Kevin Deskins is the Product Manager for LumoPro. He’s also the author of the fantastic lighting blog Spekular. Spekular in Syndication revisits Kevin’s recent posts.

Kevin Deskins knows his lighting. After all, he’s the Product Manager for LumoPro. Kevin created Spekular as a way to inform and inspire how photographers think about light. To get you started, we’re sharing some of Kevin’s first posts, including his Fundamental Lighting Principles.

Manual Vs. TTL

Kevin breaks down the differences between Manual Flash and TTL Flash. You must read this if you want to get into OCF and don’t know what these terms mean.

Spekular Fundamental Lighting Principles: Part One

Kevin looks at light direction and size, and how these things effects the “softness” and “hardness” of light.

“The way light works is a physical science, and with physical science there are laws. We learn a lot of these physical laws in school-e.g. the laws of gravity and the formulas of speed and momentum. However, to me, light has always worked on a different level. We all understand it, we just never talk about it and simply react to light.”

Spekular Fundamental Lighting Principles: Part Two

Kevin gets to his bread and butter: FLASH.

“I completely understand how flash can be intimidating. We’re introducing a light source to the photo that isn’t naturally there. We’re not sure how it will turn out until the image pops-up on the back of LCD. Plus, we usually relate flash to that nasty little bugger that pops-up on your SLR and creates harsh shadows and turns  your loved ones into red-eyed killing machines.”

Spekular Fundamental Lighting Principles: Part Three

Kevin discusses how ambient light and OCF can coexist peacefully.

“Mixing ambient and flash has to be one of the most asked about topics I encounter. This is a technique that has become an issue for photographers because we’re mixing something that naturally exists (ambient light) with something that doesn’t naturally exist (flash).”