Featured Guide:
Portrait Photography Blueprints
My top 10 blueprints for creating the perfect portrait every time.
So you’ve just purchased your first DSLR camera and you’re headed out to the park, or the beach, or some other great outdoor spot to take photos of friends and family. You take a few shots and they look…well…terrible. That’s because taking photos in the middle of the day is not easy for even the … Read more
Photographers and viewers alike will commonly agree that photos with a sharply focused subject and a blurred background appear more professional than those where everything is equally in focus. Typically, this selective focus technique done 100% in camera, and can be achieved by choosing the proper camera and lens settings and by composing the picture … Read more
If you are used to taking photos with your phone, then you probably just have most of the image in focus most of the time. But with cameras and lenses that give you more control, you can use selective focus to enhance the image and bring attention to the most important parts of it. What … Read more
As the weather cools down and October 31st draws near, photographers all over are looking for cool Halloween photography ideas to test their skills and show their creativity. So here are some of my favorites… Visit A Haunted House or Hayride Haunted houses are fun, and there is a good chance there’s one nearby no … Read more
Every piece of instruction out there about photography composition probably at least mentions the use of leading lines. But all too often, they use real obvious examples of landscapes. But what about using leading lines in portrait photography? Good composition techniques like this can often be overlooked when shooting portraits, but they are just as … Read more
You may think that shooting outdoors means you have all the light you need and can leave the flash at home. I disagree. In fact, I use flash more often outdoors in daylight than any other time. Flash is not only useful when it’s not bright enough to enable a good exposure. You can … Read more
You may think group photos are the same as any normal portrait, just with more people. But as soon as you start adding more people to the mix, you start encountering more problems. Finding the right camera settings for group photos can be tricky, especially for beginners (or anyone who is used to photographing one … Read more
Full body portraits fall somewhere in between your more standard portraits and wider angle environmental portraits. This can be a tricky middle ground for lens selection. Often finding the best lens for full body portraits requires a little bit of flexibility because the location (and how much of that location you want to include in … Read more
Group shots can be tricky. In this post I’m going to show you how you can take pro quality group shots with a 50mm lens. I used these techniques to shoot thousands of family portrait images for my clients with a 50mm lens. A 50mm f/1.8 lens is one of the first “fast” lenses that … Read more
A tripod is one of those photography accessories that you never think about you need it. But when you are in a situation where you need it, having one handy is absolutely essential. It’s a common misconception that tripods aren’t necessary for portrait photography or that you only need one for taking scenic shots without … Read more
