Recent Portraits Articles

Simple One-Light Setups for Fantastic Portraits

Understanding how to effectively use lighting is crucial for capturing high-quality images in any setting, especially in small spaces, which is why one-light options are particularly useful.

Essential Camera Settings for Studio Sports Photography

Understanding camera settings is essential for capturing great sports shots in a studio setting. The right settings can make a huge difference in the quality of your images, especially when working with fast-moving subjects.

How to Achieve Perfect Soft Lighting in Your Studio

Creating soft, flattering light is an essential skill for any portrait photographer. This helpful video tutorial explores the benefits and techniques of using a silk for lighting, offering a practical approach to achieving beautiful, even light.

Three Simple Natural Light Portrait Setups

Natural light portraits can be stunning with the right setups, and they're simpler than you might think. This excellent video tutorial shows three easy setups that will elevate your portrait images.

Transforming Rainy Day Photos With Creative Lighting

Creating stunning portraits even on challenging days is entirely possible with the right techniques and equipment. Understanding how to manipulate both natural and artificial light can transform your photos, giving you the control to achieve the desired effect regardless of the weather.

Mastering Headshot Photography With the Canon EOS R5 and RF 100mm Lens

Want to get great commercial, headshot photos using the Canon R5 and the Canon RF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM lens? The following advice will help you produce the best professional headshots and show you how to interact with your clients for stunning, natural results.

Are You Making These Composition Mistakes in Your Own Photography?

Do you find yourself always leaning heavily on certain composition tricks that you learned as you were developing your photographic skills? Sure, they might make your more mediocre shots a little better, but casting off these creative crutches can be the first step towards making great photographs.

Helpful Tips for Capturing Authentic Portraits

Capturing someone's essence is more about the interaction between you and your subject than the technical aspects of your camera. People’s expressions and body language reveal their comfort level, which will significantly impact your photos.

Mastering Light: Balancing Ambient and Flash

Understanding how to use ambient light and flash together can greatly improve your versatility. Natural light conditions are unpredictable, and knowing how to work with them can make or break your shoot.

Tips and Techniques for Creating Vintage-Inspired Fashion Photography

Vintage-inspired fashion photography brings a timeless elegance that resonates with many enthusiasts. Understanding how to create such imagery while maintaining a modern twist can elevate your work. This video will take you behind the scenes of a vintage-inspired photoshoot, emphasizing the importance of concept, lighting, and post-processing.

Mastering Light Direction for Stunning Portraits

Understanding how to manipulate light direction is crucial for creating compelling portraits. The direction and quality of light can dramatically alter the mood and depth of an image, and this helpful video tutorial will show you how to harness those properties to maximize your image quality and creative vision.

Minimalist Portraits on a Budget

Getting the right look for a portrait often depends on more than just the subject. Backgrounds are essential, and minimalist backgrounds can be a great way to create striking images that emphasize the subject.

The Painter Every Photographer Should Know

If you’re a photographer looking for inspiration, look no further. This article dives into the life and work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and how his dramatic use of light and shadow can revolutionize your photography techniques.

Budget Camera Shootout: Canon vs. Fuji for Portraits

Quite possibly the most basic gear you can get for shooting nice portraits is a 50mm lens on a crop body camera. This combination of fast prime and smaller sensor creates almost the ideal conditions for this type of photography. So, how do some of the options in the field stack up?

Creative Problem-Solving: Lighting Techniques and Tips

Lighting is a crucial aspect of photography, often making or breaking a shoot. Understanding how to manipulate light effectively is essential. This video details a challenging scenario that was transformed into a valuable lesson on lighting techniques.

The Power of Subtle Lighting in Portraiture

When it comes to lighting in portraiture, there are many ways to skin a cat, but sometimes, the best way is not to go any direction all-out, but rather to blend different approaches. In this video, see the merits of subtle lighting.
Open Shade: The Key to Perfect Outdoor Lighting

Using open shade can transform your outdoor photography by providing soft, directional light without the need for complex lighting setups. This technique leverages natural light to create stunning images with minimal equipment, making it a great skill to master.

Essential Lessons for Mastering Studio Portrait Photography

Mastering studio portrait photography requires adapting to controlled environments and understanding how to manipulate lighting and equipment effectively. The transition from outdoor to indoor photography can be challenging, but it offers unique opportunities to refine your skills and produce high-quality images consistently.

Common Off-Camera Flash Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Off-camera flash photography can significantly enhance your images, but it's easy to make mistakes that can lead to unsatisfactory results. Properly balancing flash and ambient light, controlling flash power, and adjusting lighting angles can make a big difference in the quality of your photos.

Streamlining Your Photo Editing Workflow With the TourBox Light

As a photographer, efficiency in post-processing is crucial to your workflow. Spending less time editing means more time shooting, marketing your business, or simply enjoying your life outside of photography. Thankfully, tools like the TourBox Light can significantly expedite your editing process, allowing you to focus on the creative aspects of your work.

Portrait Photography Insights from a Pro

Taking stunning portraits goes beyond technical skills; it's about understanding human connection and capturing the essence of your subject. Whether you're a seasoned photographer or just starting, refining your portrait skills is crucial for creating impactful images.

The Leica Q3 Has a Special Power That You Might Not Have Heard About

Even a lot of the people who purchased the new Leica Q3 might not be aware of a feature this camera has that can greatly expand your creative possibilities for using flash. Within the Q3’s beautiful magnesium alloy body lies a secret hidden in plain sight.

Fine Art Portraits With One Light

Fine art portraits often evoke a sense of emotion and tell a story through careful composition, lighting, and posing. While achieving this style might seem complex, it can be done with minimal equipment, even in a small home studio. Let's explore how you can create stunning fine art portraits using just a single light, a backdrop, and some basic modifiers.

Different Key Light Modifiers and How I Use Them for Portraits

Big softbox, little softbox, umbrella, or beauty dish? When choosing a key light modifier for your portraits, it can be daunting to decide which one is the best for the job. I've been working as a portrait photographer for 19 years, so in this article, I'll take you through the modifiers I grab most often for shoots and explain what each one does and the best scenarios to use them.

Demystifying Three-Point Lighting: A Practical Guide for Photographers

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.

5 Tips for Stunning Engagement Photos This Spring

Spring is upon us, which means it's the perfect time for engagement season. As wedding photographers gear up for the busy fall season, it's important to focus on capturing the best engagement photos possible.

How to Retouch a Portrait Using Photoshop and Capture One

Achieving flawless skin in portrait photography requires a nuanced approach. Understanding how to enhance natural beauty without compromising authenticity is crucial for photographers working with diverse subjects.

Transform Your Photos With Only One or Two Lights

Mastering light in photography is essential, whether one is working with the natural glow of the sun or artificial studio setups. Understanding how to manipulate light with just one or two sources can transform the quality of your work, making the subject stand out in ways that are both subtle and profound.

The Secret Ingredients of a Perfect Wide Angle Portrait

Portraiture doesn't always have to feature only the subject. A wide angle portrait can introduce a sense of wonder and drama to your images. This helpful video tutorial will show you some great tips for taking one.

How Fill Light Transforms Your Images

Understanding fill light and its influence on portraits is a cornerstone for mastering off-camera flash techniques. This helpful video tutorial will show you how fill light can elevate a portrait from good to great.

How to Color Correct Portraits in Adobe Photoshop

When it comes to portraiture, the power color has to make or break even your best images is not to be underestimated. In this video, Aaron Nace of PHLEARN walks you through how to correct the colors in Adobe Photoshop.
Enhancing Your Portraits With Shadow Boards

Mastering lighting techniques is a cornerstone of creating compelling compositions, allowing for the manipulation of mood, texture, and depth in an image. The helpful video tutorial will show you how to use shadows to create more pleasing images.

How to Shoot Portraits in Poor Natural Light

Navigating low-light conditions remains one of the most challenging scenarios for photographers, requiring a deep understanding of camera settings and creative use of available resources. This helpful video provides valuable insights and practical advice that can significantly enhance the quality of photos taken in such tricky environments.

WPPI Is Bigger and Better Than Ever!

WPPI is one of the biggest photography conferences in the world. But after COVID, the show struggled to make a comeback. Thankfully, WPPI is now as good as it ever was, and getting better each year.

Key Light Placement: The Secret to Better Portraits

The importance of the positioning of the key light in portrait photography cannot be overstated, with its placement being crucial to defining the subject's features and the overall mood of the photograph. For portrait photographers, mastering key light placement is foundational, affecting everything from the sharpness of shadows to the subtleties of facial contours.

Choosing Your Portrait Partner: A Close Look at 50mm and 85mm Lenses

Understanding the nuances between different focal lengths is pivotal for photographers, especially when it comes to portrait photography. The choice between a 50mm and an 85mm lens can significantly impact the aesthetic and feel of a photograph, making it a critical decision in a photographer's creative process. This helpful video tutorial will help newcomers to portrait work pick the right lens.