Recent Portraits Articles

What Should He Do With His Hands? Here Are Three Quick Answers

If you've spent 10 minutes behind the camera, chances are someone has asked you, "What do I do with my hands?" For women, the possibilities range from graceful, balletic caresses to angular, fashion-driven poses. But, what do you with with men? These are my top three tips to always have an answer.

How to Create Your Own Golden Hour

For years, photographers have understood that creating the best photograph possible means shooting in the best possible light. For natural light shooters, the best light often comes at a time known as the golden hour. This occurs when the sun is setting and the angle of the sun to the earth causes the light to travel through clouds and air pollution creating soft, diffused light. The color of this light is warm and the look is beautiful on all skin tones.

Five Different Ways to Use a V-Flat

While observing other photographers using v-flats, I would say most use them in two different ways. Here are the five most common ways to use a v-flat.

Here's Why You Should Never Use the LCD Screen to Compose Headshots and Portraits

Using the LCD screen to compose images has become very common in the age of mirrorless cameras. Holding the camera away from your face is convenient when photographing a subject from difficult to reach angles. In some ways, I consider this an excellent advantage that mirrorless cameras have over DSLRs, but in my latest video, I give three reasons why I never use the LCD screen to compose headshots and portraits.

How to Use Frequency Separation for Retouching

Frequency separation can be a very overwhelming technique used most commonly for skin retouching. It is a technique that is very easy to overdo and destroy texture when not used correctly. If you are unfamiliar with this technique, where do you start?

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?

No Pressure: 90 Seconds to Photograph Basketball Great John Stockton

University photographers often end up rubbing shoulders with some pretty famous alumni, and that privileged position sometimes offers the chance to shoot some compelling portraits of said celebrities. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always mean you’ll have a lot of time to bust out the strobes in the studio. Sometimes, all you have is 90 seconds, a speedlight, and a hallway.

5 Pro Tips for Taking Studio Headshots

As a headshot photographer, it's your job to make sure your clients look their best. However, taking the perfect studio headshot isn't just about lighting and composition. It's also about understanding your client's needs and making them feel comfortable in front of the camera.

3 Tips for Taking Better Portrait Photographs

Portrait photography is a challenging genre that requires not just a creative voice and technical command, but the ability to work with people at the same time. If you are new to the genre and would like to improve your portrait images, check out this helpful video tutorial that shares three tips that will put you on the track to better results.

An Owner's Review of the Mamiya 645AFD

This is more or less the camera that started film photography for me. Since developing an appreciation for Joey L’s work, I wanted to shoot medium format. The focus falloff and rendering was just so surreal compared to full-frame and crop-sensor cameras that I had been shooting with. Unfortunately, the cost of entry was a little steep for a digital back. After doing some research I stumbled upon film 645 cameras. And so it began.

5 Tips to Help You Take Better Headshots

Headshots are a tricky genre, as they require you to not only have skills behind the camera and with your lighting, but also with posing and your ability to make people feel comfortable in front of the lens. If you would like to improve your headshots, check out this great video tutorial that features five helpful tips from a top-level photographer.

In Defense of the Square Photograph

Are squares better? Come with me as we throw a fork in the photographic microwave and investigate why you shouldn't underestimate the 1:1 image format.

'Trying to Show Him as President': Meet Bernie Sanders' Photographer

There's no arguing that Bernie Sanders' rise has been one of the most remarkable grassroots campaigns in the history of the U.S. His photographer, Arun Chaudhary, recently gave a fascinating interview on what it's like to photograph Sanders and what he's trying to accomplish in doing so.

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.

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.

Learn Studio Lighting Techniques From Mark Wallace

As you have probably heard, Fstoppers is hosting a 5 day photography workshop in the Bahamas from May 28 - June 1. Mark Wallace is one of our top instructors this year and he is going to be focusing mostly on the technical aspects of photography. Recently Mark released more information about each of his 4 classes.

The Amazing Detail of Miss Aniela's Kai Face

Here is a gorgeous photo from Miss Aniela. She was commissioned by the Kai Mayfair restaurant in London to create a photo that embodied Chinese culture. Upon first inspection, she has nailed the topic wonderfully. But closer look shows the amazing level of detail, with hours of editing, spanning hundreds of years of ancient Chinese paintings.

Tips For Shooting Better Portraits At Sunset

Lighting Asylum has brought us this informative look behind the scenes of a sunset portrait shoot, and it gets pretty in depth with how the photographer handles over-exposed back lighting, poor color in the clouds, and flash positioning. The photographer gives some insight on his process for camera settings, and even shows how he gels a flash to get the sky to change colors.

Five Methods To Recover From A Creative Collapse

Whether we're a photographer, graphic designer, painter, musician or dancer... throughout our career, we’ll slam right into a rock solid wall and it some cases it can be so traumatizing that some of us may never recover. It’s not really a question of if; it’s a question of when and if you’re a new artist then brace yourself, there will come a time when things just don’t click. I’ll be honest; I hit that wall with writing for Fstoppers this past month. Writing 1,000 words once a week is no easy feat, I figure it's only appropriate to write about this very topic as I sit here in recovery from a creative collapse.

Quick and Easy Way to Fix Shiny Skin in Photoshop

Highlights that glow can be a great way to give your portraits and beauty work some pop, but there is a fine line between skin looking dewy and just straight oily. Shiny skin can be overwhelming to an image, but when faced with that problem you don't have to scrap the shot. In this quick video, photographer Joe Edelman shows us a quick and easy fix for controlling that shiny skin using Photoshop.

Barcelona's Top Five Photography Locations

In the lead image above can anyone mention who was inspired by Gaudi's rooftop sculptures in Hollywood? For first time travelers to Barcelona these are my five favorites photo spots. I am expecting many readers to add their best spots that are not on this list. Please make sure to Google pin your exact locations in your comments. Much like my recent post on Tokyo I would love to see lots of sharing especially less popular locations.

3 Reasons Why Continuous Lighting Is a Good Choice for Portraiture

For decades, color slide film was the industry standard for commercial and editorial work, and the speed of the film was typically 64 or 100. It was standard practice for a portrait photographer to use a high-powered strobe to illuminate the subject. Today, a digital camera can produce clean images at high ISO settings and allows the photographer to forgo strobes and instead illuminate the subject using lower-power continuous light units.

Shooting Jimmy Fallon: Interview With Lloyd Bishop

A month or so ago I was touring NBC's studios at 30 Rock with a friend of mind who works on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and he introduced me to the show's photographer, Lloyd Bishop. After meeting Lloyd I checked out his work online and discovered that this guy has an impressive portfolio! I knew I had to catch up with him for an interview to share his work and his story with all of you. Enjoy!

The World's First Wireless Flash Trigger for the iPhone Is Here

Vancouver-based company Tric is attempting to be the maker of the first wireless flash trigger exclusively for the iPhone. They are taking their new invention to Kickstarter in hopes that popular demand will help their aspiring iPhone wireless flash trigger dreams come true. As they say in their Kickstarter ad, "Taking professional photos on your iPhone is a challenge. Without a way to properly light your scene, photos turn out looking too dark or unevenly lit." Taking professional photos with your iPhone is indeed quite the challenge, but if you're one of those professional photographers who uses their iPhone for their shoots, this may be for you.

Finding Your Style as a Fashion Photographer

Style is one of the most important aspects of fashion photography. Having a consistent portfolio of images that reflects who you are and your creative vision is really important when it comes to clients viewing your work. Many fashion photographers, including myself, have struggled with making their work stand out from the crowd. Here are a few tips from what I have learned about finding your style and visual voice as a photographer.

Why You Should Learn to Appreciate Your Own Photographic Style (and Stop Comparing it to Others)

Being involved in any creative industry usually guarantees one thing: we’re never happy with the work we produce. At least not for long. We’re constantly striving to better ourselves and the work we’re putting out. And in the age of the internet, we’re consuming more images from other photographers than ever, meaning that it’s all too easy to compare our work to that of our peers. For years I questioned my own shooting style, but here’s why I believe you should learn to love your photographic approach just the way it is.