Portrait Photography

Jessica Kobeissi is back once again to challenge some big name Instagrammers to photograph the same model in just five minutes in their signature style. 

Remember that feeling you had as a child, every time you pass a toy shop window and you could see your favorite toy? You pass that window, and your favorite toy sits there, waiting for you to play with it regardless of all the other forgotten toys you have waiting for you back home. All you can do is just imagine the fun you could have with it every day.

In an industry saturated with educational materials, navigating the minefield to find which resources are valuable, and worthy of your hard earned money, can be rough. As a photographer, I have purchased countless tutorials, books, and magazines. I have poured through blogs, YouTube videos, attended numerous workshops and endured some questionable Facebook Live sessions.

Perspective Control lenses for SLR cameras were developed primarily for architecture, interior, and still-life photography applications. PC lenses simulate some of the movements and control that photographers can get from a view camera. They are great for keeping lines parallel and subjects in focus.

I was hired to shoot graduation photos for a client recently, a particular job that certain photographers may be at odds with accepting. Simply put, it’s one of those gigs that can be hard to get motivated for if it isn’t your style. As a working photographer however we must all make decisions with our career and in my case, work is work regardless of the genre.

According to No Kid Hungry, one in six American children don't get the food they need. Because of the relative wealth of First World nations, childhood hunger in places like America often get overlooked.

It doesn't matter if you shoot weddings, portraits, or work in the commercial world. With the smallest about of kit and a little bit of knowledge you really can dramatically improve the quality of your images. The guys over at Westcott have produced a fascinating video with Chicago-based photographer and educator Bob Davis.

Some model poses seem to pop up everywhere repeating across different mediums and across decades. Many photographers deride these posing cliches, but these cliches can be useful on fashion and other model shoots, especially when working with new models still learning how to move.

As the phone rings, I breathe easy to calm my nerves. I'm about to interview one of the most successful modern portrait photographers in the world. I'm halfway through leaving a stuttering mess of a message when he cuts in. "Hello?

Memorial Day is a day set aside in remembrance of those members of the Armed Forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice. This Memorial Day, photographer Kate Woodman released a series called War Widow, that gives an intimate look at the life of those left behind.

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.

Even if you're not J.J. Abrams. a little lens flare can be a great way to add a new look to your shots. Learn how to control it and how to manipulate its appearance with this helpful video. 

Posing is an art entirely itself, one that many photographers spend hours upon hours perfecting. However, one photographer says that the secret isn't in posing at all, it's in directing. 

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.  

Some families head down to their local mall to get their portraits taken. However, if you’re Commercial Photographer Blair Bunting, then NFL superstar and photography enthusiast Larry Fitzgerald is your go-to man for the job. As a pre-Mother’s Day gift, Bunting surprised his mom with an exclusive photoshoot with the Arizona Cardinal’s wide receiver that left her speechless. 

Telling a joke to an audience large or small can be a risk. An edgier joke can offend as many people as it amuses. Using humor in photography carries that same risk. Many photos can have a natural humor, but when a professional photographer is tasked with creating a humorous photo from scratch it can be serious business.  

In various forms of photography, being able to composite several photos into one final image is an important skill set. In the world of portraiture, composites are often used to create group shots in which the lighting situation is difficult or not every subject of the photo is available at one given time.

Many photographers’ career ambition is to have one of their photos appear on the cover of a magazine. In years past, magazines were frequently seen as the best place to gain publication and see the best of current photography.

If the idea of creating multi-light portraits makes you feel the least bit intimidated, this tutorial is for you. Music photographer PJ Pantelis delivers a clear and detailed lesson on how to create professional headshots using just two lights and a reflector. 

Creative genius rarely erupts onto the scene full force and in your face. Its entrance into the world is often quiet, gentle, allowing only a few to see it and recognize its brilliance.

Browsing YouTube can be an exercise in either frustration or bliss, depending on the day. Today, though, I happened upon something that truly speaks to me. If you are a portrait photographer, or anything resembling one, you owe it to yourself to check out the documentary, "Darkness and Light," a part of the American Masters Series, produced by PBS. 

Last year, the Fstoppers team joined Joey Wright in Curacao to film one of our best tutorials to date, Swimwear Photography - Lighting, Posing, and Retouching. Not only was the location and team incredible, Joey's photography techniques and ability to work with models produced some of the best photography information I've learned in years.

Almost all portrait photographers will incorporate some degree of skin softening during their retouching workflow. Some of these techniques can involve hours of painstaking dodging and burning. For photographers that routinely shoot families, weddings, and newborns, a quick finishing step can generate rapid and pleasing results.

There’s nothing worse than wrapping up a shoot that you’re really proud of only to have your client tell you that they’re not happy with the final images. If this happens, you really only have two options: either take the time to re-shoot or provide a refund. Either way, there’s about a zero percent chance that you will get a referral from them.

The film versus digital debate has raged on for over a decade now. Digital cameras are so capable that it seems silly for anyone to go back to an archaic medium like film. Film is slow, expensive (sort of), lacks many game-changing features found in today's digital cameras, and has lower resolution (sort of).

We’ve all been there; the studio is set, the model is awkwardly waiting, but the light isn’t quite right and the stress begins to build. With every test shot, the light quality increases and the anxiety level decreases. Finally, like a blast of cool breeze on a hot day, everything clicks into place.

Ever wonder how you can elevate your senior portraits beyond the standard cap and gown pictures? Think about lifestyle photography the next time you book a senior portrait session. 

As with any craft, there are fundamental techniques which should always be considered regardless of the job, model, or location. Even working professionals overlook general rules from time to time and occasionally need to be reminded. 

I'm personally obsessed with the cinematic look in my stills work. I think it's timeless, elegant, and endlessly interesting. If you'd like to add that same style to your own portraiture, this tutorial will show you how to do it using just Lightroom. 

For many photographers, the majority of their subjects aren't models and aren't trained in posing. And so, it falls to the photographer to really be able to guide the subject to finding suitable looks. This great video gives you some quick tips on how to do just that. 

San Francisco based commercial and sports photographer, Alexis Cuarezma, has just announced he is launching a YouTube channel with 100 videos on photography.  He'll be discussing topics such as lighting, working with models, and taking full advantages of your locations.

Surprisingly small changes to the position of your camera can actually make your images much more successful. Ed over at Photos In Color decided to set himself the challenge of trying to make the perfect headshot in studio conditions.

Have you ever gone to the see a romantic comedy and absolutely fallen in love? Have you ever gone to a romantic comedy and spent the majority of the film’s running time politely sneaking peeks at your watch?

It can be very easy to fall into the trap of thinking elegant and nuanced portraiture requires complex lighting. And while there's certainly nothing wrong with a well-designed setup, it's also important to remember that so much can be done with a single light. This great video walks you through just such a setup.  

Photographing an engagement session in a wide open field on a sunny day may seem like a portrait photographer’s nightmare. In this video, on-location lighting specialist Zach Gray touches on a few quick tips for incorporating strobe lighting when photographing a couple outdoors. 

Shooting with flash can seem daunting at times, but it also opens up a whole new world of possibilities to take some truly epic photos that just wouldn't be possible with natural light. As a minor control freak, I was drawn to shooting with flash pretty early on in my career because I wanted to have control of the elements that made up my image. I didn't like the idea having to rely o

Almost every photographer has created some sort of personal project in their time. In fact, many photographers’ work is comprised entirely of personal projects. Rarely though do I see projects that are truly personal. I mean that in the sense of their projects having a real emotional connection to the photographer that easily shows through in their images.

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.  

There isn't a lot of information about this Adobe App and whether this technology will be added to the desktop software yet, just that it's called Sensei and they have this video to show its potential.

Propelling Fstoppers into the successful community it is today and inspiring a slew of shooters to create without limitations, the iPhone Fashions Shoot was meant to prove that a talented photographer needed little more than their own knowledge and creativity. In these one minute spots for the Huawei P10 mobile phone, Chinese

In this simple lighting tutorial, I discuss three different ways to fashion and portrait images with a single beauty dish.

Portraits - they've been the means of capturing the likeness and essence of their subjects since the inception of the camera, and even long before for the subjects of many paintings done though out the span of history.

I have a question for you, which of these pictures do you prefer? One of them has had the smallest adjustment that you might not even spot yet unconsciously it will have affected your decision. 

If you're starting out and you want to improve your portrait photography, or just be able to take someone's portraits, Peter McKinnon's video takes you through a quick crash course in how you can do just that.  He goes through each piece of equipment and gives you an idea of what he does with his clients or friends he wants to take a portrait of.

Environmental portraits are great for capturing people with the scene around them. If you want to show more of the environment you should try doing panoramic portraits. While traveling in New York shooting panoramic landscapes, Jay P. Morgan from The Slanted Lens had a thought to add people in the photo so he gave it a try.

Everyone has their baby. You know, that one camera that speaks to them in a way that all other cameras fall short. Of course, saying something like, "best portrait camera ever" is pretty loaded, but I calls it how I sees it! The Mamiya RZ67 is, for a variety of reasons, one of the best cameras ever made.

The most creative ideas are often the most simple ones. Here is a video a team from France put together showing you ways to enhance your portraits using cheap and basic tools that you can find at any grocery and hardware store. You don't have to worry, there is no French explanations, it's all done visually and is quite easy to follow.  

When shooting images outdoors, particularly in bright sunlight and towards the sun, the appearance of lens flare is often an unintended consequence. It can reduce contrast in your image and create nasty artifacts that can ruin your shot. Conversely, creating a flare in post can produce vibrant results that I find many clients asking for in their images.

Have you been booked or plan on shooting a large group for their company team photo? Not sure what you need to do or even how to start? Jay P. Morgan from The Slanted Lens is back with another video with some of his tips on how he shoots his corporate group portrait photos. 

When creating portraits in your studio, there are instances when you may opt for a shallow depth of field, which produces portraits with a more artistic flair. In this video, Gavin Hoey describes some techniques for maximizing that look of a shallow depth of field portrait.