Portrait Photography How To

Shooting portraits with a telephoto lens can be a very good idea. Long lenses help you isolate a subject by providing attractive compression while producing beautiful background blur, aka bokeh. But how long is too long of a lens to shoot a portrait with?

Portrait lenses come in all shapes and sizes but some particular focal lengths, many photographers would argue, are better than others. In the below video, 

You don't, necessarily, need a big clunky camera with a big clunky interchangeable lens to shoot great photos. In fact, you really can get fabulous photos from a simple "point-and-shoot" camera with a small imaging sensor about the size of your fingernail. You just need a few helpful tips.

Julia Trotti has been our go-to photographer for comparing prime lenses for portrait photography. In her latest head-to-head lens test, Trotti compares shooting portraits with an 85mm prime lens vs. using a 135mm lens to find out which one is better.

It’s no surprise, that at Comic Con there is a vast amount of color. I have to admit, it was overwhelming at first, but over time I realized how to use this to my advantage. The first lesson I learned as a photographer shooting Comic Con was to pull people away from crowds.

The number one question boudoir photographer Michael Sasser gets asked is does he use strobes? "And the answer to the question is: no," Sasser says. "I don't use strobes, I use 100% natural light for my boudoir shoots."

When the sun doesn't cooperate during outdoor portrait shoots, there's a way to add a gorgeous golden shine to skintones using Photoshop. In the below tutorial, Unmesh Dinda of PiXimperfect shares his technique for creating this pleasingly warm and shiny professional effect.