handy reminder for you guys, but it’s also a useful process for me to see what type of content is more popular than others.
More often than not, these annual reviews see some surprises for me in the Top 5. Not articles that shouldn’t be there, but more often I’m surprised at certain articles that didn't make it, articles that I thought would be popular, but weren't. This year actually didn't have any surprises, so either I’m brainwashing you to like more of the things that I like, or I’m just getting better at understanding what you like :D
So, seeing as there weren’t any rouge articles that made the top 5, here’s a bonus article that was indeed number 6 on the list anyway.
Bonus Article/Number 6
Lighting Setup: Caustic Portrait Light
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JHP Livestreams…
If you give this setup a go, I’d love to see how the shots turn out, so feel free to share them my way. One way to do that is via my livestream. I livestream every other Tuesday night via my FB Page and there I answer your questions, critique your shots, take community images into Photoshop to work on them and discuss all manner of lighting tips and techniques. I look forward to seeing you and your work there real soon. JHP Facebook Page
