Portrait Photography How To

There’s a big difference between a good portrait and a great portrait. Part of taking your portrait photography to the next level is adding some depth and pop to your photos, so they don’t look flat.

There have been LOTs of videos in the last few years offering photography “hacks” to help give your images a unique look in no time. Here's another good one.

You’ve probably heard this one before: you should shoot portraits with mid-range lenses like an 85mm or an 100mm to create the most flattering look. Or this one: don’t shoot a portrait with a wide-angle lens because it will make a person’s face look distorted.

Travel photographer Pierre T. Lambert has been on worldwide photo tour, shooting images and sharing how-to videos about his experiences. During his travels, he’s mainly been using two lenses for his Sony mirrorless camera: a 16-35mm and 70-200mm f/2.8.

If you think studio lighting is too difficult or challenging, you’re wrong. In the quick and easy lighting how-to video below from photographer Brett Seeley, he shows you how you can do 13 eye-catching lighting setups with just one light.

So, you’ve shot a portrait and it looks…ok. Good but not great and certainly not at the level of a professional image you might see in a magazine.

In the below outdoor portrait photography from Ed Gregory of Photos in Color, he explains how to balance flash with low ambient light to create professional-looking outdoor portraits that pop. In the video, Gregory walks you through how these portrait lighting techniques work to help you improve your outdoor portraits.