Background Tricks

Five ways to better portrait backdrops

By Wes Pitts

“Watch your background!” is one of the first lessons to learn as a photographer, and it’s an essential tip for portraiture. Clean and simple is generally best; cluttered backgrounds distract from your subject. That doesn’t mean your portrait backgrounds need to be stark and uninteresting. With enough lens blur—achieved in-camera... Read more

Travel Portraits

Breaking the ice and getting the shot

Text And Photography By Tom Bol

When I first started to shoot travel portraits, I was paralyzed at the thought of approaching complete strangers and taking their picture. I was convinced they’d start hurtling expletives my way the second I raised my camera. Better to hide in the bushes with a long lens and “paparazzi” the locals without them knowing. But shooting... Read more

A Parent’s Perspective

Capture authentic family portraits by finding the beauty in easily missed moments

Text & Photography By Tracey Clark

I began my career as a portrait photographer before my career as a parent, but even then, children were always my favorite subject. To me, everything about children is poetic, and using my camera to frame each lilting and lyrical detail is what ignited my interest and fueled my passion to cultivate a career in photography. I reveled in capturing the... Read more

Child’s Play

How to plan for and engage kids in lively portrait sessions

Text & Photography By Shannon Sewell

Kids can be your cutest, most animated, uninhibited and fun subjects to photograph. They can also be the most distracted, emotionally charged, quick-moving and difficult. So, how do you plan for the latter while creating the former? Successful children’s photography relies heavily on being able to connect with the child you’re photographing. There... Read more

Lighting For Skin Tones

How to make skin look great with subtle changes to the position and quality of the light source—whether that’s a strobe or sunlight or anything in between

By William Sawalich

There’s one thing all portrait subjects share in common: They want to look good. Young and old, men and women alike, everybody hates to see their wrinkles and blemishes on display. So learn how to light to minimize flaws and produce smooth, flattering skin tones. IT ALL STARTS IN THE CAMERA Whether you’re working with ambient light or strobes,... Read more

Seeing Life In Black & White

Create striking images with these five essential qualities of monochrome

Text & Photography By Meredith Winn

Is black-and-white the purest form of photography? Some photographers believe so. The art of black-and-white photography removes all distractions so the strength of the composition shines through. "Shadow is a color as light is, but less brilliant; light and shadow are only the relation of two tones." Paul Cézanne was a painter, but the... Read more

Should You Shoot In Black & White?

The short answer is no—here’s why

By Wes Pitts

When you set out with the goal of making a black-and-white photo, you may be tempted simply to shoot in monochrome. Practically every digital camera provides this option, so why not simplify your postprocessing work by going grayscale from the start? 1 | You May Later Want A Color Version. If you shoot in monochrome, that’s it. There’s no... Read more

Lose The Winter Blues

10 ways to capture the unique scenes of the season

Text & Photography By Tom Bol

I used to dread October 1 every year. Why? Because I was living in Alaska, and that date seemed to mark the beginning of another long, cold, snowy winter. Birds had left, leaves had fallen, and temperatures had plummeted. After a frantic pace of shooting during the long summers, I reluctantly settled into photography hibernation. The winter blues had... Read more

Contemplating Black & White

Five photographers share their unique perspectives on the medium

By Tracey Clark

Black-and-white photography is totally distinct from color photography. There’s a poignancy to black-and-white images that’s palpable. Maybe it’s because, when color is stripped away, so, too, are distractions. Perhaps the lack of visual interference allows other elements to take center stage. Light, shadow, texture, line and shape... Read more

Dynamic Portraits

Add visual excitement by introducing moving elements

Text & Photography By Tom Bol

I love creating portraits. There’s just something about making that connection with my subject that sends chills up my spine. But sometimes I want more. How can I improve this portrait? What can I do to create more mood and feeling in the shot? How can I liven up a standard headshot? The answer to all these questions is simple: Add a dynamic element. Dynamic... Read more

High Key

To emphasize the eyes in these portraits, Victor Valero uses precise lighting and postprocessing to deliver high-key glamour

By William Sawalich, Photography By Victor Valero

When Vancouver-based commercial photographer Victor Valero held a casting call for a shoot in Mexico, he encountered a model who inspired him to embark on a visual journey exploring the intensity of eyes. They have the ability to transform a photograph, as evidenced by these images that are a part of that ongoing series. To start, Valero found two models... Read more

A Travel Story

10 tips on storytelling for photographers.

Text & Photography By Rick Sammon

As photographers, we’re storytellers. Even a single photograph can tell a story. A series of photographs can tell a more detailed story, however, revealing different chapters of one’s experience, if you will. That experience might be a photo safari to Africa, a photo tour of a national park, a photo trek to a nearby city and so on. In this... Read more

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