While most photographers rely on autofocus (even the pros), sometimes autofocus isn’t the right tool. You may find yourself needing to use manual focus. Perhaps your camera keeps latching onto the wrong object. Or perhaps using the autofocus assist lamp is drawing too much attention as you try to shoot
You know, if my back wasn’t seized in pain from shoveling snow, it would have been a great day to make portraits in the snow. A fresh blanket of white has a lot to offer a portraitist like yourself. Who doesn’t look adorable bundled in warm clothes with naturally rosy
Holy cow, it’s the holiday season once more. Yeah, crept right up on me. With family and friends getting together, you could have a golden opportunity to make terrific portraits. If you don’t blow it. Another picture? The problem is that these people know you are crazy about making portraits
Halloween is one of the most fun holidays there is. Kids dress up in crazy costumes and consume more sugar than is good for them. People all over decorate their houses to welcome the madness of trick-or-treating. With these, you should be ready to make portraits. Bring the good camera for
I’ve heard Joe McNally say, “If you want more interesting pictures, stand in front of more interesting stuff.” I’ve also heard it said, “If you want to make better pictures, become a better person.” I find that is true whether I’m photographing my neighbor, a longtime client, my own family,
Environmental portraits show people in their place and their habitat. The environment sets the mood and the place of the story, and a single look at the photograph can tell you what the story is about. Let me show you three things I think about as I light the background
When you buy a fast lens with a bright aperture, like f/1.8, you go crazy making photos with a super-shallow depth of field. You photograph flowers where only one stamen is in focus, and you shoot people with super blurry backgrounds, and it’s lots of fun using the thin slice
When you photograph what you know and know what you photograph, you make connections with your clients, earn their respect and produce better images. I truly enjoy chocolate. My grandmother makes chocolates as Christmas gifts each year. As a student in High School, I worked at a chocolate factory every
At weddings, you shoot portraits as quickly as possible so that your couples can spend as much time with their families as possible. I was an assistant shooter at this wedding with Lisa Robinson some years back, and she set this portrait up and shot from one angle while I shot
I hate to break it to you, but making pictures of one person is easy. It’s level one, beginner, easy-cheese. When you add another person, it becomes a lot harder — much more than twice as hard. Right now I’ll just give you one simple tip for how to pose
Holiday lights are so cool. If the tree didn’t dry out and start dropping needles, I think I’d petition my wife to leave them set up all year. They just give such a terrific mood. It’s because they have a warm tone and because they are so spread out they
When you make a portrait, your aim should be for maximum impact. Emotion, lighting, and movement all lend impact to a picture, but the way you frame the photo also makes a huge difference. the closer you get to your subject, the more intimate and impactful the picture will be.
