Portrait Photography How To

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Ron Leach  |  Dec 26, 2023

We all know that photography is all about light, and even the best cameras make mistakes rendering what they "see"—yielding images that are either too bright or too dark. If, like most of us, you prefer nailing exposure in the camera (instead of fixing things in post), you've come to the right place.

Ron Leach  |  Nov 18, 2020

You’re all familiar with the popular adage that, “It’s the photographer, not the camera” that’s responsible for a great image. But is this totally true or is it an inspirational myth? Today we’ll attempt to answer that question and put YOUR eyes to the test!

Barbara Bordnick  |  Nov 19, 2021

(Editor’s Note: Exploring Light is a monthly Shutterbug column featuring tips, tricks, and photo advice from professional photographers in the Canon Explorers of Light and Canon Legends education program. This month's column is by Barbara Bordnick with easy tips for capturing great photos of friends and family this holiday season.

Ron Leach  |  Jan 28, 2020

Formal portraits and other people pictures are typically most compelling when precise focus is attained on a subject’s eyes, but that’s not always easy to accomplish depending upon your camera settings. Even if you switch from multi- to single-point focus, there’s often a better way to get the job done.

Ron Leach  |  Jan 07, 2021

Everyone loves photo hacks, especially when it comes to lighting techniques that some photographers find confusing. If that sounds like you, keep reading because you’ll see how to easily create eye-popping portraits in less time that it takes to read this piece.

Ron Leach  |  Jun 06, 2025

We often sing the praises of shooting at wide apertures to achieve soft, blurred backgrounds that accentuate the key element within the frame and guide a viewer's eyes exactly where you want them to go. Pro Gil Kreslavsky takes a contrarian view in this interesting tutorial by demonstrating why he recommends stopping down your lens instead.

Barry Tanenbaum  |  May 08, 2018

Richard Bell began photographing for his book, The Last Veterans of World War II, early in 2016 and completed the photography a little over a year later. But for the origin of the book, you have to go back to Bell’s childhood.

Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Jan 12, 2024

Australian photographer Kirstie McConnell moved to Italy in 2020 and shortly thereafter launched her professional photography enterprise, Classico Portraits. She now spends her time traveling throughout the country photographing families on their enchanting travel vacations. Here's her backstory.

Staff  |  Feb 28, 2017

When Shutterbug reader Lucia Staykov noticed her husband was neglecting his Nikon DSLR four years ago, she started using it herself to take pictures of their six children, which includes sets of twins and triplets.

Henry Anderson  |  Feb 24, 2022

Professional fitness photographer Brett Seeley always has the best shoots. In the below video the Hawaii-based Seeley works with one of his favorite models, Jade Honey from the UK, to share a behind-the-scenes photo shoot with posing tips in the below video.

Ron Leach  |  Apr 19, 2022

Let’s say you open an image on the computer, the focus is perfect, you nailed the exposure, and composition is fine. But wait: the colors look awful. So you trash it, right? Not so fast.

Ron Leach  |  Aug 02, 2021

Let’s face it: We all make exposure mistakes on occasion that prevent a good shot from being a great one. Fortunately, there are a few simple shooting and editing tips that will help you get the best out of your images.

Ron Leach  |  Jan 03, 2023

So you sit down behind the computer, open what you thought was a great shot, and the image quality is unexpectedly really bad. Time to move it to the trash and try again, right? Well, not so fast.

Ron Leach  |  Mar 09, 2022

Today we’re not going to get into another discussion of the many advantages of Raw files compared to JPEGs. Let’s just assume that, for whatever reason, you shot a bunch of JPEG images and they look really awful.

Ron Leach  |  Dec 12, 2023

Regardless of the type of images you shoot you've likely captured photos with ugly, unnatural color casts. There are various ways to correct this unfortunate problem during the editing process, and today you'll discover a quick and oft-ignored technique In Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR).

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