Portrait Photography How To

We’ve been regularly sharing tutorials from the “Mastering Your Craft” instructional series fom SLR that appears exclusively on AdoramaTV. Created by Pye Jirsa of SLR Lounge, these helpful videos provide everything from gear advice and inspiration, to technical tips for improving your photography.

In today’s episode, Jirsa demonstrates a simple technique for creating unique portraits by using a single off-camera flash to simulate beautiful warm light streaming through a window. Whether you consider yourself a beginner or a more seasoned portrait shooter, the five-minute video below is well worth your time.

As you’ll see, Jirsa mounts his light outside a window atop a 15-ft. stand, after placing an orange gel on the flash so it delivers the color temperature he desires. Once that’s done he takes you inside the building and walks you through the simple process of photographing his pretty model.

Along the way Jirsa provides helpful tips on exposure settings and posing. He also includes a list of the equipment he used in the description below the video. Bottom line: The next time you want to shoot window light portraits, you don’t have to wait for a sunny day.

You can watch more episodes of the “Mastering Your Craft Series” on the AdoramaTV YouTube channel. And don’t miss another great session we posted, with five easy tips for natural light portraits on the street.