Pro Techniques

“My look is all about capturing a natural quality in the person I’m portraying,” Bil Zelman observes. “I find that strobe is very distracting for people.” That doesn’t mean that Zelman entirely shuns strobe. On the contrary, he’ll use it, but more often than not chooses available light to imbue the shot with the quality he’s after. As we’ll...

Eric Luden is a former executive at Ilford Photo, a noted commercial and fine art photographer, and the founder of Digital Silver Imaging, a New England lab that works exclusively in black and white. During the 1990s, he served as a consultant with Eastman Kodak’s black-and-white division before joining Ilford, where he worked for over 12 years. In 2006, he became the VP of North American...

A powerful portfolio involves so much more than just a strong grasp of the technical aspects of photography—it’s a complex mix of style, techniques, and intriguing ideas. Many photographers struggle to achieve a high-impact portfolio, feeling that they lack the creative spark to invigorate them and move their work forward.

The word "portrait" has had a fairly strict definition for ages. From the days of Rembrandt and Carravagio through modern photographic masters like Richard Avedon and Irving Penn, the portrait has remained a constant. While techniques...

Previously I discussed photographing bubble solution stretched across a frame. You can get the same swirling pearlescent colors in the spherical surface of a bubble as it’s sitting on glass. When I was experimenting with this a few years ago, I discovered that you could even blow a bubble inside a bubble and then another one inside of that. Image (#1) is a picture of a bubble in a bubble in a bubble in a bubble.

You know how it goes: The Art Director says, "I know you can photograph right-handed baseball players, but can you photograph left-handed ones?"

An unfortunate reality of the...

In my workshops I often get asked, "How do you find digital clients?" I think there is a myth surrounding the word "digital." Photography clients are not really "digital" as a category to target in your marketing. Clients are hiring you to create images and, if it is commercial work, buying the use of those images. If it is consumer, wedding...