A few days, ago we published three anonymous pictures and asked you to vote on your favorite. Now, you can watch the entire challenge and see who the winner was.

The vast majority of portraits you shoot will involve at least a small degree of retouching to create a finished image, and there are a lot of places where things can go awry. This excellent video tutorial will show you five retouching mistakes portrait photographers make and how you can either fix them or avoid them completely.

Photographers who do not specialize in portraiture or other genres involving working with people may not own dedicated professional lighting equipment suitable for the task. But almost every photographer owns a speedlight, and you might be surprised by how versatile they can be for lighting portraits. This great video tutorial will show you how to take effective portraits using a single speedlight.

Understanding and effectively utilizing light is fundamental to creating compelling and impactful portraits. This is where the concept of three-point lighting comes into play, offering a versatile and powerful technique for achieving professional-looking results.

Overcast skies create soft, diffused light that’s great for portraits but often lacks contrast. To overcome this, a smart mix of lighting techniques and gear choices can transform your shots.

There are myriad ways you can light your subject in portraiture, and whether you're jaded by your go-to setup, or overwhelmed as to where to start, this video can help you add some more styles to your arsenal.

Pye Jirsa from SLRLounge.com recently sat down with Peter Hurley for an exclusive interview. Peter talks about his history as a photographer, his DVD, his favorite gear, business techniques, and PH2. Peter is a huge character and as always he makes the interview a pretty entertaining watch.

Wet plate collodion is a photographic process that dates back to the mid-1800s. It involves using antiquated equipment and processes, including toxic chemicals and is difficult to master. So, why would a modern-day successful commercial photographer be interested in pursuing this? And what insights could his journey provide?

One thing that often discourages photographers from beginning to learn how to work with artificial light is the mistaken idea that it takes complex multi-light setups to create great portraits. In actuality, you can create professional-level portraits with even only a single light, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to do just that using a holiday theme as an example.

Fstoppers has worked hard to bring you valuable educational content from incredible photographers like Peter Hurley, Mike Kelley, Dylan Patrick, Elia Locardi, and Joey Wright. Now we're asking for your help! We at Fstoppers are preparing to create our next premium photography tutorial which will probably cost around $300. We would like to know from the Fstoppers community which genres we should focus on and who it should be with. Would you take a quick one minute survey to help us out?

Skylum has released LuminarAI Update 4, which delivers a rather amazing Portrait BokehAI feature along with a few other new or improved items that add to the popular software application's bag of tricks.

Comedian Colin Kane angry mob photo shoot with Photographer Monte Isom from monte isom on Vimeo.

Our latest article in the Seniors Ignite series with Jen Basford from 3 girls photography covers how to create a year round senior business. Jen has created a studio that doesn’t slow down in the off months. Instead, she is constantly building her portfolio and generating revenue. How does she does do this? In this article, we dive into the four things that have helped Jen create a year-round business.

Sometimes, it's easy to get a bit over the top with the creative process in that we focus so much on every last detail and nuance that we outsmart ourselves. This video takes the opposite approach, pushing for fast experimentation.

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.

This is the first episode of Mark Seliger's new show called Capture. He is filming the show in his studio in Manhattan. In this episode, Seliger sits down with Platon, staff photographer for The New Yorker known for his portraits of US Presidents and other important world figures. Actor Dylan McDermott also sits in on the conversation, discussing his photography work and inspiration.

At some time, if you’re shooting glamour photos, you are going to need to perfect the blowing hair technique. This type of shot is inexpensive and fun, but does take a little more talent than merely throwing a fan in front of your model. This excellent video shows you the different fans and techniques that can be used to give your model that windblown look.

For the photographer who likes to travel light, it has always been a challenge to find flash modifiers that are both effective and easy to use on the go. ExpoImaging has long been making accessories, but their recently released Rogue diffusion panels for their popular FlashBenders will be a welcome addition to any strobist’s kit.

Here's a behind the scenes video featuring editorial and advertising photographer Stefan Ruiz. He traveled to Monterrey, Mexico to document the "Cholombiano" youth street culture. Skip to about the ten minute mark to see the set up and capture. He shoots exclusively on 4x5 film, and is highly influenced by renaissance paintings.

Of all the things that go into making a compelling image, posing is perhaps the thing that photographers struggle with the most. If that is something you have trouble with, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you three easy posing techniques for when your subject is sitting on the ground or floor.

The high-key look is quite popular in a variety of applications, as it produces a bright, punchy image that instantly draws the viewer's eye to the subject. You do not always need powerful strobes to achieve it, however. In fact, you can do it with nothing more than natural light from a window and a constant LED source, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how it is done.

Tom Oldham photographs celebrities in a totally refreshing way — real expressions, getting under the skin of a polished image. Winner of the 2020 Open Photographer of the Year, Tom tells us about his approach and his inspirations.

Normally in portraiture, you get a high level of control over the lighting, but in some scenarios (weddings, for example), you will have to think, light, and shoot on your feet. This excellent video tutorial will show you several ways to shoot nighttime portraits with a variety of different techniques and for a range of different creative looks.

Photographer and Fstoppers alum Limor Garfinkle has been working on a very interesting project for the last two years: designing and shooting portraits of comedians that show off their unique personalities. Now, the project is ready for its gallery premiere at the TBS Comedy Hub as part of the New York Comedy Festival, with the proceeds benefiting the Mount Sinai Division of ADHD and Learning Disorders. Fstoppers recently interviewed her about the process and fun experience of shooting these portraits.

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.

If you are a photographer looking for a low competition niche market that is in high demand during the spring and summer months, you might want to consider offering ERAS photos. ERAS stands for Electronic Residency Application Service, and it is the system that medical students use to apply for residency programs in the United States. As part of their application, they need to submit a professional photo that meets certain specifications and showcases their personality and professionalism. This photo can make a big difference in their chances of getting an interview and matching with their preferred program.

New York is the city that never sleeps. It’s a city that’s famous for it’s bustling streets and the weird and wonderful community that populate it. It’s a hub of activity, or at least it was until lockdown.

As a portrait photographer, you’ve probably considered hiring a professional makeup artist to prep your clients. In this first part of a two-part series, a professional makeup artist tells us everything we need to know about making professional makeup a part of our portrait photography offerings.