Portrait Photography How To

If the person in your portrait forgot to iron his or her clothes, it doesn't mean you need to have ugly wrinkles in the photo. You can always "iron" clothing in the image after the shoot using a few simple tricks in Photoshop.

If you’ve ever shot portraits in front of a seamless white background or a cyclorama, you’ve probably had to deal with pesky background shadows. They’re fine if you’re going for a dramatic look in your portraits, but what if you wanted something cleaner as your background to draw attention to your subject?

How often have you returned from a shoot thinking you captured some great images, only to discover that they look flat and uninspiring on the computer? If you’re like most photographers, you’ve experienced this disappointment more than once or twice.

It’s welcome news to any photographer when the look of their images becomes a distinct, signature style. That’s exactly what has happened to Benny Migliorino, whose specialty is environmental and location portraits. “A lot of people say that what I’ve become known for is dramatic lighting,” Migliorino acknowledges, “but I didn’t set out to be known for that—it’s just the way I like to light, and the way I want my photographs to look.”

Whether you've dabbled in b&w photography or always shoot in color, you're likely aware that some subjects can be more impactful in monochrome. There are basically two choices if you want to give this a try: Set your camera to B&W or shoot in color and convert the image to b&w during the editing process.

Sometimes you take a photograph and while the main subject looks great, the background is really weak. The solution is to simply place your subject against a more interesting background, right? Well, not so fast.

Manny Ortiz is a Chicago-based pro whose outdoor portrait tutorials we feature regularly. In the quick video below, he provides a behind-the-scenes look as he photographs two models at once on the streets of the windy city.