Recent Portraits Articles

War Widow: Looking at Loss Through the Lens of Kate Woodman

Memorial Day is a day set aside in remembrance of those members of the Armed Forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice. This Memorial Day, photographer Kate Woodman released a series called War Widow, that gives an intimate look at the life of those left behind. The series manages to honor the families of the fallen by approaching the pain, grief and loss they suffer with a raw, unflinching eye.

Creating an Early 20th Century Style Portrait

With modern cameras having incredible resolution and dynamic range, we all obsess over sharpness and the tonality of our images and how flexible the raw files are. But when broken down, what really makes a good portrait? Is it the perfect focus on the eye or a subtle transition of highlight to shadow from a massive softbox? As with all things, what defines a good portrait can go out of style. This was an interesting wake up call when a friend asked me to create an early 20th century style portrait of him.

Photographer Creates Entrancing Bokeh Backdrop

Some gels, a design, and a little DIY ingenuity came together to create this awesome setup that allowed Photographer Anya Anti to shoot these gorgeous and interesting portraits. Check out the results and go behind the scenes to make your own.

Future NFL Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald Dives into Family Portrait Photography

Some families head down to their local mall to get their portraits taken. However, if you’re Commercial Photographer Blair Bunting, then NFL superstar and photography enthusiast Larry Fitzgerald is your go-to man for the job. As a pre-Mother’s Day gift, Bunting surprised his mom with an exclusive photoshoot with the Arizona Cardinal’s wide receiver that left her speechless.

'Two Photographers Walk Into a Bar...' Or Injecting Humor In Photography

Telling a joke to an audience large or small can be a risk. An edgier joke can offend as many people as it amuses. Using humor in photography carries that same risk. Many photos can have a natural humor, but when a professional photographer is tasked with creating a humorous photo from scratch it can be serious business.

How To Create a Portrait Composite

In various forms of photography, being able to composite several photos into one final image is an important skill set. In the world of portraiture, composites are often used to create group shots in which the lighting situation is difficult or not every subject of the photo is available at one given time. Here I’ll show my process for blending several shots of people into a final image.

Photo-Friendly Magazine Editor Speaks About Working With Photographers

Many photographers’ career ambition is to have one of their photos appear on the cover of a magazine. In years past, magazines were frequently seen as the best place to gain publication and see the best of current photography. Often that was a result of having a visually oriented magazine editor at the helm.

PJ Pantelis headshot

If the idea of creating multi-light portraits makes you feel the least bit intimidated, this tutorial is for you. Music photographer PJ Pantelis delivers a clear and detailed lesson on how to create professional headshots using just two lights and a reflector.

Fstoppers Interviews Photographer Kate Woodman

Creative genius rarely erupts onto the scene full force and in your face. Its entrance into the world is often quiet, gentle, allowing only a few to see it and recognize its brilliance. Such is the case with Portland, Oregon-based Kate Woodman, whose use of color in her work produces an instant halt to the ever scrolling feed of images - causing even the average user to stop and appreciate the story unfolding before them.

Old Documentary on Richard Avedon Reveals Methods of a Master

Browsing YouTube can be an exercise in either frustration or bliss, depending on the day. Today, though, I happened upon something that truly speaks to me. If you are a portrait photographer, or anything resembling one, you owe it to yourself to check out the documentary, "Darkness and Light," a part of the American Masters Series, produced by PBS.

Ultimate Guide to Posing: Free Lesson Excerpt from Joey Wright's Swimwear Tutorial

Last year, the Fstoppers team joined Joey Wright in Curacao to film one of our best tutorials to date, Swimwear Photography - Lighting, Posing, and Retouching. Not only was the location and team incredible, Joey's photography techniques and ability to work with models produced some of the best photography information I've learned in years. Every lesson spans well beyond the genre of swimwear and can be applied to any shoot involving a model. As a tribute to the tutorial, we are releasing a free excerpt from one of the best lessons on posing I've ever watched.

The Free Skin Softening Software You've Probably Never Heard Of

Almost all portrait photographers will incorporate some degree of skin softening during their retouching workflow. Some of these techniques can involve hours of painstaking dodging and burning. For photographers that routinely shoot families, weddings, and newborns, a quick finishing step can generate rapid and pleasing results. Here I go over how to use my favorite free skin softening plugin.

Do You Share Images With Clients on Set?

There’s nothing worse than wrapping up a shoot that you’re really proud of only to have your client tell you that they’re not happy with the final images. If this happens, you really only have two options: either take the time to re-shoot or provide a refund. Either way, there’s about a zero percent chance that you will get a referral from them. By simply sharing your images with your clients on set, you can make sure that everyone is on the same page and you can begin the editing process with peace of mind and confidence that your client is going to be thrilled with your final product.

Does Shooting Film Make You a Better Photographer?

The film versus digital debate has raged on for over a decade now. Digital cameras are so capable that it seems silly for anyone to go back to an archaic medium like film. Film is slow, expensive (sort of), lacks many game-changing features found in today's digital cameras, and has lower resolution (sort of). But it has some qualities to it that make it an entirely viable medium for working photographers and enthusiasts alike. One of which that I firmly believe in is that it will make you a better photographer.

How To Use Colored Gels to Create Electric Photography

We’ve all been there; the studio is set, the model is awkwardly waiting, but the light isn’t quite right and the stress begins to build. With every test shot, the light quality increases and the anxiety level decreases. Finally, like a blast of cool breeze on a hot day, everything clicks into place. The light is perfect.

How to Take More Considerate Senior Portraits

Ever wonder how you can elevate your senior portraits beyond the standard cap and gown pictures? Think about lifestyle photography the next time you book a senior portrait session.

Portrait Photography Tips You Can Use Today

As with any craft, there are fundamental techniques which should always be considered regardless of the job, model, or location. Even working professionals overlook general rules from time to time and occasionally need to be reminded.

How to Give Portraits a Cinematic Look in Lightroom

I'm personally obsessed with the cinematic look in my stills work. I think it's timeless, elegant, and endlessly interesting. If you'd like to add that same style to your own portraiture, this tutorial will show you how to do it using just Lightroom.

How to Pose People Who Aren't Models

For many photographers, the majority of their subjects aren't models and aren't trained in posing. And so, it falls to the photographer to really be able to guide the subject to finding suitable looks. This great video gives you some quick tips on how to do just that.

How to Get the Perfect Portrait Angle as Proven by 'Science'

Surprisingly small changes to the position of your camera can actually make your images much more successful. Ed over at Photos In Color decided to set himself the challenge of trying to make the perfect headshot in studio conditions. While keeping the lighting and the camera distance from the model the same each time, various heights and angles were tested and carefully captured so the differences could be compared.

Face To Face: How Finding The Right Subjects For Your Photographs Can Make All The Difference

Have you ever gone to the see a romantic comedy and absolutely fallen in love? Have you ever gone to a romantic comedy and spent the majority of the film’s running time politely sneaking peeks at your watch? Have you ever realized that both movies were essentially the same story and wondered why you couldn’t get enough of the first, and got way too much of the second?

Create Beautiful Portraits With a Single Light

It can be very easy to fall into the trap of thinking elegant and nuanced portraiture requires complex lighting. And while there's certainly nothing wrong with a well-designed setup, it's also important to remember that so much can be done with a single light. This great video walks you through just such a setup.

Flash Photography for Beginners: How to Take Amazing Portraits With On-Camera Flash

Shooting with flash can seem daunting at times, but it also opens up a whole new world of possibilities to take some truly epic photos that just wouldn't be possible with natural light. As a minor control freak, I was drawn to shooting with flash pretty early on in my career because I wanted to have control of the elements that made up my image. I didn't like the idea having to rely on what the sun was doing to determine whether or not I would be able to create the image that I envisioned. I wanted control so I took it. If you’re on the fence about whether or not you should start shooting with flash, this tutorial is for you.

Father and Son Project 'Small Steps Are Giant Leaps' Photo Series

Almost every photographer has created some sort of personal project in their time. In fact, many photographers’ work is comprised entirely of personal projects. Rarely though do I see projects that are truly personal. I mean that in the sense of their projects having a real emotional connection to the photographer that easily shows through in their images. Small Steps Are Giant Leaps, a father/son project started by photographer Aaron Sheldon and his son Harrison, is one of those projects.

A Remarkable Photo Book 12 Years in the Making

About six years ago, we wrote about this incredible project by Environmental Artist and Activist Jack Gescheidt. Now, The TreeSpirit Project is being turned into a hard cover coffee table book, with over 175 pages of 120 high-resolution photos.

Adobe Sensei Changes your Selfies to Professional Looking Shots

There isn't a lot of information about this Adobe App and whether this technology will be added to the desktop software yet, just that it's called Sensei and they have this video to show its potential. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to make your selfie or basic smartphone photo look like it was taken by someone who knew what they were doing.

Taking Professional Portraits with a Mobile Phone

Propelling Fstoppers into the successful community it is today and inspiring a slew of shooters to create without limitations, the iPhone Fashions Shoot was meant to prove that a talented photographer needed little more than their own knowledge and creativity. In these one minute spots for the Huawei P10 mobile phone, Chinese Malaysian photographer CY Wong continues to demonstrate the point: it's not the camera that makes a photographer.

'Stare' - Portraits in Motion

Portraits - they've been the means of capturing the likeness and essence of their subjects since the inception of the camera, and even long before for the subjects of many paintings done though out the span of history. Over the years, the posing, techniques, the lighting, and even more recently, the psychology behind the photos has absolutely evolved to affect every aspect of how portraits are captured. One thing hasn't changed though as much and that's the medium. Fast forward to now, and bring into the frame, Marcelo Mandruca, a photographer from Sao Paolo, Brazil that made his subjects believe they were posing for a long exposure project, but he was in fact, recording video for 60 seconds of each of his subjects.

How To Take Better Portraits

If you're starting out and you want to improve your portrait photography, or just be able to take someone's portraits, Peter McKinnon's video takes you through a quick crash course in how you can do just that.

How to Shoot Panoramic Portraits

Environmental portraits are great for capturing people with the scene around them. If you want to show more of the environment you should try doing panoramic portraits. While traveling in New York shooting panoramic landscapes, Jay P. Morgan from The Slanted Lens had a thought to add people in the photo so he gave it a try. Since then, Morgan has taken more panoramic portraits so he decided to share his tips on how he sets up and shoots panoramic portraits.

The Best Portrait Camera Ever - The Mamiya RZ67

Everyone has their baby. You know, that one camera that speaks to them in a way that all other cameras fall short. Of course, saying something like, "best portrait camera ever" is pretty loaded, but I calls it how I sees it! The Mamiya RZ67 is, for a variety of reasons, one of the best cameras ever made. In this article and accompanying video I'll give a birds eye view of the camera and its features, show a little work produced by it, and give you some insight into why this camera is at the top of the heap for me.

Six Simple Yet Creative Ways to Enhance Your Portrait Sessions

The most creative ideas are often the most simple ones. Here is a video a team from France put together showing you ways to enhance your portraits using cheap and basic tools that you can find at any grocery and hardware store. You don't have to worry, there is no French explanations, it's all done visually and is quite easy to follow.

Easy Approaches for Adding Lens Flare to Your Images

When shooting images outdoors, particularly in bright sunlight and towards the sun, the appearance of lens flare is often an unintended consequence. It can reduce contrast in your image and create nasty artifacts that can ruin your shot. Conversely, creating a flare in post can produce vibrant results that I find many clients asking for in their images. Here are three easy to use methods for adding a flare in your images tastefully and non-destructively, each providing a unique look and feel.

How to Shoot Company Groups

Have you been booked or plan on shooting a large group for their company team photo? Not sure what you need to do or even how to start? Jay P. Morgan from The Slanted Lens is back with another video with some of his tips on how he shoots his corporate group portrait photos.

Tips for Studio Portraits With Shallow Depth of Field

When creating portraits in your studio, there are instances when you may opt for a shallow depth of field, which produces portraits with a more artistic flair. In this video, Gavin Hoey describes some techniques for maximizing that look of a shallow depth of field portrait.

Strobes vs. Natural Light Portraits in a Studio Setting

Sometimes when I'm shooting in a studio setting I find myself using strobes even when the shot doesn't lend itself to being lit with artificial light. After all, I'm inside and it just seems natural to use flash. That is of course until I stumbled across this behind the scenes video of Calgary based photographer Nathan Elson explaining some of his techniques for using both natural light and strobes in a studio setting.

BTS: Keeping it Simple with Firefighters and a Ring Light

One of my favorite things to do, when I'm able to, is to do pro bono work for local charities that need the help. There's something special, in a way, about not being paid: the "client" is usually a lot more flexible in their expectations and they allow you more leeway in your creative process. So when I got a chance to do some marketing material for a half-marathon that benefited local emergency services, I took it.

How to Create a Cinematic Portrait Look with Capture One

Cold and moody processing is quite trendy lately. As I’ve been watching a lot of movies and cinematography tutorials, I began mimicking that cinematic feel in spite of myself. While lighting and makeup both play a big part in the final look, the post processing is critical as well. Here’s how to achieve it using Capture One!

How to Give and Receive Constructive Criticism the Right Way

Constructive Criticism is a unicorn in online photography groups; much sought after, but rarely found. Good constructive criticism, or CC as it's often referred to, can be some of the most helpful and growth inducing feedback a photographer can receive but, in the wrong hands, it can be a sword that cuts confidence to ribbons. Here is how to give, and receive, CC in a way that wont destroy your soul.

Five Tips for Posing Couples

Their title may mislead you into think this is just another step one, two, three, posing tutorial but lifestyle and wedding photographers Rachel Gulotta and Daniel Inskeep along with Carlton Banks (a.k.a. Mango Street Lab) are quick to point out that it's directing, as opposed to posing, that gets results. If you follow the wisdom provided in these five simple insights you'll find your subjects falling into their own natural rhythms, resulting in more meaningful images with little to no need to tell subject "A" to put their hand here, and subject "B" there.

Three Photographers Challenge Themselves by Shooting the Same Model

Inspired by a video of six photographers shooting the same model, Photographers Jessica Kobeissi, Irene Rudnyk, and Ruby James came together to collaborated on their own version of the challenge. Each photographer got the opportunity to choose a location and an outfit for the model before taking five minutes to get their shot.

Color Correcting Skin with Makeup

With most things, a great foundation makes for an easier and better process. So, why not start off with makeup for model or actors?