DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

 

Submit A Story

You’re beautiful! And 4 other things to never say to a portrait subject

by 13 Comments

Do you want to create effective portraits? Then you’ve got to learn what to say to your subjects… and more importantly, what not to say. Remember the 10th Commandment of Portrait Photography: Do no harm. It’s the photographer’s job to make the subject comfortable. If your subject is comfortable, you’ll get better expressions. Better expressions mean better pictures.

That’s why I put together this handy-dandy list of 7 things you should never say to your portrait subjects… and what you should stay instead. Plus, I even put my secret “don’t smile” tip down at the bottom of this article. Now, what’s the worst thing you can say to a portrait subject? Simple! It’s…

[Read More…]

Here are some posing tips to help you shoot stunning (self)portraits

by 4 Comments

If you photograph professional models, they know their tricks. But photographing yourself or non-model friends can be quite a challenge because not all of us know how to pose. Sorelle Amore has created a fantastic video to help you get through this. She shares a bunch of useful posing tips and tricks to help you take awesome portraits of others or of yourself.

[Read More…]

Use a tilt-shift lens to be a little more creative with your portraits

by 4 Comments

Often relegated to the realms of architectural, product photography and the occasional bit of timelapse, tilt-shift lenses aren’t typically found in a portrait photographer’s bag. But if “portrait photographer” describes you, then should you consider getting one? Eric Floberg things so, and regularly uses his Canon TS-E 45mm f/2.8 to create more interesting and unusual portraits on location.

[Read More…]

Use lighting gels to get a pastel light wrap around your subject

by 3 Comments

Good news! This is actually a relatively easy JHP lighting setup to play with and it produces some pretty great looking results too. It’s easy to set up as you only need a couple of softboxes and this can be put together and shot in a very small space indeed; no studio required. Plus it produces some great looking results because it uses coloured light. Now I know I may sound biased on that but hear me out as we go through the setup and it should start to make more sense as to why this looks extra cool with coloured gels compared to without.

[Read More…]

“Careful: Soul Inside” wants to humanise the homeless and highlight the fine line that separates them from society

by Leave a Comment

In June 2015, Brazilian photographer Pedro Oliveira started a new personal project called Careful: Soul Inside. It’s a look into the lives of homeless people throughout the world using portraits. He engages with them, listens to their stories and shares their pictures. His goal is to bring awareness to the fine line that separates them from the rest of society and to make people see that they’re also people, too.

[Read More…]

Nine tips for raising your portrait photography to ninja level

by 1 Comment

For me, portraiture is one of the most inspiring genres of photography. I also find it pretty difficult to master, there’s so much to learn – but it’s what makes it so fun and appealing. In this video, photographer Jamie Windsor shares nine fantastic tips for giving a new dimension to your portraiture work. He focuses on studio shots, environmental portraits and street photography, and shares some precious advice to help you get the best out of your portraits.

[Read More…]

Photoshop quick tip: how to brighten portraits and preserve skin tones in two minutes

by 2 Comments

When you shoot some underexposed photos, brightening them up is usually not too much of a problem. However, making portraits brighter can result in desaturated, unnatural skin tone. In this quick tutorial, Aaron Nace of PHLEARN shows you how to brighten up a portrait and keep the skin tones saturated and natural-looking. And you can do it all in only two minutes.

[Read More…]

How this portrait was made from concept to completion

by 1 Comment

It’s not often that a behind the scenes or tutorial video goes over the entire process of an image’s creation. Usually, they cover only a specific aspect of it. Often that’s just the gear used, just the lighting set, or just the post work. Great if you want help with a particular element of a shoot, but they don’t really provide the entire picture (no pun intended).

In this video, portrait photographer Francisco Hernandez goes over his entire process for creating this shot. He covers everything from how he found the model to picking the location through to actually shooting & post-processing the final shot.

[Read More…]

A photo of human-like robot wins third place in portrait photography contest

by Leave a Comment

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize is a prestigious portrait photography contest. While it allows “‘portrait’ to be interpreted in its widest sense,” the rules state that the photo must involve humans. But this year, for the first time, one of the main prizes went to a portrait of a human-like robot.

Finnish photographer Maija Tammi won the third place and £2,000 for a portrait of a Japanese android named Erica. And while the judges admit it breaks the rules, they decided to “expand” the rules and accept the photo.

[Read More…]

Recent Posts