Portrait Photography How To

One of the easiest but most expensive ways to get your portrait subject to stand out from a background is to use a fast lens, with a maximum aperture of F/1.4, F/1.2 or even wider. Those types of lenses though are pricey and sometimes don’t do the trick, especially if you’re shooting portraits with a crowded scene of people behind them.

Portrait lighting can be an art form in and of itself. But in the quick tutorial below you’ll learn how to create dramatic portraits using nothing more than two basic off-camera speedlights and some simple adjustments.

With a visual medium like photography, what better way to learn than by watching two successful photographers go about their work? That’s exactly what you’ll see in the video below as two portrait pros walk the streets of Chicago shooting photos of a pretty model.

It's not uncommon for photographers to pick a specific exposure mode and think of it as a set-it-and forget-it choice for all the images they shoot. This practice is often the result if failing to fully understand the finer points of how a camera's light meter works.http://www.shutterbug.com/content/contrast-most-underrated-tool-landscape-nature-photography-video

Good photographers are said to have a good “eye” that distinguishes them from other photographers. There’s no better way to understand this than to see how several very good photographers photograph the same subject. A case in point is a new exhibition of photographs of Marilyn Monroe titled “Inoubliable Marilyn” (“Unforgettable Marilyn”) at Paris’s La Galerie de l’Instant (December 12, 2014-February 25, 2015).

It seems like every time we post a tutorial about the use of external flash we receive a bunch of comments from photographers who insist on shooting with available light—despite the fact that this approach doesn't always deliver the best possible results in certain situations.

We've all been told to avoid shooting on bright sunny days or when the sun is high in the sky because contrasty light is the enemy of great photos. While there's some truth to this rule, harsh conditions also present opportunities for capturing great images.