Today portrait photographer Christina N Dickson shares tips on how to shoot engagement portraits. Christina’s work can be found at www.ChristinaNicholePhotography.com.

Shooting engagement portraits are perhaps some of the most enjoyable for photographers. Most often, they are taken before the whirlwind of wedding planning is fully underway, and the couple is still quite enamored with one another. How do you take advantage of this time and produce incredible images? Follow these few steps to achieve real and vibrant engagement portraits.

1. Be involved!

As a photographer, you must keep your people skills sharp. With engagement photos, you have to do your research on the couple you are photographing. What are they like as a couple? What are they like as individuals? What is their wedding going to be like? How did they meet? This is going to affect the way you want to build your images and portray them.

2. Encourage affection!

Rather than posing each shot, ie, “okay, now you kiss her cheek!” encourage your couple to show as much affection as possible. Every couple does certain things to show one another love. If you want to capture them accurately, you will urge this type of interaction.

3. Be observant!

A couple is most natural when they are focusing on one another. Try to direct the shoot by suggesting they talk to one another, telling one another most embarrassing moments, or 5 things they love about each other– topics that will pull out expression, interaction, and affection.

4. Remember that space determines relationship!

If a couple is leaning in for a kiss, or walking arm in arm, you will be able to communicate a message of intimacy. Sometimes you can get sweet shots with contrast and tension in the picture by placing the couple far apart in the frame, but be sure that this is your purpose if your going to do it.

5. Tell a story.

No love story is the same. Find unique traits about the couple, and then pull this out in the creation of your images. If the couple is perfectly at ease with one another because they have been best friends for 10 years, you can create images with a laid back and contented feel. If the couple has had a whirlwind romance after meeting on e-harmony.com, it will be natural to pull out the affection and passion of their relationship

6. Be open to suggestions!

Often times the bride to be will have an idea for a shot she will suggest to you before hand. Other times her fiancé may think of an idea on the spot during the shoot. If you can integrate these ideas into your shooting, you will delight the couple, and possibly find yourself inspired by new ideas.

7. Be personable!

If you get to know your couple, and allow them to fall in love with your personality and style, you have a good chance of booking them for a wedding also. Your job is not only to take good pictures, but also to give them a fabulous time they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Engagement Portrait Shoots: 7 Professional Tips to take your Engagement Shoots to the Next Level

How did you each get your start in photography?

Jakob started when after getting his Masters Degree in Business, he landed an awesome government job in Stockholm. They needed an in-house photographer, he volunteered and rest is history.

Cole started because of two things: his mom and his goal to start a business. His mother has been a photographer for over 20 years and Cole was always around it. He wanted to start a business where he could follow his passion, so photography fit the mold perfectly.

What was the hardest thing about moving to shooting professionally?

Avoid marketing to your competition (which is a bizarre and ridiculous trend we notice) and focusing on your marketing efforts on your target market. That and staying true to your brand, which in photography, should be your style.
Once you start moving your style around in different directions you veer away from your brand, and that’s a surefire way to lose potential clients, and have retainable clients shift to the competition. Be consistent to your style, and your brand strength will build from there.

On your site you have a package for social networking.  Can you expand a bit on what’s offered that would be different from a standard portrait shoot?

Images are destined for different homes, and you should prepare them for such in your editing efforts. Some are meant for print, which could be billboards, canvases, paper, or anything in between. Alternatively, images find their homes on the web. We prepare images that are destined for web-optimization in our social media packages, which will allow for a perfect photo for our clients to be best represent their online brand.

How this is different from stand portrait shoots depends on the client, and how we communicate before the shoot. What we want to learn from a client is who they are and what they represent. With that information, we envision how we visualize their own online brand (or their personalities, which in today’s social media world, is their brand) and convey that into a photography shoot. The shoot itself may not be completely different in approach and techniques from other photographers, but what may be different is our own psychology in knowing what the images will be used in the end.

Has that niche been well received?

Extremely well. While weddings are our main business focus, focusing on social media users has been very successful. People are understanding that they themselves are their own brand online, and the starting point for building a fantastic brand is the visual aspect. That means having a kick ass picture, which obviously bodes well for the business of photography.

What seems to have the largest return on investment for your business marketing dollars?

Not spending any money at all on marketing has been our biggest return on investment. We haven’t since day one, and we likely never will. Everything we do is a profit if you equate expenses to profit because we invest our efforts into social media marketing, which if done with a strategy in place, does not cost anything.

We believe that our style and our efforts in communicating our style as our brand will build our market for us, and to this point, it has.

What advice would you give to our readers who are looking to ‘go pro’ and turn a hobby into a profitable business?

If you cannot identify your own style from your competitors, your brand hasn’t started to take shape. Wait until that happens or you may find yourself in a competitive environment that you’re not quite ready to be a part of yet.

Jakob and Cole can also be found on Twitter and Facebook if you’ve like to get in touch with them with more questions.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Social Media Photography And Finding Your Style: An Interview With Nordica Photography

Fill Flash with the Sun Behind the Subject Creates Nice Backlighting but a Well Lit Face (the hat helped shade the face too) - Image by Cayusa

It’s a bright sunny day and you’re out with friends making the most of the good weather. You decide to take your camera – after all what better day to shoot some portraits of your friends than a sunny day – bright light = great shots doesn’t it?

Unfortunately lots of light doesn’t always equal great shots – in fact sometimes when you’re shooting portraits in bright sunshine you can run into real problems.

For starters shooting in bright midday sun where light is coming from directly above is going to mean that your subject can have some pretty heavy shadows cast on parts of their face.

Not only that, if you’ve ever posed for someone taking a picture in bright sunlight you’ll know just how difficult it can sometimes be to look natural and not end up looking like you’re grimacing in pain while you squint to keep the sun out of your eyes.

So what’s one to do?

Here’s three simple tips for shooting portraits in bright sun light. I’ve kept them pretty basic for those of you who are out and about and don’t want to haul an outdoor studio along with you!

1. Fill Flash

It seems a little odd switching the flash on in bright sunlight but it’s one of the best times to do it. Those heavy shadows cast on your subjects face (particularly under the eyes) by the midday sun can be a thing of the past with a little extra light from your camera’s popup flash.

Many cameras will allow you to control the intensity of the flash output with their flash compensation function so don’t be satisfied with your first shot – dial it up or back a little once you’ve taken a first test shot until you get a nice natural light.

Shot in open shade and using a reflector - Image by christianyves

The bonus of using a little fill flash is that it will often darken your background a little which can give your shot a little more punch and make your subject stand out a little from their background. Fill flash will also create a little catchlight in the eyes of your subject, giving their eyes that little extra sparkle!

Sometimes using fill flash will also allow you to shoot with the sun behind your subject – this means their face has no direct sunlight on them but that they have a little back light falling upon their hair and shoulders which can create a nice impact.

2. Shoot in the Shade

Another easy way to stop the shadows on the face of your subject is to simple move them (and yourself) into a much bigger shadow and to shoot in the shade.

The key is to find a spot where they’re not in the dark but have a nice even light falling on them. So avoid dappled light under some trees a tree or you’ll get spots on their face but go for something with a nice even coverage.

If you’re going for a tight head shot you might even be able to get away with having someone hold up an umbrella or some other object to create some shade over their face (as long as the other person is out of shot).

3. Find a Reflector

A combination of shooting in shade and using a reflector gives this portrait an even lighting - Image by JesseBarker

It’s unlikely that you’ll be hauling a proper reflector around with you (although I know some dPS readers always travel with a small foldable reflector in their camera bag) but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the same principle to bounce a little light into the face of your subject to help light up some of those shadowy areas.

Pretty much any white (or light) surface can act as a reflector of light and held at the right angle you can use it give your subject a little extra light.

One photographer we talked to a while back swore by always wearing a white t-shirt for this but you could get a similar result by positioning your subject by a white wall or positioning many white objects just out of frame to reflect light. I’ve even seen one photographer friend take aluminium foil from a picnic and using it to help make a reflector (although it did create a little ‘dappled’ light on his subject.

Bonus Tip: Get Creative

Once you’ve taken a few nice portraits with the above tips, why not try a few experiments and use the bright light to see if you can inject a little creativity into your shots. You might just take one with the WOW factor. For try creating some lens flare by shooting into the sun (just be careful not to burn your eyes looking directly into it). Alternatively you might try some silhouette shots for portraits with a little mystery and drama.

What other tips would you give someone looking to shoot portraits in bright sunlight?

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

3 Tips for Shooting Portraits in Bright Sunshine

Looking to take a portraits with a quirky twist? Try ‘jowling‘ (also sometimes known as slap n’ flap).

Photo by rent-a-moose

How do you do it? Get your subject to relax their facial muscles completely (to the point that they have no facial expression)…. open their eyes and mouth (try to keep them open)… then to shake their head from side to side as fast as they can. Start snapping (use a flash and fast shutter speed to freeze the ‘action’)! Here’s what jowling looks like:

Photo by rent-a-moose

Photo by Scott Robbins

Photo by Laura Mary

Photo by Scootie

Photo by notorious d.a.v.

Photo by Jeff Croft

Photo by jonaldinger

Photo by chrisscott

OK – so I suspect that most of these shots are taken at parties when the facial muscle relaxation is aided by a drink or four – but this jowling thing is bigger than you might think – it even has it’s own website – jowlers.com – complete with it’s own ‘how to’ page, galleries and more!

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A couple of other things to try with Jowling

• Experiment with slow sync flash to freeze the face but also capture a little movements.
• Also try using a wide angle lens which can add to the distortion in your shots.

Share Your Jowling Photos With Us

Now you know how to take Jowling shots – why not take some and head over to our forum and share them in a Jowling Thread that I just set up.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Jowling – Photography Fun For a Rainy Day

Let me start out by saying I’m an amateur photography. I always loved taking photos but I didn’t buy my first SLR (a D80) until 2007. Since then I’ve mostly done landscape/nature photography and I’ve slowly upgraded my gear (to a D300s) and I’m starting to branch out and try new things. \

Lately I’ve really enjoyed looking at portrait/model photos on Flickr so I thought I would give it a try. I convinced 2 of my friends to model for me and we went over to Stanford University for a couple hours of fun.

The Things I learned on my first portrait photoshoot:

1. Background is key! Keep it simple: in fact, keep it even more simple than you think. I thought I was using easy backgrounds but often there’s tiny things (like trash bins) that can be really detracting (see below).

Also, don’t forget that bright spots show up in between tree/shrub leaves and those can be really distracting. Try to find something with a solid background. Also, try to find a background that leads into the model, by using columns, a hallway, stairs, something which can spruce up the photo a bit.

2. Use Objects to Help Relax the Model: When you’re using inexperienced models they’ll become a lot more comfortable if they have a prop to work with or something to lean against. It was kind of awkward when they had to just stand there.

3. Pay Close Attention to the Hands/Hair: Often I’d spend so much time worrying about how the model should stand or what was in the background or what my lighting was like that I forgot to look at their hand position. When I got back home and began editing the photos I found a lot of them had awkward hand positions that essentially ruined the photo. Additionally, stray hair (either due to wind or other factors) can also really detract/cover the models face.

4. Use an assistant: Bring a friend or family member if you don’t have a real assistant. They can help straighten out wind blown hair, hold a reflector, or just help make the shot look more natural. I brought a reflector with me but my friend ended up taking one of the models and shooting at the same time and I didn’t have anyone to hold the reflector. Next time we’ll take turns being each others assistant.

5. Use a sharp, fast, large focal length lens: I started the shoot using my Sigma 105mm f/2.8 macro lens. I figured 105mm would be perfect (longer focal lengths tend to “squish” things a bit and make your model look better) at f/2.8 but it turns out the lens was really soft and I didn’t like the results. I ended up switching to my 50mm f/1.8 and that worked much better. I’m a fan of sharpness in the features of my photos and the soft 105mm lens just made my models look too blurry.

6. Eye Position is really tough, learn to control your models: I spent a lot of time looking at other portraits/model photos on Flickr and a lot of photographers have the models eyes positioned so that they are not looking directly into the lens. I tried this out by telling my model to “look left” or “look right” but I quickly found out that if they looked too far to one way then their eyes would barely be in the photo. It took some work to figure out just how far to tell them to look in either direction.

7. Have the Models Wear Interesting Clothing: The models that I used were some of my friends and they weren’t too happy to be told to be at my apartment no later than 7am (I wanted the good light!) They showed up in normal jeans and a sweater. Although they brought a couple changes of clothes I felt bad making them change. When I got back to my computer after the shoot I wished they had been wearing something less every-day-clothing. Since it was spring time when we did the shoot, the best photos I had were when they were wearing spring dresses.

8. Have fun and learn what works! Don’t go into every shoot (or your first shoot) with high expectations: It’s going to be a learning experience for all so just relax and have fun with it. If you can have someone more experienced teach you the ropes, you’re lucky, but if you don’t, then find some friends like I did and just go out and have fun!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

8 Lessons Learned from My First Attempt at Portrait Photography

How did you first get into photography?

I first got into photography when I was around 16 years old (I’m now 19). I would always flickr through magazines and wonder why pictures I took never looked like they did, I was slightly confused and intrigued by it all. Like any teenager, I wanted to feel pretty, so I started taking random snaps of myself and playing around with them in photoshop and posting them to my old myspace.

After a while, I joined flickr, and I was around 17 when I decided to take up the 365days Project (1 self portrait every day for a year) to really improve my photography and post processing skills. I didn’t start taking it seriously until a few months in, and I saw how passionate about it that I was. I started shooting in new locations, with props and lighting, and then moved onto shooting with models and clients. Self portraits are something which are nice for me to do occasionally, but they really gave me that first initial leg up into the world of photography.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?

I wish I’d known how important it is to have patience with yourself and keep going. I think with the internet in all it’s glory it can be easy to get disheartened, especially when you get negative feedback, but what is important to keep in mind is that every amazing photographer was once a horrible photographer who took awful photos. We all start somewhere, I look back on my early work and cringe! And I’m sure next year I’ll look back on the stuff I’ve yet to do and cringe at that, too! Point is, I wish I’d not been put off by all the other talented photographers out there.

You don’t need to worry about what you have to offer if you enjoy what you are doing – I’m still not entirely sure what i want to say with my photography, but I know eventually I want to say something, and I’m happy working with what I enjoy until I figure that out.

What type of camera do you use most?

I use the Canon 5d Mark II right now, but for the first year and 1/2 I used a Canon 400D, so very basic with no other equipment except the kit lens and a tripod.

What is your favourite lens?

I LOVE the 70-200mm 2.8 IS lens, and I’m saving up for an 85mm 1.2 lens. I also reccomend the 50mm 1.4/50mm 1.2 lens, and the 24-70mm 2.8 has served me well.

Could you share a favourite recent image and tell us a little of the back story behind it

This image (above) was done a few weeks ago at Stoke on Trent University studio. My boyfriend and I had recently broken up, and I was powering through the split, but still feeling an overwhelming feeling of sadness at the loss of a friend and a whole part of myself – I had moved over to America to be with him (I am from Manchester, UK) and I had to leave everything behind, including the incredible time I’d had over there.

I found these butterfly stickers in a shop one day, and wanted to portray this concept of all the butterflies you get when you love someone quietly fluttering away from you. It was heart wrenching when it happened. I wasn’t 100% sure I even wanted to let them go.

A while after the shoot, I actually saw that it could have a different meaning – that all the butterflies were coming to me to comfort me and surround me like something of a defence. I start to pick myself up and realize that life goes on and love will come again, and that there will always be butterflies and without trying to sound too soppy and melodramatic, sometimes you have to let them go. Photography is great for me like that, it’s like a little outlet I have to express myself and release any sadness/emotion that I might have.

Do you have a tip for beginner to intermediate photographers that will help them improve their photography?

Practice every day! I would definitely recommend taking up the 365 days project – even though it’s self-portraiture, you learn how to direct yourself and pose yourself (and then you can pose models a lot easier) and you get used to being on both sides of the camera.

Shooting every single day sped up my improvement by miles, and it also was nice to document my year and see how much my style has changed. Also – take every opportunity you get, however dull or small, because it opens up SO many new jobs and opportunities! I’ve had such an amazing 2 years and I wouldn’t give up photography for the world.

Connect with Rosie and see more of her work at her site and on her Flickr account.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Interview with Rosie Hardy

Portraiture is the medium through which we photographers endeavor to tell the stories of our friends, our family, and our clients. Through this art, we have the ability to capture a likeness of someone that will last for generations to come.

So, is your portraiture worthy of this calling?

Developing the art of portraiture requires a great deal of time and effort. Developing relationship to perceive the true personality of our subject. Creating the perfect likeness. Achieving the most dynamic final product for print.

Daunting? Perhaps. But technology is on our side in ways like never before:

Portraitists, meet the High Dynamic Range Portrait.

HDR portraits may seem more work than worth the effort. This is further than the truth. There are many programs that have now harnessed the simplicity of HDR and enable portraitists to create works of art that produce an artistry from the most simple locations, lighting, and subject matter.

Creating HDR portraits is more simplistic than you may think.

Take these few tips for a portrait of High Dynamic impact.

1. Keep it Simple

The point and purpose of HDR is to capture depth and detail. While you are practicing, set up shots that will enable you to focus entirely on your subject. If you want to create a genuine likeness that harnesses the impact of HDR, keep it simple, and keep it real.

2. Set your camera at Aperture priority

As you will be stacking your image series, you don’t want any change to the aperture and depth of field. Make the shot easy on yourself by allowing the camera to determine your shutter speed. [One additional note: be aware of your shutter speed so that you will not end up with blurry images - ruining the clarity of your HDR portrait].

3. Watch the Movement

The greatest challenge with HDR portraits is getting your subject to stand as still as they can – and you taking the shot with equal speed. If you are not bracketing your camera, you will want to take 3-5 images. Three exposures will keep blur low, once again, allowing you to achieve clarity for your portraits.

4. Observe the Details

HDR is most powerful because it allows you to preserve details in both the shadows and the highlights. Therefore, it’s extremely important to watch anything that may be distracting in your portrait. Wrinkles, oily skin, pores, etc. Minimize elements that you do not want to have featured, or else they will be quite enhanced by the HDR technique.

5. Don’t Stress the Program

You can obtain a variety of HDR programs that will stack the images together into one image [Photomatix for example]. You don’t necessarily need anything fancy or expensive [see this post for the editing process]. Once your images are stacked, you can import and edit your image into another program for editing, like Photoshop, Lightroom, or Aperture. Once again, as you have preserved detail in the highlights and shadows, edit with contrast in mind.

Remember, HDR portraiture can make your portraits come alive with a real-to-life quality you never dreamt possible. And as you see, it can be a fairly simple process.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Shooting for HDR Portraiture

image by kkelly2007

In our 10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits tutorial I talked about ‘Playing with Eye contact’ (point #2) as being one technique to add change the feel of an image.

Today I was flipping through an old photography magazine (called ‘photography focus guide’) and a quote about eye contact in portraits jumped off the page at me:

“Without eye contact, the whole mood of the image changes – the camera is now simply an ‘observer’ and this is a great opportunity to show a subject in a different way.”

I like that quote because it puts words to something I’d been feeling for a while but hadn’t known how to express.

There’s nothing wrong with having your subject look away from the camera (or to have them look down the barrel either) but it does alter the mood and style of your shot. Having it can create real intimacy with the viewer of your shot while not having it can give an image a sense of watching someone without being seen by them.

Do you tend to use eye contact or avoid eye contact in the portraits that you take?

PS: as I was about to hit publish on this it made me think of these two photos that photographer Jasmine Star took of me in a recent photo shoot. Two shots taken within a moment of each other but one with eye contact and one without – creating shots with different feels.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Eye Contact in Photography

1. A photographer friend of mine once told me that “there should always be some “wow” elements in your photos, if you think that your photo lacks that characteristics, don’t show the photo to the others”!! Although I personally believe that it is not easy to capture “wow” moments in every shot, but keeping that goal in your mind always helps to get a better framing (for example, I took the picture (picture -1) of the angry Sadhu at Gangasagar fair, he was badmouthing the pilgrims for not giving him enough alms . I was watching his movement and preparing myself for the precise moment to press the shutter).

2. Always try to capture a picture which itself tells a meaningful story (for example I took the photo (picture -2) of these schoolgirls during a heavy downpour when they were eagerly waiting for another friend of them to come!). Sometimes try to interact with the subject instead of being a mere voyeur, try to know the story behind and recompose, if possible. In picture -5, I captured a street orphan with a very painful face. Try to depict a specific mood of your subject. In picture -6, a Sadhu is glued in smoking.

3. Learn to compose the patterns. For “unaware or semi aware” type of pictures, I think the shot and composition has to be planned very quickly in most of the time. Train yourself (only way to do this is taking more and more photographs) to quickly measure the direction of the light, the unique interesting POV, shapes, the aperture and shutter speed. If there is enough light, I usually use Aperture priority mode, since it helps me to get the perfect DOF, but if I am not sure or I don’t have enough time to set the settings I switch to Program mode (P).

4. For “fully aware” type of pictures, you get more time to set your camera and composition, even then don’t make it just a posed lifeless photograph, get something meaningful out of it. For example in picture -4 the little girl is a cow trader’s daughter, everyday she helps her father to chase the cows to the market with her little stick.

5. Look for a relevant or clear background. If the background is disturbing, use smaller aperture values. In picture -7, I was very lucky to have a clean background , however in picture -10, I found the background where a lady is drying her saree as a very interesting one, because it seemed to me as if the Sadhu was remembering about his past life , his family and probably his wife as well, who knows!

6. If you need to take a closer shot, approach your subjects confidently. Show your camera to them and ask for permission (of course with a smile please!). I have shot

pictures in India, Nepal and Europe; I have always found it much easier to shoot in India. Usually common people feel flattered when someone takes their pictures, so it is easier to get close-up portraits most of the time. Although sometimes you may need to answer some curious and weird questions. However in Europe, I have always found it difficult, since people are not so free when a stranger is taking their photograph. A telephoto lens may be useful for taking portraits if you are not so confident about asking for close portraits. But I don’t encourage this idea of using telephoto lenses very much as I believe, to take a good portraits, someone should get closer as much as possible. A wide angle perspective can be used as well for capturing the street scenes. don’t be upset if someone says “No”. Respect that and try someone else. In Picture -9, I found that everyone (even the dog!) were glued in listening to his flute.

7. Avoid using flashes, they create unnecessary attentions. Use natural light. I prefer to shoot during the magic hours when the sunlight is very soft. Otherwise usually I use “Cloudy” white balance to get warm snaps. Sometimes you may need to boost up your ISO at the cost of not using flash. Do that, if necessary (for example: I took the shot (Picture-3) of the child beggar with a painted face inside a local train in Calcutta. There was very little available light and train was running and heavily shaking, hence I had to use very high ISO -1600).

8. While shooting in public, try to wear casual clothes and carry minimal gears. It will help you to stay unnoticed. I usually carry a Tamron 18-270mm and a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens with a Canon 450D camera body and sometimes, a Fujifilm S8000fd P & S camera.

9. Although may not be essential for everyone, but for me , reading some good books on Photography , regularly viewing and “reading” good photos on flickr and other websites makes a lot of difference .

10. Keep yourself safe. Don’t risk your life.

About Tuhin Subhra Dey: I am an Indian and by profession, a Doctoral fellow of Economics at University of Padua, Italy, although a serious amateur now but I cherish a keen dream of becoming a full-fledged Pro photographer someday in future. Connect more with Tuhin Subhra on Flickr and Facebook.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

10 Tips for Portrait Photography

I met Pro Photographer George Tippet (no website… yet) at a function recently where he was the official photographer. I sidled up to him in a quiet moment, introduced myself and after chatting with him for a few minutes asked if he’d mind giving me a few ‘quick tips’ for portrait photography (his expertise). Here’s what he said (and what I managed to jot down quickly on a napkin).

1. Keep it Simple

The more complex your scene is the more unlikely you are to get a shot that is the X factor. Keep your backgrounds (and foregrounds) uncluttered, work with natural light where you can, if you have to use artificial light keep it simple and use as few lights as possible.

2. Set up the Shot before Introducing Your Subject to it

Be as prepared as possible before your subject arrives. If you’re shooting in a studio have your lighting ready and camera set up and ready to go. If you’re shooting on location know where you want to shoot. Have your camera’s settings ready to go and even do a few test shots before your subject arrives. This way you don’t keep them waiting around and get to photograph them when they are fresh.

Image by dogseat

3. Shoot into the Light

George was a big fan of back lighting – particularly when shooting outdoors. He talked about how this added interest, depth and sometimes color into an image. Lens hoods are a must if you’re doing this outside in bright environments though – you’ll also need fill flash.

Image by *Zara

4. Shoot from Slightly Below Your Subject’s Eyeline

One thing I noticed about George was that during the event he always seemed to be bending his knees slightly. He wasn’t that tall so I asked about it. He told me that he found that shooting from slightly below a person’s eyeline was something that he found to be quite flattering for most people. He used this both with shots where a subject was standing or sitting. Similarly – George recommended lighting from slightly below rather than above a subject also.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

4 Quick Tips for Portraits