portraiture

7 Ways to Enhance Eyes in Photoshop

Here's an in-depth 28-minute tutorial from the Photoshop Training Channel that will show you how to enhance and create amazing eyes in portrait photos using Photoshop.

Ugly Places, Pretty Portraits: I Did a Photo Shoot in Lowe’s

A few weeks ago, a model friend of mine, Rachelle Kathleen, and I were planning to meet for a fun little photo shoot. Instead of searching out the usual beautiful locations around where we live, I had the idea to do just the opposite. I wanted to go somewhere “ugly” by all conventional photography standards and then see what we could do with it. Lowe’s seemed like the perfect option.

This Photographer Hiked 14 Hours for Epic Wedding Photos at Trolltunga

Trolltunga, or "Troll Tongue," is a famous rock formation in Norway that's used often for breathtaking photos. Photographer Priscila Valentina was recently asked by a couple to shoot wedding photos at the cliff. After the ridiculous challenge of hauling her photo gear to the spot, Valentina managed to capture a series of epic wedding photos of a lifetime.

Shooting Blade Runner-Inspired Portraits Using Color Gels

Almost a year ago I purchased a set of color gels on Amazon but never got around to actually trying them out. Recently, after watching Blade Runner 2049 and being smitten by the gorgeous cinematography by the legendary Roger Deakins, I just had to play with them. Not only that, the original Blade Runner, shot by Jordan Cronenweth, is one of my biggest influences ever so this shoot was bound to happen.

Trump’s Official Portrait and the Language of Lighting

Nine months after taking office, the White House has finally released official portraits of both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Last month, the Washington Post did a story highlighting the empty walls of some 9,600 federal buildings, all waiting for for an official portrait of the new POTUS.

Shooting Portraits with a Giant Moon Using a 1120mm Lens

Photographer Eric Pare recently went out into the desert and shot a set of photos showing a model sitting next to the moon. And the size of the moon in the photos wasn't faked. Pare managed to capture a gigantic moon by using a 1120mm lens and having his model sit very far away.

7 Tips for Getting Natural Smiles in Photos

Getting someone to smile naturally on camera can sometimes be a difficult task. Here's a 2-minute video by photographer Mathieu Stern in which he shares 7 techniques for getting your subject to grin from ear to ear in seconds.

When a Portrait Photographer is Asked to Photograph a Horse…

As a photographer, I’m asked to shoot unusual assignments sometimes, but I’m always up for the challenge! I started getting into photography a few years ago when my wife told me she wanted some good photos of our kids as they were growing up. She got me a Samsung NX500 camera and I fell in love with photography, teaching myself everything I know from watching YouTube videos.

Shooting Portraits in a Bedroom with a Reflector and Natural Light

Here's an inspiring 5-minute behind-the-scenes video by photographer Irene Rudnyk, who shot a series of gorgeous portraits in a bedroom using only natural light and a reflector. This video shows what if you don't have pricey lighting equipment, you can still do quite a bit with just window light and some creativity.

5 Tips for Lighting Bald People

Bald people can pose a bit of a difficulty for photographers, particularly because of the shine that can come off the skin in the studio. To illustrate this problem, Kalem from DSLR Video Shooter shaved his head for this 7-minute tutorial filled with tips for lighting bald people.

Using 3 Vintage Lenses to Shoot the Same Model

Photographer Mathieu Stern has been doing shootout comparisons showing how the same models look when captured through different vintage lenses. For this 5.5-minute video, Stern used the Konika Hexanon 28mm f/3.5, the Minolta 100mm f/2.5, and the Industar 50mm f/3.5.

Portraits of Strangers Found Through Craigslist

For their ongoing "Craigslist Encounters," the Los Angeles-based photography team Kremer Johnson has been shooting portraits of completely strangers who are each found using Craigslist. Each subject responded to an ad titled "Characters Wanted" and agreed to pose for $20 an hour.

Glorious Portraits from the 2017 World Beard And Mustache Championship

The 2017 World Beard And Mustache Championship was held this past weekend in Austin, Texas, and people from near and far flocked to the Austin Facial Hair Club to show off their glorious (and meticulously groomed) facial hair. Las Vegas-based photographer Greg Anderson was on hand to shoot portraits of some of the best contestants.

5 Classic Portrait Lighting Mistakes You May Be Making

In this article, I am going to highlight 5 key things that I see portrait photographers doing that I consider to be "in need of improvement." And although there are no hard-and-fast rules to photography, try to think of it as being similar to an instrument being slightly out of tune or a meal that's perhaps a little too salty. These are glaringly obvious errors to the well-informed but may not be so obvious to those who are just starting out.

Basic Tips for Posing Female Models

My name is Mark Fitzgerald, and I'm a photographer based in Melbourne, Australia. In this post, I'll be discussing basic model poses for female models. Whether you are a model choosing a pose or a photographer posing your model, this is a decision that can shape the look of the image and therefore the success of the campaign.

3 Tips for How to Pose Men Who Don’t Know How to Model

In this typically short and sweet 1.5-minute video from Mango Street, the photography duo run through some techniques for posing a male subject. These tips are especially helpful when posing someone who is not a model and has little experience in front of a camera.

How to Do Frequency Separation with the Mixer Brush in Photoshop

Frequency separation allows you to retouch images by editing one aspect without affecting others. For example, it will allow you to soften the skin while maintaining its texture. Here's a 21-minute video by PiXimperfect on how to use this advanced technique to improve your retouching skills.

Parody: A Fast-Posing Tutorial with the Model Who Pioneered It

Fast-posing for rapid-fire portrait shoots has been getting quite a bit of attention in recent times -- last week we showed how Chinese models pull of two poses per second for retail fashion photos. Photographer Slater King has a humorous take on the trend: he made the 2-minute parody tutorial above with one of the models who helped pioneer fast posing.

Shooting a Dramatic Portrait Using a Beauty Dish

This 12-minute tutorial from photographer Joel Grimes demonstrates two methods for creating dramatic portraits using a minimal amount of gear. Both techniques use a beauty dish; the first with a single light source and the second with the addition of 2 edge lights.

How to Make a DIY Beauty Dish for Less Than $7

Beauty dishes are great pieces of equipment to have in your lighting arsenal, but they come at a price. You can spend hundreds of dollars on a dish, yet using a cheap shoot-through umbrella can easily produce the same effect, as this 10-minute tutorial by Joe Edelman shows.