Not everyone who shoots portraits can have a fancy studio. Sometimes, you have to work with what you have, which can be a small space at home or even a room in an apartment. Just because you're shooting portraits in a small space doesn't mean you can't have professional-looking lighting though.
If you’ve ever tried your hand at portraiture, you probably know that there’s more to the craft than technical mastery and good gear. In fact, one of the variables that can make the difference between a good portrait and a great one is the skill to pleasingly pose a model.
One of the keys to a great portrait is, without a doubt, having beautiful skin tones. You can, of course, capture gorgeous skin in your portraits right in camera, but it never hurts to have a little help afterwards.
Here's a fun tutorial from photographer Jessica Whitaker with three easy ways to shoot more interesting portraits. Shot on location in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, Whitaker teams up with model Chelsea Miller to share tips, tricks and techniques for portrait photography.
How to pose friends, family and even total strangers so you can take awesome portraits of them is a popular theme on Shutterbug.com, so here’s another tutorial for you on that subject. In the below video, Pierre T. Lambert offers three more posing tips on “how to make anyone feel amazing in front of the camera.”
The video portrait challenge where three photographers shoot the same model and then compare the results has been popularized by photographer Jessica Kobeission her excellent YouTube channel. Now photographer Sheldon Evans has gotten into the act and done his variation on this fun photography challenge, which you can see below.
Here’s an interesting challenge in which three photographers shot the same pretty model using off camera flash and came up with varied results reflecting their personal approach to portraiture. Francisco Hernandez of FJH Photography organized the shoot and was joined by fellow photographers Eli Enfante end Jeff Antons.
Portrait photographers are always keen to capture their subjects in the best light. One common request from the people you are photographing is to make them look thinner.
We often turn to Los Angeles-based pro photographer Michael Sasser’s YouTube channel for gear tips including lens recommendations but in the below he offers something equally valuable: tips on how to pose your subjects for better boudoir images.
Last week, boudoir pro photographer Yuliya Panchenko shared with us three ways to pose legs in the lying position and now she’s back with three methods for posing legs in the standing position. So, to quote the great ZZ Top, you could say Panchenko has legs and she knows how to use them.
Whether you’re shooting landscapes, portraits, action or other types of photos, the proper use of depth of field will often have a huge impact on your results. As you’ll see in the eye-opening video below, you can use depth of field to advantage by following three simple rules of composition.
One of the key things that can make or break a portrait photo is body language. If the person who is posing for the photo is showing negative or awkward body language, your portrait will come out looking negative or awkward or worse: both.
Some photographers turn up their noses at the notion of using on-camera flash for portrait photography. But the technique is super easy to accomplish, and done right it can yield surprisingly beautiful results.
One challenge when making portraits of friends and family is dealing with subjects who are inexperienced at posing. Things tend to get even more difficult when photographing men who aren’t really models because they tend to be more reticent about striking a pose than women.