Video: Photographing Siblings

It’s the one single picture that parents want most of all: their children together, looking happy. However, the perfect sibling shot can be challenging for photographers to achieve, particularly when it comes to posing: how do you place sisters and brothers together without making them look like a couple? You’ll get three totally different posing ideas from this video, and you’ll see how I achieved each of them. You’ll learn why I chose each location, how I posed a teenage brother and sister together and – most importantly …

Creating triangles with a family of four

When you’re faced with a group of people, the easy option is to get them to sit or stand close together. Instead spend a little more time to position them so that the pattern of their heads in the frame creates a more interesting shape, like a triangle. Amy, Blaize, Kai and Callie spent the day with us while we were filming our promotional video for Paul Wilkinson Photography. Part of the video shows what our portrait shoots are like, …

Ep.30 Interview: Kenny Martin On Life And Running A (Successful) Photography Business

This episode is an interview with the industry giant that is Kenny Martin. Kenny started out as a photographer, ultimately running one of the most successful Venture Studios in the UK up in Edinburgh. These days he spends most of his time travelling the length and bredth of the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia helping photography studios to be, well, profitable – not something that comes naturally to every photographer! He’s also a very lovely (and very entertaining) guy! If you’d …

Ep.29 Live Q&A With James Musselwhite FMPA

This episode is a live Q&A taken from the Master Photographers Association “Meet The Masters” day.  Myself and James Musselwhite FMPA were fielding questions from the floor (no prepping!) so what you hear is raw and heart-felt.  The topics discussed range from “what is your signature image?” to “how do I spend less time editing” and “how do you market yourself?”. If you enjoy this podcast, head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can …

Snoozing Newborns

Ah, newborns. You can’t ask them to pose or reason with them. They sleep when you don’t want them to, and wont sleep when you do want them to. Nevertheless, it’s magical when it all comes together. Here’s the stories behind two of my favourite newborn portraits. I’m not a newborn portrait specialist, but we do occasionally get new mums and dads contact our studio for photography sessions. Mostly I prefer to pose newborns with one or both of their …

Using Location To Avoid Portrait Fatigue

I share my method for avoiding portrait fatigue then discuss light direction, visual balance/tension and why the unplanned portraits are often my favourites. One of the questions I often get asked is, “When photographing all day, every day, how do you avoid repeating images?” For me, one way of avoiding portrait fatigue is to head out to new locations with my clients. We meet up and go for a walk somewhere that I believe will provide good opportunities for aesthetically …