DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Use These Quick Tips From Tamara Lackey To Improve Your Portrait Photography

Dec 28, 2014 by Tiffany Mueller 4 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

lackey

As you know, taking a compelling portrait is more difficult than just aiming your camera at someone and asking them to smile. There a lot of tiny details that are easy to overlook unless you are purposely keeping tabs on them. That being said, if you’re looking to get into portrait photography or just improve your craft a little more, award winning photographer Tamara Lackey delivers a handful of good tips you can use to do just that.

Simple Things You Can Do To Capture Better Portraits

The title of the video let’s you know there’s at least five useful pointers, but if you’re paying attention, you’ll catch a few bonus tips, too. But, before we get to the video, let’s take a quick look at some the topics covered in the video.

  • Before you start shooting, check and adjust your camera settings–you don’t want to miss any good shots because you were too busy changing the settings.
  • When shooting group photos try to keep faces on the same focal plane, especially when shooting at small apertures, to avoid some of the faces appearing sharp and others appearing soft.
  • Pay attention to catch lights in the subject’s eye. Use a reflector to bounce light onto the subjects faces, keeping the catch lights consistent in all the subject’s eyes and adding the benefit of a little extra light to help fill in some of the shadows on their faces.
  • Increasing the distance between you and your subject will help you get everything in focus when you’re working with a shallow depth of field.
  • If you are shooting in good, natural light make sure you are not standing in between it and your subjects to avoid casting an unwanted shadow into your shot.
  • The rule of thirds will always be there for you, take advantage of that.

5 Photography Tips With Tamara Lackey

[ via Vimeo ]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Five great tips to help you master portrait lighting and improve your photography Seven tips to improve your documentary-style portrait photography Kai’s photography tips for newbies: where to start and how to improve your photography How dog toys and toilet paper can improve your portrait photography

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: photographing children, portrait photography, tamara lackey

About Tiffany Mueller

Tiffany Mueller is a photographer based in Hawi, Hawaii. You can follow her Twitter here and her personal life here.

« Magnum Photographer Thomas Hoepker Talks About Taking His Iconic Photo Of Muhammad Ali
How To Prevent Bright Ears In Camera So You Don’t Have To Worry About It In Post Production »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • SpaceX shares unique view of Earth in latest video
  • Get ready to photograph two total solar eclipses this year
  • How I started (and succeeded) photographing space from my backyard
  • Insta360’s new teaser says they’re entering the gimbal market
  • Users report blurry photos from Samsung Galaxy S23/S23+ cameras

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy