Sneak behind-the-scenes of one of my most popular images and find out why you don’t need to get everything right in-camera all of the time. Professionally-trained ballet dancer Emily Gloyens rises en pointe as red satin flows around her. This poppy-like portrait merges the stylings of a fashion shoot with the energy, elegance and movement of a dancer’s portrait. Things weren’t quite so serene in the studio, however. Find out how I captured and created this image, JOIN NOW to …
Bring elegance to your portraits with a soft and simple one-light set-up. A beautiful subject can be undone by ugly lighting. Instead, think about whether the characteristics of your light flatter your subject and complement the qualities you are trying to convey about him or her in your final image. In this video, you’ll see me working to capture a gentle, softly lit portrait of a professionally-trained ballet dancer (after we were worn out capturing more dynamic dance-themed portraits!), JOIN …
We came into the studio to warm up and dry off after a rather soggy winter portrait taken in the rain/snow outside. I put the kettle on and handed out the cups, and spotted the opportunity for a few simple but lovely studio portraits featuring some splashes of red. Watch the video to see what we created and find out why you shouldn’t complicate your lighting, or be scared of including shadows in your portraits. JOIN NOW to view this …
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 …
A simple, one-light set-up, a narrow colour palette and a bit of silliness (to catch your subject’s eye) are all that you need for a child’s portrait like this one. While parents usually want to have pictures of their children looking happy, sometimes it’s the more serious expressions that capture the true nature of their sons and daughters. This youngster, Jack, was transfixed by my antics for a few seconds, enabling a shot with a gentle feel that shows off …
When Grace’s mum turned up at my studio with her daughter’s name in big fabric letters, an idea started to form… Follow my thought process and find out how I turned it into a reality. Grace is the daughter of one of the couples whose wedding I photographed previously, Amy and Jonny. When they came in, Amy mentioned she had brought some props but nothing quite prepared me for the soft, fabric letters spelling out her name! I’m not normally …
Bryony actually came into the studio for some headshots. I loved her outfit and the way she looked, so after the headshots were in the bag, I invited her to pose for some full-length office-themed images, too. I don’t normally use office furniture for shoots, but I wondered if it might work well with Bryony’s outfit. I opted for a high key, very clean look, the kind of thing you might see in an upmarket office supplies catalogue (hey, inspiration …
People need direction in front of the camera – otherwise they often become self-conscious and suddenly forget how they would sit or stand in a relaxed manner normally. So how do I pose them without making them look all… posed? Glen got in contact with us because he wanted some portraits to give to his nan. He has quite a dark skin tone, and arrived in this dark suit, which made me very happy because I love portraits that combine …
I love talking. My wife says that all I need is a budgie mirror and I’ll happily chatter away all day. Thankfully this characteristic is pretty handy when it comes to generating expressions like this one. I invited Sophie into the studio to model for some images that could potentially be used on the cover of our book, Mastering Portrait Photography In the end, our publishers opted for this image, but nevertheless we managed to make use of this one …
These are the traditional lighting set-ups that studio photographers used to be taught as standard. The set-ups create different ‘light patterns’ on your subject’s face, helping you to flatter their face shape. It’s worth learning these traditional lighting patterns for several reasons. Firstly, they are a good starting point when you’re new to studio lighting and trying to figure out where to put your lights. Secondly, being able to identify a lighting pattern teaches you to look for highlights and …