Recent Portraits Articles

How to Make Flash Look Like Natural Light

Sometimes, you want the look of natural light, but there simply is not enough of it available for a properly balanced exposure. With a little bit of know-how, though, you can replicate the look of natural light, allowing you to create that look whenever and wherever. This helpful video tutorial features an experienced photographer showing you how to do just that.

How Hard Light Can Be Just as Good as Soft Light for Portraits

Creating standout portraits hinges on understanding and controlling light. This excellent video tutorial illuminates how to balance bright sunlight with off-camera flash to sculpt dimension and mood and shows that hard light can be just as compelling as soft light.

My Experience Attending The Felix Kunze New York Lighting Workshop

Attending a portrait workshop with a photographer that you greatly admire can be an intimidating experience. Last month, I had the opportunity to spend a day at the New York Lighting Workshop with photographer extraordinaire, Felix Kunze, and it was not at all what I expected.

How to Deal With Harsh Sunlight in Portrait Photography

The beauty of working with flash is that you can walk into any lighting situation and shape it to your creative vision and needs, and that frees you from relying on the sun to cooperate and to dictate your shoot's timing and location. Perhaps no scenario is more challenging than harsh midday light. This helpful video tutorial will show you how to use off-camera flash to work with that harsh light to create compelling portraits.

4 Helpful Tips for Your First Portrait Shoot

Portrait photography is a challenging genre, but within it are numerous creative paths and rewarding adventures if you are willing to put in the time to learn and grow. This fantastic video tutorial offers beginners four helpful tips that will help you tackle your first shoot.

How You Can Use AI to Create Portrait Backgrounds

There has been a lot of frustration and uncertainty in the photography world regarding artificial intelligence, but it also has a lot of potential as a legitimate tool for photographers to expand their creative capabilities and make their workflows more efficient. This awesome video tutorial will show you how one photographer is using AI to generate impressive backgrounds for his portraiture work, including how to customize and seamlessly blend them for convincing final images.

How to Light a Group Portrait

It takes a lot of skill and experience to light a portrait of a single person, but lighting groups can be an entirely different challenge. Nonetheless, depending what you shoot, you may be called upon to photograph groups. When that happens, you will want to be ready to transition quickly. This great video tutorial will show you an effective and straightforward approach for producing quality group photos.

7 Tips for Getting Started With Portrait Photography

Portrait photography is a popular but challenging genre, as it requires good technical skills with your camera and lighting, the ability to pose people and make them feel comfortable, and solid capabilities when it comes time to edit the image. If you are new to the genre and looking to improve, check out this helpful video tutorial that offers seven tips sure to put you on the right track.

How to Use the Modern Frequency Separation Method in Photoshop

For those who have been editing portraits in Adobe Photoshop for a while, frequency separation is likely something you'll be aware of. If you haven't, it is a technique used for skin retouching. The most modern way of performing this technique is better and easier than ever.
Four Useful Two-Light Portrait Photography Setups

It is important to start learning artificial light with a single source, as this will allow you to better understand the properties and fundamental behavior of light. Once you have mastered that, though, adding a second light will open up a lot of creative possibilities that simply would not be achievable otherwise. This fantastic video tutorial features an experienced studio photographer sharing four effective two-light setups for working with models.

How to Light a Portrait Using a Speedlight

While learning artificial lighting can feel a bit daunting, it makes you a far more versatile photographer and frees you up to explore many creative avenues that would not be possible otherwise. You do not need to start with expensive equipment, though; a speedlight and small modifier are a portable and affordable way to learn. This excellent video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to photograph a portrait using a speedlight.

A Beginner's Guide to Lighting Outdoor Portraits With Flash

Flash can feel a bit daunting to photographers who have not used it before, particularly when you take it outside and have to learn to balance it with the sun. You will find it a lot easier if you master a few fundamental concepts first, and it will make you a far more versatile portrait photographer. If you are ready to start learning, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you everything you need to know.

Canvas Is Still King: Canvas Gallery Wrap Gives the Portrait Printing Classic a Modern Makeover

If you offer portrait services in any way, be it weddings or family portraits, you will have sold a fair few stretched canvases in your time. Other wall products have come and gone over the years, but in this article, we explore why canvas is still that go-to product for photographers to showcase their work to portrait clients and suggest an elevated version to help you stand out from the rest.

How This Photographer Made Six Figures in a Single Month With Less Than 20 Clients

For many photographers, the pursuit of passion is often overshadowed by the looming fear of financial instability. Visions of artistic fulfillment are frequently interrupted by sleepless nights, wondering if next month’s bills will be covered. In a saturated market where every other person with a camera considers themselves a photographer, standing out and making a comfortable living can seem like an elusive dream. But what if amidst these swirling doubts, you came across a story so compelling, it reignites the fire in your belly and renews your faith in the power of persistence and innovation?

Tips for Shooting Portraits in Harsh Sunlight

Taking portraits outside is great fun and can result in some amazing shots, but you'll likely have heard that you shouldn't shoot during the middle of the day, when the sun is at its highest. Why? It's difficult to make the light flattering, among other things.
A Beginner's Guide to Working With Models

Working with professional models can be a fantastic way to really experiment with creative ideas and expand your portfolio. However, working with models is far different than working with normal clients. If you have not worked with them before, check out this helpful video tutorial that introduces you to many of the logistics that come with working with models as well as some of the most common working practices.

How to Become a Professional Portrait Photographer

Portrait photography is one of the most popular genres out there, and though it can be quite challenging, it can also be very rewarding. If you are just starting your portrait photography journey and feeling a bit overwhelmed, check out this fantastic video tutorial that shares everything you need to get started, ranging from technical skills to developing a creative mindset and starting a business.

A Compact and Effective Portrait Lighting Setup

When you are working in a studio, you can have just about whatever lighting you want at your disposal, no matter how complex and cumbersome the setup. However, when you move to on-location shoots, simplicity and portability are the name of the game. This awesome video tutorial will show you an easy, compact, and effective lighting setup for on-location portraits.

Two Effective Portrait Lighting Setups

Good lighting makes all the difference in a portrait, and knowing the different styles appropriate for different applications will make you a more versatile and capable creative. This excellent video tutorial features an experienced portrait photographer sharing two different lighting setups — a beauty setup and a more dramatic option — and sharing a lot of helpful advice on how to optimize both approaches to produce the best possible results.

10 Tips for Editing Portrait Photos

Lighting, posing, and shooting a portrait is challenging enough, but rarely is the job finished the moment you press the shutter. Almost all portrait images will require some degree of editing to produce a final product. If you would like to improve your portrait shots, check out this fantastic video tutorial that shares 10 great tips on how to improve your editing.

Sold for More Than $500,000: Franklin Expedition Daguerreotypes!

Photographed in 1845, first printed in 1851, and then sitting in storage for 178 years, Richard Beard's daguerreotypes of the Franklin Expedition have been sold at public auction (Sothebys) for £444,500 ($545,677 USD,) more than double the top of the expected range.

The Lens Every Photographer Should Own

If there is one lens I think should be in every photographer's camera bag, one that's most universal and a workhorse, it’s the 50mm.
3 Common Posing Mistakes and How to Fix Them

The nice thing about topics like camera settings and lighting is that they are easily quantifiable, which makes learning them easier in some cases. Posing can be a bit trickier and is often one of the last things portrait photographers really master. If you are growing as a portrait photographer and want some useful advice to add to your bag of tools, check out this helpful video tutorial that features an experienced creative sharing three common posing mistakes and how to fix them.

Exposing for the Ambient Light and Then Adding a Flash

Using flashes with ambient light can be tricky, whether you're fighting with the midday sun or you're trying to balance ambient light. In this behind-the-scenes video, you get a breakdown of how one photographer exposes for the ambient light and then layers in a strobe.
3 Tips for Taking Better Portrait Photographs

Portrait photography is a challenging genre that requires not just a creative voice and technical command, but the ability to work with people at the same time. If you are new to the genre and would like to improve your portrait images, check out this helpful video tutorial that shares three tips that will put you on the track to better results.

How to Edit Portraits in Lightroom

It used to be that Photoshop was the place to go if you wanted to edit portraits, but in recent iterations, Lightroom has implemented some powerful tools that make it easier to edit your images without leaving the application. This great video tutorial will show you how to use those new tools for editing portrait photos.

A Photographer's Guide to Pricing: Balancing Passion, Profit, and Personal Life

Photography is as much a business as it is an art. Amid the myriad choices that shape a photographer's journey, one pivotal decision looms large: pricing. For those straddling photography alongside another profession, striking the right pricing balance can be both an art and a science. Navigating my dual professional roles, I discovered that pricing isn't merely a reflection of an image's worth; it's a strategic tool, ensuring equilibrium between passion, profession, and personal moments.

Using a Simple LED Light Setup During a Portrait Session

Remove the complications and long lists of equipment that you think you need to create stunning portraits. Look at what Irene Rudnyk can achieve shooting with this simple LED light set up in her living room.

Leaving Your Comfort Zone: Landscape Photographer Shoots Portraits

As a photographer, my lens has been my window to the world, a conduit through which I've captured the grandeur of nature's landscapes. From the sweeping vistas of mountains to the tranquil embrace of forests, I've dedicated my craft to preserving the beauty of the outdoors. Yet, a whisper of curiosity has tugged at me, urging me to step outside my comfort zone and explore the realm of portrait photography for a long time.

How to Take Outdoor Group Shots Like a Pro

Group shots might seem just like wider-angle portraits, but my word are they annoying. In this video, watch a tutorial of a professional group shot of a children's football team that yields superb results despite bright natural light!