Portrait Tips

Try these for better people-pictures

1. Action Portrait
If a portrait subject has an active hobby, photograph him or her in action doing it. If the action is rapid, use a fast shutter speed or electronic flash (fill-flash was used for the skateboarder), and take lots of shots to enhance your chances of getting that...

There are several approaches to photographing couples. As with all portraiture, you can pose the two people for a more-formal look. Or you can shoot a more-candid portrayal that will convey the strong relationship between them. For example, just watch through your viewfinder and click the shutter when you see a special look or gesture that passes between them. Whichever approach...

During his 30 years as a photojournalist, PF Bentley has attained rare access to numerous political figures and sought-after news events. He's known for his skill for getting close to his subjects without intruding on the events he's recording. Of this special talent, Bentley simply remarks, "I can blend into any wall." He rarely uses strobe; instead, he...

Here’s an opportunity you can’t refuse; a copy of Athentech’s popular Perfect Eyes software, as well as their Perfect Portraits eBook. And both are perfectly free until January 5.

Jason Lauré is a veteran of some 25 books during his years as a highly accomplished photojournalist, and his latest--Africatrek--is his most personal book to date. As the subtitle states, this story is "an American photographer's odyssey through Africa." However, this book offers us even more. It's the journey of Lauré's life...

Several years ago, singer Paula Cole posed the musical question, "Where have all the cowboys gone?" Apparently, photographer Kendall Nelson has the answer. In her book, Gathering Remnants: A Tribute to the Working Cowboy, Nelson delivers a starkly beautiful pictorial essay on the lives of cowboys who live on working ranches in the American west. For about three and a...

All photos by Lotte Jacobi

Lotte Jacobi was renowned not only for her portraits of influential people, but equally, for her gift of revealing her subjects' inner being. She always insisted that her style was "the style of the person I'm photographing."...