Browsing all posts in portraits.

Studio Backdrops/Backgrounds

When you look at most professional portraits you might think that the photographer had a really nice studio in a room of their home or even a really nice space in an office building or a retail building. The truth is that most photographers have their studios in old warehouses, garages of their home or [...]

Your Weekend Project – Portraits Without Faces

The art of capturing a person’s portrait without including their face is gaining popularity in lifestyle photography. I see it quite often in family portraiture and wedding photography as well. It’s a fun way to include aspects of your subject’s personality that isn’t immediately apparent in their smile. This New Year’s weekend, I encourage you [...]

Tips for Finding a Model

This is the last article in the series about turning pro, creating a portfolio and finding a model to photograph. After reading yesterday’s article I know that you’ve decided to create your photography portfolio. Of course, you’re also asking yourself how you’re going to get enough photos to fill the portfolio. The easy answer is [...]

Portraits of Love Project – A Great Cause

Portraits of Love is a project coordinated yearly by the PhotoImaging Manufacturers & Distributors Association (PMDA) and offers families of deployed military personnel free portraits for the holiday season. Portraits of Love offers professional photographers and portrait studios an opportunity to use their talents and resources to show their appreciation for our military personnel serving [...]

Review – Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It

A couple of weeks ago I attended a Scott Kelby Training seminar called Light It Shoot It Retouch It Live. It was almost eight hours of very interesting, well presented information and demonstration about studio photography. Whether or not you’re interested in studio photography I highly recommend you attend this seminar if you possibly can. [...]

5 Tips to Magnetic Engagement Sessions

Today we are fortunate to feature a guest post from an excellent and very well known portrait and wedding photographer located in San Francisco, California and New York City – Catherine Hall. Her skills, passion and experiences with photography are what many of us aspire to. Catherine is there. If you want to learn more [...]

Photographing Life Stages

One of the primary reasons that we pick up a camera is to record life events and life stages. Photographing people who are in their infancy, adolescence, prime, and old age present opportunities to capture beautiful, memorable moments specific to each age. As the photographer, we wish to be prepared for any given circumstance so [...]

What To Shoot When There’s Nothing To Shoot

(Hover your mouse pointer over the photos for notes.) I am of the school of thought that in order to become a truly excellent photographer, one must practice every single day. If the camera is only brought out for special events or specific assignments, the photographer is relegated to the “occasional” category and cannot truly [...]

Review: Kelby Training

A couple of weeks ago, I finally subscribed to Kelby Training. I say “finally” because I have been mulling over the purchase of this subscription, and an accompanying subscription to NAPP, for quite some time. Everyone I consulted with about these memberships responded with the same advice: “Do it. You won’t regret it.” So, since [...]

Studio Session -Technical Aspects

Two weeks ago I posted an article on my first studio session. One post to the article and a few emails and comments from friends asked for more of the technical side of the session and I decided it was a fair request. However, before I go on, let me stress that this article is [...]