portrait photography

The holiday season is fast-approaching, and for many photographers it’s the time of year where friends and relatives start calling in that favor—you know the one—where they ask you to take their family photo for holiday cards. There’s no backing out of it. Much like the friend with the pickup truck who has to help

It’s the best time of year to be outside, and your next headshot client is likely considering being photographed in a park, a cool neighborhood or a garden. That’s the headshot dream, right?  Taking headshots outside is both rewarding and challenging. It’s rewarding when you get an awesome shot with the perfect bokeh and smiling

With all the emphasis on maximum aperture (bokeh!) these days, focal length might not be the first factor you think of when it comes to selecting a portrait lens—but it’s certainly an element not to be overlooked. Most photographers tend to use a moderate telephoto lens—70mm to 200mm—as that range generally produces the most flattering

Today, we celebrate World Cancer Day. The words “celebrate” and “cancer” aren’t typically associated, let alone used in the same sentence. At Flashes of Hope, thanks to the generosity of thousands of photographers, we celebrate kids with cancer every day of the year. My husband and I founded Flashes of Hope in 2001 during our

There are some who are tasked with photographing the beauty of motherhood through newborn shoots, maternity shoots, and family portraits and then, there are those who have the pleasure of photographing motherhood while also experiencing it for themselves. Being a mother is one of the greatest human gifts. What a treat it is to intimately

I really like capturing portraits of people, but I decided to do something I recommend all photographers do for this post: Ask those more experienced than yourself. I knew exactly who I wanted to ask. Fortunately, both were game so here we go! First up is talented Photographer James Masiclat. Here is a shot he took

Starting your photography career is always exciting in the beginning. You’re bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as you start your journey to financial freedom. It’s just like the movies and those success stories you’ve seen on social media (because chances are you haven’t picked up an actual magazine from the news stand in a while), passionate creative

Congratulations to our Top Pic of the Week, Nancy Anteby. She captured these amazing photos. Read below for more on her photographic process. I started studying film photography in my sophomore year of college. I only recently realized how lucky I was to learn how to shoot film with a Nikon f3. I found a

Photography opens up the opportunity to dabble in a variety of different genres. The genre near and dear to me is casual and formal portraits. Like many, I have shot casual portraits since I first laid hands on a camera. Then a few years ago I was singled out by friends and acquaintances to take

As with anything in life, success and “skill” come with it a long history of failures, mistakes, and shortcomings. Photography is no different. We learn how to control our cameras by virtue of our settings, and subsequently come to realize that we have a mountain of additional learning and shooting to do before we feel