Recent Portraits Articles

How to Create Flattering Portraits in Harsh Sunlight

When you think of lighting for portraits in a flattering way, you probably do not immediately gravitate toward the harsh contrast of midday sun. However, you might be surprised by just what you can accomplish when shooting in the midday sun, and this great video tutorial will give you three helpful tips for creating better images with it.

A Complete Guide to Editing a Portrait in Capture One and Photoshop

Capture One and Photoshop make for a powerful combination for editing portraits to produce professional results. This fantastic video tutorial gives a complete guide to editing a portrait from start to finish using both applications and a wide variety of creative tricks and techniques.

When White Balance Adjustments Go Wrong

One of the easiest and most beloved methods of color correction is a simple swipe of the white balance temperature slider. It can change the whole tenor of a scene. There are limits to what it can do, however.

An Easy Way to Turn Daylight Into Night With Flash

If you've ever wanted to create more dramatic portraits with minimal effort or even completely in-camera with no Photoshop, this video is for you. In this photoshoot, I set out to create a dramatic editorial image that looks like it was shot late at night. The catch: I'm actually going to be taking the photo at 4 pm.

How to Shoot Classic Portraits in Incredibly Tight Spaces

Portrait photographers don’t always have the luxury of working in a nice large studio with loads of room to shuffle strobes and modifiers. If you’ve ever wondered how to get classic, timeless results when shooting in cramped, often improvised spaces, check out this short video.

Learn How to Shoot a Portrait Photo With This Great Tutorial

Portrait photography is a challenging genre that takes the confluence of technical skills, creative ideas, and the ability to work with people to produce a successful image. If you are new to portrait photography and want to increase the quality of your work, be sure to check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you how to improve your portraits no matter what light you are working with.

How to Shoot Portraits With a Clean, White Background

By far, one of the most common types of portraits you will be asked to shoot are those with a clean, white background. It is a simple, elegant, and versatile look that will never go out of style. If you struggle with artificial lighting, this excellent video tutorial will show you how you can easily shoot high-quality portraits with clean, white backgrounds.

How to Swap Faces and Expressions in Photoshop

Changing a subject's face or expression from one image to the next isn't as difficult as beginners think it will be. Here's a quick tutorial on exactly how you do it.

Shooting Wide Open Isn't Always the Best Choice

I will be the first to admit that shooting at super-wide apertures like f/1.4 is a lot of fun. But like many things in life, just because you can do it does not mean you always should. This great video discusses why there is more to life than wide open shots and why you should consider stopping down more often.

Here's Why Natural Light Photographers Need to Learn How to Use Flash

One of the most important things a photographer needs to learn to understand is lighting. Without it, it's essentially not possible to do any kind of conventional photography. Learning how to use different kinds of light sources is also important. Although natural light can be great, being able to use flash effectively is extremely useful.

What Makes a Good Portrait?

I stumbled across this video online a week ago and thought it more than worthy of a share. The video highlights what we get lost in as photographers and what is really important in making a great portrait.

Sometimes You Just Have to Get a Good, Paid Model Instead

There are times when you can get away working with a friend or someone willing to model for you for free, but then there are those times where you save yourself money, time, and effort by simply booking a professional model! How to decide which one to go for?

Few Tips and Advice for Shooting Surprise Proposals

Even in the most tumultuous of times, life still goes on and people are still getting engaged and planning their weddings. If you've had an inquiry for a surprise proposal, here are some things you may want to consider as you prepare for your shoot.

Outdoor Portrait Posing Cheat Sheet

If you have ever wondered how to pose your subject for headshots but are stumped at the first hurdle or perhaps you're photographing someone who is not used to being in front of the camera, then these handy techniques will improve your outdoor portraits.

5 Tips for Shooting in the Rain

Weather can dictate a lot of elements of a shoot, and in some cases, it can ruin it altogether. That doesn't always have to be true though, and you can even use the elements to your advantage.

5 Helpful Tips for Sharper Eyes in Portraits

No doubt, it is crucial to get your subjects' eyes in focus in any portrait, but that can be a bit difficult, particularly since a lot of photographers love to shoot at very wide apertures. If that is something you struggle with, this great video will give you five helpful tips for getting sharper eyes in your portraits.

The Best Focal Length for Headshots: From 24mm to 1,200mm

Headshots should be simple, direct, and effective, with a clear view of the subject, but also a simple but professional backdrop. So, which focal length lens should you use, and how does it affect the final image?

5 Advanced Techniques for Making Eyes Sparkle

The eyes in a portrait often make or break the whole image, so when you're retouching them, it's worth going the extra mile. Here are some advanced techniques for making sure the eyes in your images pop.

Shooting Portraits on a $12,000 Lens

This week, I borrowed a $12,000 600mm lens and decided to shoot portraits with it. Random? Yes. Weird? Of course. But I learned some things I never would've experienced had it not been for this, so here's my review of the 600mm behemoth for shooting portraits.

How to Overcome Your Anxiety With Taking Portraits

An email I received this week stopped me in my tracks. For two things so important to me — mental health and photography — I don't do enough to discuss it. So, I'm going to change that.

The Power of the Back Light

Too often portrait photographers obsess with key and fill lighting, and forget about the light that illuminates the background or rear of a subject. In this piece I discover the power of using the back light as my main light source.

Three Lighting Setups Every Photographer Can Use

Being a good photographer often means knowing where to position your lights to create the desired effect. However, the placement of your lights is only part of the equation; sometimes, it's just as important to set the color of your lights as well. In today's video, I'll show you three different lighting setups that also use color to alter the final images.

How I Got the Shot: Teal and Orange

Playing with gels is always a fun time, join me as I break down how I got this photo of Toronto model and photographer Sam Yang.

Shooting Five High-Key Portraits With One Light

It can be intimidating when you see some behind-the-scenes photos of studio setups, and there are multiple lights everywhere, and you only have one light. While sometimes, it does come in handy to have multiples, there is a lot you can do with only one light. Could you do a high-key portrait with only one light?

How to Make People Comfortable in Portraits

We often talk quite a bit about the virtues of different portraits lenses, how various lighting techniques render your subject, and how different poses make for a flattering final image. But one thing that does not get discussed enough is how to make your subject comfortable in front of the camera. This fantastic video discusses the importance of doing so and several techniques that will help.

Underpromise and Overdeliver: The Best Way to Grow Your Photography Business

Creating imagery that’s “brandable” is part of many working photographer's bag of skills but still takes some know how with lighting, posing, and while creating a human connection to excel at a high level with consistent results. Let’s dive into how we can make our commercial and branding imagery simply while also growing our network and earning new clients in the process.

The Least Expensive Way to Shoot Underwater in a Pool

This entire summer, I have been trying to include elements of water in many of my photoshoots. In today's behind the scenes video, I team back up with Krystal Xamairy and attempt to photograph her in a pool using a fish tank and a few strobes. The results are pretty interesting, to say the least.

7 Reasons Why Your Photos Aren't Perfectly Sharp

It's easy to start blaming your equipment when your images aren't perfectly sharp, but nine times out of ten, it's user error. Here are seven reasons why your photos might not be blurrier than they ought to be.

7 Portrait Composition Tips in Just Two Minutes

When you are shooting portraits, you are probably focusing the majority of your attention on posing, and it can be easy to fall into somewhat plain compositions. This great video will give you seven quick tips along with lots of examples that will improve your compositions and reinvigorate your portraits.

The Power of Bracketing Your Images (Even in The Ocean)

Do you think bracketing is necessary in today's world, where cameras are so sophisticated and post-production software so advanced? Whether you're a beginner or an experienced photographer, seeing how bracketing is used here will almost certainly spike your creative ideas.