Tag Archives: Portraits

Portrait tip

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Michael Willems

When you do a studio portrait, you usually want to use your portrait lighting alone – the room light should not interfere. Room light should be invisible. Does this mean the room has to be dark? No. It just means … Continue reading →

Posted in Light, Technique | Tagged | 1 Comment

Portraits

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Michael Willems

Don Draper said it best, in the season-ending episode of Mad Men season 1, as he was winning the Kodak Caroussel account. The Carrousel, he says, is “a time machine… nostalgia… it goes backwards… forwards… it takes us back to a … Continue reading →

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Light = photons

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Michael Willems

Light consists of photons. And photons are photons, whether they were emitted from a large strobe-type flash or from a small speedlight. To see what I mean, look here, at a few pictures I took of kind volunteers, during classes I … Continue reading →

Posted in Gear, Light | Tagged | 2 Comments

The One Minute Portrait

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Michael Willems

Today, my friend Steve at the car dealership asked me to do a quick headshot snap of his managing director. No time to think: right now! Never to be one to shy away from a challenge, I quickly did the … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Picture of the day, Technique | Tagged | 4 Comments

The importance of being hairlit

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Michael Willems

Portraits look better when a bit of kick is added. An edge light, or a hair light. The following two shots, straight out of the camera and unedited, from Tuesday’s executive shoot in Toronto, service to illustrate this point quite … Continue reading →

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Granigif

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Michael Willems

That cryptic title means “Animated GIF at the Granite Club”. Which is where I was teaching portrait photography last night. I cannot image a more fun way to spend an evening: some of the most committed, fun, outspoken, and friendly … Continue reading →

Posted in Gear, Light, Picture of the day, Technique | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Portrait note

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Michael Willems

To see that you can keep portraits simple, just look at this shot of Gaurav Sharda, an up-and-coming photographer from Brampton: This photo was taken with a 430EX flash in an umbrella to our right, fired from a Canon 1D … Continue reading →

Posted in Picture of the day | Tagged | 3 Comments

Easy Portrait Tip

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Michael Willems

An easy portrait tip (or two) for you today. Uncle Fred puts every subject dead in the centre. You, of course, will not do that, since it leads to an unbalanced image. You will use off-centre composition instead. In a … Continue reading →

Posted in Composition, Technique | Tagged | Leave a comment

Smiiile!

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Michael Willems

OK, so – no, don’t ever say that to a subject. The command “smile” is like saying “look weird”, “look unnatural”, “assume a pose”. And not only to young children. Instead, tell stories, say something funny, get the subject to … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal, Light | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Finishing

Posted on December 18, 2010 by Michael Willems

Today’s post is about finishing faces. It has no illustrative photo, for a reason. You see, when you shoot a portrait, with today’s multi megapixel cameras and great lenses, you can zoom in to pore-level. And when you do that, … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Darkroom, Technique | Tagged , , | 1 Comment