Recent Portraits Articles

Pye Jirsa VS Lee Morris Round 2: Vote now!

Yep you read that right! After Pye Jirsa completely destroyed Lee Morris in our last Puerto Rican Photo Challenge, Lee is back for revenge. We need your help deciding the winner so please vote in the full article.

Shooting Large Format Portraits for the First Time

Have you ever wondered about what goes into producing images with a large format film camera? Take a look behind the scenes as photographer Willem Verbeeck tries out large format portraiture for the first time.

Five Helpful Tips for Better Portrait Photography

Portrait photography takes both technical competence and the ability to work with people, making it a challenging but rewarding genre. This great video will give you five helpful tips to improve your portraits.

Three Easy Posing Tips for Engagement Shoots

If you've ever shot a couple or a subject who doesn't much care for having their photo taken, you become immediately and acutely aware of how important your direction is. Here are three easy posing tips for engagement photos.

Battle of the Photography Blogs: SLR Lounge Versus Fstoppers

It's another day in Puerto Rico and another photography shootout. Last week, we asked you which photo was better, but today, we take you behind the scenes and reveal the winning images. This is a battle for the photography blogs!

Simple Ways to Use Flash to Create More Looks in Outdoor Portraits

There is certainly quite a lot that you can accomplish with natural light, but you're at the mercy of the weather outside, and sometimes, adding a bit of flash can go a long way to augment the light at hand or to even reshape it entirely. This great video will show you some different ways to use a flash to create a variety of looks when you're shooting portraits outdoors.

Fstoppers vs SLR Lounge: Vote For Who You Think Won

While you are waiting for me to finish the video edit on our last Puerto Rican Photo Challenge, we have a new competition for you guys to judge. This time I take a back seat and let Lee Morris and Pye Jirsa of SLR Lounge battle head to head in the streets of Old San Juan.

One Piece of Equipment Every Portrait Photographer Needs

Whether you’re shooting headshots at a Fortune 500 company or taking photographs of a family member for Mother’s Day, there’s one piece of gear you should definitely have in your kit for every portrait session.

Some Simple Steps to Planning and Photographing a Great Image

Has it been a while since you got back to your photography roots with a creative shoot just for you? Sometimes, we need to hang up the business hat and get back to what makes us feel happy and creative. Here's some inspiration.

How to Pose Men Who Are Not Used to Being in Front of the Camera

Posing professional models can be easy, but how do you get the best poses from someone who’s not used to being in front of the camera? Creating a rapport with your subject that puts them at ease is crucial, and having a small repertoire of posing options can be an incredibly useful part of the process.

Posing Tips for Portrait Clients Who Are Not Models

Let's face it, when you're in business as a portrait photographer, the person who usually ends up in front of your camera is not going to be a professional model. That's why it's all the more important that you can give a regular person the guidance they need to look and feel like a superstar.

Sony GM vs Sigma Art: Which 135mm f/1.8 Lens Is the Best?

Portrait lenses are getting more and more ridiculous these days with their oversized glass elements and their super wide apertures. It's like every year a company will come out and try and outdo everyone by producing the most over the top lens they can and honestly, I couldn't be happier.

Getting the Perfect Beauty Shot

Looking for the perfect beauty shot? In this video, Daniel Norton takes us through his way of lighting the subject in order to achieve the "beauty shot".

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.

Lighting Tips and Tricks With JB Sallee

Do you want some new or different ideas on how to use your lighting when shooting a scene, a portrait, or both? Do you have multiple strobes or lighting but haven’t really put them to the test outside with a client? This set of lighting tips from B&H Photo Video and JB Sallee may be right up your alley.

The End for the Business of Photography?

The rise and democratization of digital photography over the past 15 years has been, I would describe, as one of the most socially changing movements in the world, ever. Though the cellular phone may have been the initial catalyst, the camera accompanying that communication device has now allowed billions of people to interact and share worldwide events from a nation's political upheavals to the birth of their own child. With sales of standalone cameras dropping nearly in half in the past seven years, has photography changed for the better, and is this the end of making money in photography?

Do You Know the Difference Between Broad Light and Short Light?

There are several different ways to light your subject in portrait photography. You probably have heard the different terms or styles of lighting and have seen them before, but do you know the difference between broad light and short light?

What I Learned From Taking 200 Headshots in Just a Few Days

I enjoy taking headshots for people, and I shy away from the commercial, copy-paste, white background styles where the deliverable image is straight out of the camera. However, last month, I combined my preferred style of headshot with the number of subjects you'd typically see with a large corporate, straight-out-of-the-camera shoot. Here's what I learned.