Knowledge is power: National Geographic photographer Bob Holmes shares tips on lighting

Marc Silber's "Advancing Your Photography" YouTube channel recently had National Geographic photographer Bob Holmes on to discuss lighting and capturing images in the National Geographic style.

"Knowing light is absolutely critical," says Holmes, "I'm always looking at light. Always." You have to be consciously thinking about light all of the time, and to understand how your camera reacts to a particular kind of light.

Like with many skills, photography must be practiced. By shooting in different lighting conditions, you will become a more capable and versatile photographer, Holmes suggests. He goes on to describe a variety of types of lighting.

On equipment, Holmes says that it often gets in the way, there is too much equipment nowadays. As a travel photographer, he can't carry around a lot of equipment, including lighting gear, so he has to be able to work exclusively with natural light. He will occasionally employ the use of a reflector, but even holding up a newspaper can work well for bouncing light onto a subject.

In addition to the excellent tips that Bob Holmes offers in the video above about lighting, he also did a video with Marc Silber about composition, which you can see below.

For more videos on photography, see Marc Silber's "Advancing Your Photography" YouTube channel. To see more of Bob Holmes' work, visit his website and his Instagram.

(Seen via The Digital Picture)