Shooting portraits in direct sunlight: 3 tips

Many portrait photographers shy away from direct sunlight. The common wisdom is that you can’t capture beautiful portraits in harsh light but that’s simply not true. Any lighting source can be used to create either beautiful or unflattering portraits. It’s not the light; it’s what you do with it. Sometimes, I don’t get a choice about when or where a shoot takes place. If a midday shoot is the only time my client can do, then I risk losing the …

Video: Striking teenager portrait compositions using urban street features

You don’t need to go far to find great locations and beautiful light for your portraits. Join us behind-the-scenes as we take a walk around the streets near the studio to capture stunning portraits of two teenagers using just one camera, one lens and Paul’s favourite light source of all, daylight. You’ll get inspired by how easy it is to find potential in everyday locations: a wall, a doorway, JOIN NOW to view this and hundreds of articles, videos, critiques …

Video: Seven daylight portraits in ten minutes

Your location doesn’t have to be a limiting factor: with a little creativity, you can achieve a lot in a space most people would pass by without a second glance. In fact, you don’t even need to change or move much to achieve a varied set of portraits in one small area. In this short video, Paul shows how he created seven very different portraits of our young model, Kai, in ten minutes, JOIN NOW to view this and hundreds of …

Video: Looking For Light And Locations In The City

Oxford. One of the greatest cities on earth. Full of history, of course, but also a vibrant modern city with a huge range of locations in which to create portraits. So how do you go about looking for that perfect patch of light and that sumptuous scene to create an iconic portrait? In this video, we go for a long walk through Oxford with our models, Dory and Anisia, looking for interesting patches of light in which to create images. …

Posing A Couple In A Tourist Hotspot!

When you want to include a famous city landmark in a portrait, you need to arrive very early, arrive very late, or be prepared to wait. And wait. And wait… This was taken below the Hertford Bridge in Oxford. The distinctive design of the bridge (thought to be inspired by this bridge in Venice), coupled with its proximity to other landmarks in the city mean that it is continually crowded with camera-welding tourists. Nevertheless, I was determined to get the …