Photo Shoot Tips

Fashion Portraits with Movement

There are so many visual tools that photographers have available to influence the viewer’s experience with a photograph. Things like using diagonal lines to guide the viewer’s eye to the point in the photograph that is most important. The idea of using foreground objects to frame and highlight your subject.…
Read More »
My 5 Best Tips To Stop People From Blinking in Photographs

Blinking in photographs is a problem that every photographer deals with and while it frustrates many, most photographers come up with little tricks to avoid the blinks, but even those tricks aren’t foolproof and usually don’t account for the real reason the blinks are happening in the first place. You’re…
Read More »
Shooting Cowboys and Cacti in the Arizona Desert

What goes on inside my head during a shoot? A few people have asked me that question, so I thought I would share my experience while trying out the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III for the very first time. Recently, I posted a few shots on Facebook from a trip…
Read More »
Create the Wow – Make Your Portraits EPIC

PhotoPlus Expo 2019 is in the books and once again I had the honor of presenting for Olympus at the three day tradeshow in New York City. My talk was titled Create the WOW – Make your Portraits EPIC and it featured portrait photography and studio lighting techniques done with…
Read More »
Diary of a Street Fashion Photo Walk in New York

I had the honor of leading a Street Fashion Photo Walk at this year’s PhotoPlus Expo in New York City. This was a two hour walk that was advertised as an opportunity for photographers to spend two hours with me on the Friday morning of PPE2018. The Photo Walk Description…
Read More »
The Best Ways To Blow Hair For Glamour Portraits

If you like working with models or photographing beautiful women, at some point you’re going to want to try a blowing hair shot. The problem as we all know is that hair often has a mind of its own, so adding wind is definitely a recipe for disaster – UNLESS…
Read More »
Top 3 Tips and Advice To Hide a Double Chin in Photos

How To Hide a Double Chin in Photos Table of ContentsIntroductionWhat’s the Big Deal With a Double Chin?How To Hide a Double Chin in Photos – The Tips1. The Turtle Stretch2. Shoot From Above3. MakeupChin TuckersLighting Techniques To Hide a Double Chin in PhotosDon’t Hide Behind Your CameraConclusion Introduction Turkey…
Read More »
To Pose a Model or Not To Pose? That Is the Question

Before we get started, be warned: this is not a how to pose article. In fact, if you’ve read any of my articles on posing or heard me talk about the subject in one of my videos, you already know how I feel about most books and videos that teach…
Read More »
How To Shoot Tethered

Do you prefer to shoot tethered? Do you even know what it means to shoot tethered? How do you decide if you should shoot tethered? It wasn’t that long ago that shooting tethered was reserved for photographers who had big budgets, assistants and super high end gear. Now pretty much…
Read More »
How To Plan a Portrait or Headshot Shoot

Today’s assignment: a headshot sitting, a good old-fashioned business headshot. This isn’t going to be one of those crazy beauty shots with all kinds of makeup and stuff blowing around. This is for marketing purposes for a young woman who’s setting up a practice as a therapist. So let’s get…
Read More »
7 Most Important Things To Know About Working With a Makeup Artist

I have had new photographers tell me they are intimidated by the thought of working with a makeup artist. They don’t know how to find one, they don’t know how much to pay them, they don’t know how to communicate with them. And, in all honesty, working with a makeup…
Read More »
Best Way To Find the Good Side of a Person’s Face

My left side is my good side… no wait – it’s my right side… oh come on – with a face like this – there is no bad side :-) Keep reading and I will explain how to find the good side of a person’s face – to make your…
Read More »
6 Best Reasons to Work with a Makeup Artist

For better portraits, headshots and beauty images, work with a makeup artist! Do you think this young woman would prefer to look like this? Or this? That’s what I thought. So until next time, keep learning, keep… Huh, ohhh you expected me to make a long and passionate speech about…
Read More »
How To Shoot a Hair Flip and Make It Look Awesome!

Hair flips are just cool! But it’s not as simple as just telling a model to flip her hair As you will see in the hair flip video, as the photographer you need to be the models eyes since she has no idea how the head flip looks and whether…
Read More »
Monopod Aerials – A Cool and Easy Trick

A monopod is not just a one legged camera stand With a little bit of creative thinking, they can be the solution to many difficult camera shots. In this case I am going to show a technique for creating elevated camera angles that I call Monopod Aerials. Using a monopod…
Read More »
How To Shoot a Portrait in Bright Sunlight

Shoot a portrait in bright sunlight? Are you kidding me? Harsh light? Heavy shadows? Squinting subjects?… OMG that sounds like a recipe for disaster. Well, it can be a disaster unless you are willing to break some rules and be a little creative. Let’s take a look at how we…
Read More »
Exposure Do’s and Don’ts for Fine Art Nude Images

Exposing the Fine Art Nude The metering systems in today’s cameras are micro-computers that are capable of making amazing calculations in real-time. No matter how good we would like to think this technology is, the simple fact is that a light meter makes its calculations based upon its sensitivity to…
Read More »