Recent Portraits Articles

The Art of Nude Photography Tutorial Now Available in the Fstoppers Store

Andreas H. Bitesnich is one of the world's most renowned fine art nude photographers, with work published and exhibited internationally for the last 25 years. His images carry a signature style and a simple aesthetic that combines beauty and form. Recently, Bitesnich created a photography tutorial that delves into how he achieves his incredible looks. That wealth of knowledge is now available to the Fstoppers community.

A Guide to Retouching a Portrait Using Lightroom and Photoshop

Knowing how to light, compose, and pose a portrait is only half of what it takes to create a finished image. The other half is retouching, and it takes a variety of techniques and a delicate touch to create a compelling result. This excellent video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to edit a portrait using both Lightroom and Photoshop.

The Best Portrait Lens

What's your favorite portrait lens? In this video, Manny Ortiz picks his among a 35mm, 55mm, 85mm, and 70-200mm.

Portrait Photography In A Pool

Photographer Nick Saglimbeni recently shot an image of Jhené Aiko for a Humane Society campaign to save the shark population. The goal of the image was to photograph Jhené in the ocean at night (or at least make it look that way). To create this shot, Nick decided to use a pool and strobes to create a similar look.

April Fool's: BTS Of Bar Refaeli's  First Nude Photoshoot

After Bar Refaeli took over the Superbowl with her controversial commercial, Bar found time to do something she never did before: pose nude for a magazine shoot. The magazine that paid her to do that is currently unknown, but somehow the photos leaked earlier today. Check out the BTS and the final results in the post.

Magnum Photographer Bruce Gilden On What Makes A Good Photograph Great (And A Bad Photograph Terrible)

Bruce Gilden is one straight talker. The no-nonsense Brooklyn born, Guggenheim-awarded, Magnum photographer does not mince his words, that’s for sure. There is so much to learn from him in this interview, in between his quips and comments. Listen in as he shares more than 45 years worth of experience as he critiques a selection of images of street photographs in this VICE interview.

Tell Us Who Won the Newest Fstoppers Photo Shootout!

In our last photography shootout, Lee Morris defeated Pye Jirsa and I to regain the crown of "world's best photographer." Yesterday we teamed up again to have another battle and we need your help deciding who took the most beautiful or interesting image.

Top Tips for Taking Portraits

As a self-taught photographer, I’m an advocate of learning through doing. I didn’t study it, but I can imagine that reading all the Photography 101 books that are available still wouldn't prepare you for actually being on a set, with a model standing in front of you, and a team awaiting your creative direction. In my journey, experience has meant everything. Here are some of the things I’ve learned over the years that may help when shooting your own portraits.

8 Tips for Taking Better Pictures of Young Children and Toddlers

Never work with children or animals, but if you have either, you know you're going to be photographing them. Whether you're photographing your own children or someone else's, here are some tips on how to take better photographs of them.

If You Want to Make Money in Photography, Stop Taking Pictures of People

Are you a photographer that owns a business or are you a business owner who offers photography? That realization can sometimes mean the difference between having a successful business or not. Here’s why you should stop photographing people as the sole subject of your imagery.

Tethering And Tape - The Importance Of Investing In Prevention

I always tether. Whether it's for a client or fashion editorial, the CamRanger has played a very important role in capturing rock solid images. But, before the wonderful technology of wireless tethering came into the picture, I always tethered to a workstation. However, that came with the annoyance of a long tether cable dangling off your camera. I always felt the sense of being trapped or held back from moving freely, I was always concerned and it was always a distraction.

How One Photographer Left Weddings and Rediscovered His Love of Photography

Shooting weddings can get to the best of us. Maybe it's when we were waiting for all of the family members to come together to take a big family photo in the middle of a wedding reception. Perhaps it was one of those moments when your bride turned against you. Or maybe, the lifestyle of a wedding photographer just became too much. Whatever it is, I think all wedding photographers have had frustrating times in their career.

What You Can Add to Your Portraits to Make Them More Popular

I’m a nerd. There, I said it. It’s out there now, and it’s never coming back. I’m adamant that all facets of life are infinitely improved by statistics. I paw over numbers, percentages, and graphs for academia, sports, science, films... the list rolls on. Even reeling off the sort of stats I like makes me want to forge some sort of Excel spreadsheet to identify the stats for which areas benefit the most from stats. Sorry, I digress. The point is fewer things are richer in information than statistics. We often use this approach to compare lenses and cameras, but what if we could apply it to something far more subjective: portraiture?

Just Do It - How and Why I Shot the Best Photo of My Career

For years I found myself making excuses as to why I wasn't creating the type of images that I so desperately wanted to make. I didn't have the gear, I didn't have a model, I didn't have access to a studio. At the end of the day, it came down to one simple thing, I never tried.

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.

Eight Posing Tips and Ideas for Portrait Photography

Portrait photography can be a tricky genre full of nuance, and posing can be one of the most difficult aspects. This helpful video will show you a variety of portrait poses and tricks and tips to get the most out of your subjects and to produce better images.

How To Sharpen Eyes In Your Portraits To Make Them Pop

When looking at portraits, we have a tendency to look at the eyes first. We can't help it, it's part of human nature. This is why I personally believe it is extremely important to capture and refine the eyes in your photos to create more engaging portraits. Retoucher Michael Woloszynowicz created an awesome 4 part video series about how to make your eyes look amazing in post production. See the rest of the post below to watch video parts 2 through 4.

Displaying Postpartum Beauty Through Intimate Photographs

Even though postpartum bodies aren't something that our society likes to talk about or showcase for public display, we've all come from the same place so it's about time we started celebrating the processes women's bodies go through to bring a new life into this world. Which is why photographer Grace Elizabeth has created a "Gold Dust" project to look into postpartum motherhood.

The Anatomy of a Beauty Shoot: Step by Step

Since joining Fstoppers I had planned on doing a "behind the scenes" of one of my shoots, so today I've put together a lighting diagram courtesy of Kevin Kertz, and a detailed description of how the finished product was produced. Fair warning, I am a bit of a technique nerd and can get pretty detailed. We've all seen diagrams online, and brief descriptions on what goes where, but it seems there are always details left out that can significantly impact the results. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to leave no stone unturned and give you guys as accurate of a diagram and explanation as possible.

Up the Ambient, Create Beautiful Portraits by Mimicking Daylight

When I first picked up a DSLR and got a taste of artificial lighting, I loved shooting in darkness. I felt like I could control light a lot easier without having to fight the ambiance of a location or sun. Using an array of speedlights, I would light the location and subject how I wanted. Sometimes, that included putting speedlights in lamps or mounting them in the background. Eventually, that style took a sharp 180 degree turn, now I love using natural light in my favor to create a dramatic portrait.

How to Balance Flash and Ambient Light

Knowing how to balance flash and ambient light is one of the most crucial skills a portrait photographer can have, as it will give you the ability to shoot in just about any environment with full creative and technical control. If you are newer to working with artificial lighting and want to learn this skill, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you how to balance flash and ambient light for better images.

When to Go Wide With Portraits

If I were shooting portraits on a desert island and could only take one lens with me, it would be hard to leave my 70-200mm behind. After picking up a Canon 16-35mm for a trip to Scotland, though, I've found myself using it more and more often when I have people in front of my lens.

3 Reasons the Canon RF 28-70mm f/2 Is My Favorite Lens of All Time

For the longest time, my favorite lens on any camera system was a 35mm wide-aperture prime. The focal length forced me to get "in the action" for impactful portraits, yet it was wide enough to capture wide angle scenes. But a new lens has recently won my heart and assumed the top spot in my kit. In this video and article, I'll be walking through a photoshoot while demonstrating why the Canon RF 28-70mm f/2 lens is my favorite lens of all time.

Can This Body Positioning Technique Really Make You Look 10 Pounds Less in Photographs?

Everyone wants to look their best when they are in front of the camera. Most people practice in front of a mirror to get their perfect "photo face" nailed down but did you know that your shoulder and arm positioning can actually make you look thin in one photo and fat in another? Headshot photographer Peter Hurley has released his latest photo slimming tip video and it is called "hold your sub."

How to Use Lightroom Brushes to Contour Faces

It's amazing how adding just a little bit of shadows can drastically improve the depth of your photographs. Contouring faces is a little trick that can take a few minutes to do, but ultimately increases the overall image quality. I'm going to show you how to use the adjustment brush tool in Lightroom to act similar to the dodging tool in Photoshop, and then the key areas to brush for properly contouring a face.

Five Reasons to Shoot Medium Format Film

Let us venture back in time for a minute. 35mm film was always considered small. In fact, it was developed in the early 1900s as a means to make high-volume shooting and consumer photography possible. If you were a working professional, you were shooting at least medium format (6x4.5-6x19 cm) or even more likely, large format, like 4”x5” or 8x10”. The idea is that the larger the format, the more detail you can see. As we fast forward to digital, full-frame is the ideal format for many working pros in a variety of genres. While full-frame can be expensive and yields incredible image quality, there is something more.

Undone Glamour: The Photography of Neave Bozorgi (NSFW)

Photographer Neave Bozorgi’s work captures the seemingly effortless beauty of his subjects, evoking a sense of undone glamour and sun-soaked easiness synonymous with the urban west coast. I talked with Bozorgi about the evolution of his work since his start in 2011, and where he’s headed next.

Three Simple Tips for Dark and Moody Boudoir Portraits

I feel like boudoir portraits, for the most part, fall within two different types when it comes to lighting and atmosphere: light and airy or dark and moody. If you are looking to step out of your comfort zone of light and airy and try taking some dark and moody portraits, here are three simple tips to help you start.

UPDATED: Wikipedia Refuses to Remove Famous Photo Because Copyright is "Owned by Monkey"

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED 08/06/2014 10:55 AM PST. Wikimedia, the company behind Wikipedia, has refused the requests of a photographer to remove a photo from its Wikimedia Commons photo collection of royalty free images. The Telegraph is reporting that Wikimedia claims that the photographer who owned the camera on which the image was taken doesn't actually own the photo... the monkey who shot the selfie does.

Tutorial on How To Create Detailed Grungy Athlete Portraits In Post Production

I've written about Glyn Dewis before on Fstoppers. He's a fellow Photoshop World Instructor, UK-based photographer, and has an amazing blog and youtube channel filled with great image post-production tips. In this tutorial, Glyn teaches how to add nice detail and grit to your portraits, as he did with his boxer portrait series featured here. Click to see the entire post to watch another tutorial video on this shoot.

Five Easy Ways to Make Anyone Comfortable in Front of Your Lens

I am a firm believer that the very first minutes of interaction between two people is a breaking point for their collaboration. Whether you are an introvert or extrovert, you have an obligation to create a trustworthy bond, even if both of you are meant to know each other for only a couple of hours. This is especially crucial for portrait photography. The easiest way to start is being polite. A welcoming smile will break the ice and let you make a comfortable zone for both you and your subject.

A Complete Beginner's Guide to Using Flash for Portrait Photography

Using flash for portrait photography is something that scares a lot of photographers, but once you master it, you will wonder how you ever worked without the complete creative and technical control it offers. If you are just starting out and unsure of how to get rolling, check out this fantastically comprehensive video tutorial that covers everything from the different types of flash through to how to use TTL and complex multi-light setups.

Playing Vice-Versa: Models Give Advice to Photographers

Whenever I am working with models on a shoot, I always have their best interests at heart. You may say I care too much about my models, but I am alright with that. No one badmouths a caring photographer. I have seen firsthand how some models are treated badly on set and it saddens me to see how bad attitude from photographers can ruin the photographer-model relationship and also lead to bad photos. Knowing how to build a relationship upon meeting your model and engaging in a photoshoot with the latter is a must and I asked a couple of models for advice to write this article.

A Technique to Bring Back Lost Details Out of Shadows

Sometimes your favorite shot out of a series would be perfect if only one little thing was fixed. For me, that is often shadows obscuring details I really wish were more visible. PHLEARN has released an extensive tutorial on how to get those shadows to reveal details in a way that doesn't look super fake, which an issue I have with other methods I have seen.

Shooting With Color Gels

There are times when I find myself shooting the same stuff or using the same lighting setup over and over again. Repetition helps to improve and fine-tune my skills, but sometimes it just feels boring and degrading, let alone useless for my portfolio.

But as much as I dislike feeling stuck and repeating myself, I now realize how such times in fact help me to become a better artist and shooter. It's usually the desire to entertain myself and experiment that leads me to new personal artistic discoveries. It's when I'm bored and want to "spice it up", I start searching for new lighting ideas, tricks and techniques.

I Let My Clients Pay What They Wanted and the Results Amazed Me

My business is about 90 percent dealing with individuals, and about 10 percent working with brands. I just moved into a new live/work studio and, to help break it in, I decided to hold a "Pay What You Can" sale and the results made me change my entire business model.

Peter Hurley's Google+ Keynote: How To Take The Perfect Headshot

If you are a regular reader of Fstoppers then you know how many times I've said this, "Peter Hurley has changed the way I photograph people more than anyone else". During his Google+ Conference Keynote Presentation, Peter explains why it is the photographer's job to make every person look amazing while they are in front of their camera. Photographers cannot rely on a model's good looks, perfectly crafted lighting, their own technical prowess, or old fashioned luck

Instagram 'Celebrity' Photoshops Himself with Actual Celebrities

Do you ever feel like you're not hanging around enough celebrities? Maybe you wish you were court-side at a Laker's game sharing an emotional moment with Kobe, or maybe you'd rather be wrapped around Kim Kardashian like couch upholstery? If any of these things are true, you might be Peeje T - a pretty creative guy with a pretty good sense of humor and a knack for photoshopping himself into pictures with the likes of Jay Z, Beyonce, Rihanna, Alisha Keys and Kobe Bryant, among others.

Fstoppers Interviews Celebrity Photographer Luke Fontana

Luke Fontana is a photographer and person based in New York, specializing in celebrity portraiture. After three years in New York, Luke has nothing short of an impressive body of work. He is proof, above all else, that hard work and determination are the key ingredients of success. Having the mind of a comedy writer doesn't hurt either - something you can witness in 120 characters or less here.

Mesmerizing 6.5 Years of Self Portraits Show Much More Than Just Simple Snapshots

Rebecca Brown is a 21 years old filmmaker, artist and a Youtuber (100,000 subscribers and millions of views) from England. For the past 6.5 years she photographed herself (almost) everyday wherever she was each day, and recently compiled it all to one time-lapse video. Aside from showing mesmerizing physical changes, the video tells a touching and interesting story of a teen suffering from disorders and depression​.

How to Take Better Portraits in Hard Light

Like it or not, hard light happens a lot outside, and if you are a portrait or wedding photographer, you can't just reschedule the ceremony or session every time you don't have clouds to give you soft light. So, what can you do to still create flattering images? This excellent video tutorial will show you how adding a bit of flash to the scene can be just the solution you are looking for.

Photoshop Fail. Harper's Bazaar Photoshop Looks Rather Bizarre

The general idea of Photoshop is to help make someone look flawless, while still maintaining their unique and human qualities. It's a tactful technique that requires a keen eye and a good understanding of the human face’s shape. This basic concept was completely destroyed for the cover of Harper’s Bazaar China cover featuring actress Sarah Jessica Parker.