10 Tips for Shooting Beautiful, More Creative Portraits

When it comes to finding creative inspiration for shooting beautiful portraits in your own home, there are few better than photographer Irene Rudnyk. Here are ten fantastic ideas to boost your portraiture game.

In this short video, Rudnyk runs you through some of her methods for creating striking portraits, many of which she shoots at home, improvising props, clothing, and lighting to produce her own distinctive style. Rudnyk loves her super-fast primes with huge apertures, but as she points out, such glass is only a small component of what goes into a final image, and what’s in front of the camera is far more important.

That said, there’s a wealth of lenses out there that will come close to replicating the ethereal, fairytale look of Rudnyk’s work, not least the classic nifty fifty that will give you a serious amount of bokeh for a very small investment. In addition, shooting portraits doesn’t necessarily require snappy autofocus so you could easily opt for a vintage or manual focus lens that gives you the right look and feel. For example, the manual focus Meike 50mm f/1.2 for Canon RF is just $359.99 and will create a very shallow depth of field.

What tips would you add to the list and which of these will you try? Let us know in the comments below.