Portrait Photography How To

Our friends at the Cooperative of Photography (COOPH) are back with a new collection of fun photo hacks, designed to boost your creativity and help you achieve several zany effects. And, as always, these hacks require nothing more than a few household items you already own.

When I’m looking at ways to do a specific task my brain often reverts to Occam’s razor. (Occam was a logician and Franciscan friar in the 14th century.) The way I interpret it, is that if there are many ways to do something the easiest and most direct method is usually correct. It’s the KIS principle and keeping it simple works best for me. Like most people, especially those of us who are self employed, there aren’t enough hours in the day, so I’m extremely concerned about workflow and just how much time each project is going to take. If I have a task, like organizing and editing my work, that I can do one way that takes an hour and another that takes 30 minutes, I’ll take the 30 minute option every time. With all that said, I’ll explain how I handle a portrait session, from the original shoot to ordering the final images. It may or may not fit your way of doing things, but just keep my buddy Occam in mind and remember there’s more to life than sitting in front of a computer.

Anita Sadowska is a professional fashion photographer based in Dublin, and in this quick tutorial she teams up with an experienced model to demonstrate simple posing techniques that will help you shoot boudoir photos at home like a pro.

Earlier this week we showed you how to make great portraits on the cheap with three simple setups. In the video below you’ll learn how to up your portrait game even further with 6 clever hacks that you can create for virtually nothing.

Got Questions About Photography? Professional Photographer and Photoshop Expert Scott Kelby Has Got Answers.

Ask a Pro is a Q&A column from professional photographer, writer, and educator Scott Kelby. Scott is here to answer all your photography-related questions, so if you have something you’d like to know, e-mail him at editorial@shutterbug.com (with “For Scott Kelby” as the subject line) and your query could be featured in the next edition of Ask a Pro.