My photography process

Over the last decade I've had to dial in how I take photos of guitars. It's not easy.

A little background: I come from a photography family. My grandfather was a well known photographer. My aunt is a successful painter and photographer. Her son (my cousin Brad. . . super awesome guy btw. shoutout to Brad) is a photography professor. I've got another cousin who's a well known photographer. My dad shot weddings for a bit. It's a family thing. So, I felt some pressure to live up to the heritage.

Photography is ALL about light. When I first started out, light was the biggest problem. That's why you see a lot of outdoor guitar photos in my early years. The sun behind a cloud actually creates some pretty killer light. However, it's not super easy to control the weather.

As I moved along I got some more resources and I bought some cheap lights. I wanted lights that'd work for photography and videography. It was a long hunt and I went through a few sets of lights that didn't work. I ended up with these and they were OK. So, if you're looking for something cheap that can help you step up, give these a go.

I met a friend a couple years back that was also really into photography. He had a detached garage behind his house and turned it into a photography studio. I went over to hang with him and some buddies one night for a "photography" get together and it was the first time I got to use strobes. Well, I went home and bought a pair. You can spend a fortune on strobe setups, and they can be pretty finicky sometimes. So, make sure you do more research on getting the right trigger unit for your camera. However, they are a HUGE step up. Worth the time and money for sure! If I could go back 10 years I would've made myself buy them out the gate. I ended up with two Godox MS300 strobes. At around $100 a piece, they're actually super economical as far as strobes are concerned. Don't forget softboxes to go along with them! A pair of those will run you about $100.