Portraits

Chances are you've seen this type of composition before. Well fortunately for you it's easy enough to do, so here's how to set it up.

Working with professional models, those who know exactly what moves to make and how to position their bodies, can be a rewarding experience. However, it's one that most of us don’t have the pleasure of on a regular basis. In this video, you’ll learn some great tips for making your everyday client look and feel like a pro.

Using gels opens up a world of colors when shooting portraits. But you don't always have to place the gel paper over the light and shoot. How creative can you get when shooting portraits with color gels?

I always wanted to shoot the portraits of a classic Bharatanatyam dancer, but by adding a modern touch to the 2000-year-old traditional dance form. Here is how we created dramatic dancer portraits with a little technique and lots of imagination.

Light is the most important thing to photographers, it’s our job to recognize it and shape it to help us tell our story.

Color gels are a lot of fun to work with and when done well can add a certain oomph to your photo. It can also be intimidating and hard to get just right. And when I say just right, even that itself is very subjective. Some people prefer it to be subtle while others want the color to dominate in the image. There are also photographers who only use it for color balancing.

In this video, Sorelle Amore gives tips on posing for photos by posing herself. She shows on camera what the various ways are to create angles, lines, and curves that are more appealing and flattering than just standing there.

Today’s corporate hard-hitters are busy people who don’t always have time for an entire photo session when they look to you for business portraits. For this reason, you must be prepared to accomplish a variety of looks in a time-efficient manner. This video from Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens focuses on the importance of making short work of corporate portraits.

When it comes to taking images of couples, one of the biggest struggles photographers deal with is posing. Since posing can make or break and good image, these five tips can take your posing to next level.

There is nothing quite as heartbreaking as the actual moment when your creativity is quashed. There are lots of culprits that can lead up to that moment, but I find that it's often traceable to a single action (or inaction) by another party.

It is well known that if your client can hold the photograph, whether in an album or print, they are more likely to purchase it. They can feel it in a much more intimate way than just being on a computer screen. This idea was the very reason one photographer decided to step away from the traditional museum curation and create a pocket version that can be in the hands of art lovers everywhere.

I recently made a trip to the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona to photograph college graduation portraits. It was my first time on the ASU campus and my first time shooting college graduation photos. Here’s what I learned.

Have you ever felt like your photos were missing something? In this quick Photoshop tutorial, learn how to make your photos pop with this simple sharpening technique to bring your photos to life in minutes.

I think we can all agree that in order to be successful, a photograph needs to connect with its viewers on an emotional level. That emotion could be awe, desire, sadness, longing, or any number of the plethora of human emotions, but there needs to be an emotion.

One of the trickiest things about being a portrait photographer is being able to come up with a variety of backgrounds in a small area in a short amount of time. Here are five tips to make it easier.

Natural light photography has swelled in popularity as sensors improve, but the persistent battle between off-camera flashes or strobes, and just using available light continues. This video shows Manny Ortiz going head-to-head with Jessica Kobeissi to highlight the differences.

For years photographers and YouTube commenters have been telling us that in order to get the most out of our Profoto B1 and D1 lights, we need to add the Profoto Frosted Glass Dome to our strobes. Today I test this add-on to see if it makes a difference at all, and the results are surprising.

While beautiful, classic family portraits will never go out of fashion, sometimes clients desire something that shows the fun, frivolous nature of their relationships with each other, as well as the lifestyles they love. A fun, outrageous portrait that shows the special family dynamic may be just what your clients are looking for.

Shooting low key portraits is fun. It does not require any fancy equipment, only the right understanding of light and the execution of the idea in mind. In this video from Adorama TV, Gavin Hoey explains his school of thought on shooting low key portraits in a small studio setup.

As a wedding photographer, it's not always easy to find balance between the style of work you're genuinely passionate about and the type of work that pays the bills. So, how can you shoot personal projects to improve your professional photography work?

We can talk fairly objectively about camera settings and post-processing techniques, but something that remains a bit more nebulous and difficult to learn is posing. This great video will show you a range of great poses for your next wedding or engagement shoot.

If you are a portrait photographer, beginner or professional, the documentary "Darkness and Light" about Richard Avedon should be on the top of your watch list.

Achieving soft, directional light outdoors can be difficult. Sure, you can use an overcast day for soft, natural light, but often, this will not give you the most flattering light on your subject's face. In this video, we use my largest light modifier to see how you can turn an overcast day into a professional looking catalog image.

Urban lifestyle photography has seen a surge in popularity in the last 10 years, particularly with the rise of Instagram. Here, COOPH give eight tips for improving your urban lifestyle shots.

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.

Depending on the capabilities of your camera, where you're shooting, and how you want the final image to look, you sometimes should consider underexposing a portrait slightly. This great video examines the benefits of underexposing a portrait and when you should think about trying it.

With the rise of #MarchForOurLives in response to the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students Emma González, and David Hogg have been the two survivors that have been the most visible and outspoken critics of the status quo when it comes to gun control. Their images have been circulated in the media and even turned into posters for the #NeverAgain movement, many of those bearing a striking resemblance to an early photo of González.

Capturing consistently great group photos during the hectic atmosphere of a wedding day is no small feat. Take a behind the scenes tour of how a veteran photographer of over 27 years and 1,000 worldwide weddings gets it done.

The Internet is run on cute puppy photos, and that’s a verifiable fact. Do your part in contributing using these helpful pet photography tips.

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.

Have you ever wondered what it took to make your vision come to life? In this personal project, in the last four weeks of my senior year, I captured 365 portraits of my high school class and brought together an entire community through the portraits.

A photographer will know exactly what lens distortion you’ll experience with a wide angle lens up close. Does the general public?

Consider for a moment, just what would your ten-year-old self do, if given the keys to an entire photo shoot.

There's a lot to be said about the artistic nightmares street photographers often endure when hours of shooting and traveling may result in only a handful of photographs that they're happy with. One photographer set himself up for the ultimate test: shooting portraits of strangers in Times Square for 24 hours nonstop.

In the digital world it may almost seem as though selling albums or wall art would be a thing of the past. The majority of clients will want to post their session to social media and go about their day. As photographers, it is up to us to educate the client about the importance of having a physical piece of art as well as the right type of art for their home.

The character of your portraits is conveyed by many different elements, but a crucial one is the eyes of your subject. In this short tutorial, I’ll show you how to make eyes pop without making them look fake.

If you’re getting started with portrait photography, I recommend checking out this video to get up to speed on the most important things you need to know.

Prolific street artist Banksy is quoted as saying “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” Photographer Tyler Shields has succeeded on both counts and in his latest video, he discusses shooting in extreme conditions.

Does true love really exist? In this heartwarming photo series, photos capture a 90-year-old couple who have just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary together.

When it comes to shooting portraits, photographers almost always reach for an 85mm lens or even the 70 - 200 mm lens. As great as these two lenses are for portraits, they often fall short when trying to capture an environmental style photograph. In this video, I'm going to show you the most widely used lens in my camera bag and how shooting wide angle can sometimes create a better photograph than shooting telephoto.

Practically everyone needs a great headshot these days. If you have a desire to get started in headshot photography, this video from Canon Technical Advisor Eric Stoner is full of great information you can use to begin.

First things first, personal work is incredibly important. Client work often pays the bills but the most fundamental personal development you’re going to experience is when you take your vision and execute it. I would say that applies to just about anyone and certainly to photographers.

It’s a simple tip, but rewards you with more compelling images. Are you paying close enough attention to the details?

A thick blanket of white covers falling tree limbs in a beautiful landscape just calling for you to shoot your outdoor session. Navigating the labyrinth of paths to get the perfect scene is obtainable with a few from fellow photographers. Last week we discussed how to prepare for shoots in the desert and now we go to the opposite side of the spectrum with a winter wonderland shoot in the snow. A few suggestions will help the safety of your clients as well as getting those killer shots.

Work smarter, not harder. This quick tutorial will make the painstaking process of removing stray hairs in Photoshop easy.

Renowned photographer and Youtuber Jessica Kobeissi created another video in the popular series, "Photographers Shoot the Same Model." She’s now on the seventh episode of the series with views ranging from one to four million.

Beauty photography can be a lot of fun to shoot, and that is what keeps me eager to keep progressing in my craft. But it does come with its own set of problems!

Known for his lifelong commercial work as a celebrity and portrait photographer, Sandro Miller (who goes simply by "Sandro") recently captured an amazing set of photographs that show the range of modern and traditional, native cultures of Papua New Guinea.

A photographer’s child photo series has gone viral - complete with death threats – after he was accused of animal abuse for his use of live baby animals in his portraits.

You may be familiar with portrait photography, but have you ever had the pleasure of experiencing the fine art form? If you haven’t, it’s time you did. Fine art portrait photography has exploded in the luxury portraiture photography market in recent years. The results are superbly evocative and make simply stunning wall art.