Portrait Photography How To

Michael Zagaris, aka “Z Man,” is a legendary rock and sports photographer who has photographed the likes of the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Madonna, Joe Montana and other icons. In the video below, you’ll go behind the scenes with Zagaris and learn some tricks for capturing priceless moments with emotion.

Shiny skin can ruin an otherwise nice portrait, particularly when shooting outdoors on a hot summer day or indoors when you’re using warm lights. Thanks to this video tutorial, however, you can repair those shiny photos with some simple editing techniques using Photoshop or Lightroom.

NY-based photographer Richard Renaldi embarked on his “Touching Strangers” project in 2007, in which he has complete strangers pose together for an affectionate portrait. Since then he’s set up his 8x10 view camera in cities across the U.S. and asked passersby to interact as though they were close friends or loved ones.

Here’s an interesting video in which Chief White House Photographer Pete Souza explains how he makes such intimate images of President Obama who considers him a friend. In the past Souza was an Official White House Photographer for President Reagan and a freelancer for National Geographic. He also worked for the Chicago Tribune in their Washington bureau.

Because her intent is to get the absolute best image in-camera, Lindsey Thorne is “pretty exact when it comes to lighting and posing.” When she describes her studio, the scene of almost all her boudoir sessions, as “modest and simple,” she’s citing an advantage. “I love shooting in a smaller room because I have so much control over the light.”

Photographing people for a living can prove intimidating for many photographers. Now add “celebrity” to that and you may find you have to step up your game several notches to stand on equal footing with your subject. You can’t afford to be intimidated and you certainly can’t afford to appear unsure of yourself or to question your decisions. You have to enter the picture with a game plan and be decisive, know which lens you’ll be using, what lights, and where to place those lights. But you also have to be prepared for the unexpected. That’s why they give these jobs to photographers such as Victoria Will.