Portraiture

Shallow depth of field is a popular technique for all types of images because it accentuates a main subject and separates it from the background. This effect can be achieved in the camera with careful focusing and wide aperture settings, but today you'll see how to get it done in Photoshop with a minimum of work.

Whether you own a dog, cat, bird, or some other animal, we bet you shoot a lot of photos of your beloved pet. It’s rather odd that many pet photos taken by good photographers look more like snapshots than the real thing, and we’re going to put an end to that today.

One of the most beautiful, natural forms of illumination has to be window light. The warm rays of summer gently filtered through window glass or the cool light reflected off winter’s snow all create the ethereal glow that’s soft enough for portraits. The examples shown here are but a few of the myriad of possibilities.

As with all lighting examples shown here, a...

When the weather is nice outdoors, nothing beats an informal portrait. You do not want to shoot in the direct sunlight because your subject will be squinting. However, if you can find a shady spot under a tree, both you and your subject will be much happier.

So, how can you take the best portrait outdoors and still compete with the sun? The answer is usually right on top of your...

Twenty years in business together, the team of Bohm-Marrazzo (Montclair, New Jersey-- www.bohm-marrazzo.com) comes well equipped to tackle the challenge of photographing kids and animals for their advertising clients. Experience has taught them to incorporate these highly animated subjects into the picture to make an...

Back in the day when most photographers were still using a medium format camera, I used to get annoyed when photographers called their 150mm lens a "portrait lens." While it's true that the majority of portraits are made with telephoto lenses, to call a particular focal length lens a "portrait lens" is ridiculous. Any lens of any focal length can be...

Digital has created a tremendous amount of change in the last few years, and photographers who have not been quick to adapt have lost business and, perhaps more importantly, business opportunities. The landscape has changed dramatically, and the people doing professional photography range from MWACs (Moms With A Camera) who work for practically nothing or for friends to very...