Portrait and studio photography
Light, glass, and the frame worth keeping
Stong Photography Journal is a working logbook of portraiture: what a lens or a light actually does once the session starts, and the pictures that came out of it.
In the frame
Verdicts on bodies, lenses and lighting, written after the shutter rather than from the spec sheet.
Latest writing →By subject
Headshots, portrait sessions and studio craft, grouped the way a photographer goes looking for them.
Browse topics →From the journal
Latest writing
How to Use sRGB vs Adobe RGB: A Photographer’s Guide 2026
How to use sRGB vs Adobe RGB for photography in : what actually differs, when each space wins, and the export, printing…
How to Edit in Affinity Photo for Photographers (October 2026)
Learn how to edit in Affinity Photo for photographers with a repeatable workflow: Develop Persona tone work, layers, masks, retouching, sharpening and…
How to Edit Photos on a Phone Like a Pro: Easy Guide 2026
Learn how to edit photos on a phone like a pro with mobile editing steps for color, lighting, cropping, contrast, and polished…
How to Edit Photos on an iPad: Easy Step-by-Step Guide (2026)
Learn how to edit photos on an iPad with Apple Photos, Snapseed or Lightroom, using a simple workflow for crop, color, lighting,…
How to Choose Photo Editing Software for Beginners (October 2026)
How to choose photo editing software for beginners: a 7-part test method covering RAW support, learning curve, cost models and the features…
How to Use Smart Objects for Photo Editing: Easy 2026 Steps
Learn how to use smart objects for photo editing in : resize, transform and filter non-destructively, with the exact menu paths and…
How to Use Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop (2026)
How to use camera raw filter in Photoshop step by step: open it from the Filter menu, set profile and bit depth,…
How to Remove a Background in Photoshop: Simple Steps (2026)
How to remove a background in Photoshop using Select Subject, Select and Mask, and layer masks. Get clean cutouts for hair, portraits,…
How to Use Luminosity Masks in Photoshop (2026 Guide)
Learn how to use luminosity masks in Photoshop step by step: build the mask from Channels, add an adjustment layer, dodge and…
A note to readers
Photography rewards patience far more than it rewards new equipment, so the writing here stays close to the work: how a lens behaves through a long portrait session, how one light reshapes a face, what survives from the shoot to the final print. Expect plain language, full-size pictures, and an honest verdict even when the answer is that your current kit is fine.
The Stong Photography Journal editors
About this journal
Written beside the camera
Stong Photography Journal exists for photographers who want a straight read on gear and lighting before they spend, and something worth looking at once they have — portrait and studio work first, and the wider craft that feeds it.
Everything published here is written from use: tested on real sessions, shown at full size, and revised when a better way turns up.