Make your subjects look their best with our professional portrait photography tips, covering lighting setups, location scouting and tips for working with models.
Studio lighting isn’t as difficult as it may seem. In fact, with just two lights, you can create several different types of shots simply by repositioning them. Here’s how: The first step, according to Scott Kelby, is to get a big, soft light. He’s exclusively using a dual Westcott package, which includes a large softbox and slender […]
So you’ve purchased some lights and you have a bit of studio space. Now how do you set up your lighting for a flattering portrait? In this video, photographer Karl Taylor teams up with Urs Recher to demonstrate a simple three light portrait setup: All the lights used in the shoot are Siros lights. For the […]
Post-processing a portrait image requires not only a good idea of how to use an image editing tool, but also an astute eye for detail. It’s a synergy of a great editing platform and great editing skills. Often, editing mistakes stem from taking retouching a bit too far. In this video, Miguel Quiles demonstrates how to […]
Family portrait photographer Me Ra Koh didn’t pick up a camera until she was 30 years old. After taking a film photography course to improve her photography of her two year-old daughter, she discovered her passion for the craft and started her own business. Within four years, she was charging $15,000 to shoot high end weddings, and […]
So you’ve got a speedlite. Now what? A lot of photographers only use their flashes in one particular way, switching to different lighting rigs for different effects. But with one flash, you can actually achieve a number of different looks, simply by swivelling it around. Here’s how: Mark Wallace is hosting this video with his Leica M Digital […]
When it comes to portrait photography, wide angle lenses aren’t the natural choice. Longer, faster lenses are preferred by portrait photographers for their suppressed distortion and soft bokeh. Wide angle lenses, to be fair to them, can also be very useful when it comes to shooting portraits. They offer a sense of place that’s often missing with telephoto […]
Photographer Benjamin Von Wong is well known for creating incredibly surreal portraits. From medieval maternity shoots to superheroes teetering on skyscraper ledges, Von Wong’s imagination and knack for technical problem solving make him a potent storyteller. His most recent project, “Shark Shepherd,” started with a simple idea: put a model in a beautiful white dress and photograph her in […]
It’s largely been accepted that smartphone cameras are nothing to scoff at. In fact, when you’re traveling, they might just be the best gear you can carry: inconspicuous, lightweight and pocket-sized. And if you ever wanted to do more than take simple landscape and street shots with your phone, portraiture may be the next big step. Here’s […]
Team portraits are easy to snap but difficult to master. A lot of basic portraits stick with the obvious shots—line up the players, stand in front of them, and shoot a few times in case someone blinked the first time. But Kentucky-based photographer Matt Hernandez has some suggestions for anyone about to fall into this trap: by changing just […]
In the past we’ve touched on portrait photography more than a few times, but I’m a firm believer that when it comes to subjective art the more opinions you have the better. Today we’re hearing from Jeff Rojas on the use of two speedlights to define facial features: As you can see above, Rojas uses […]
