Portrait photography how to: 14 tips for getting your best ever people shots

Portrait photography how to
(Image credit: Future)
Portrait photography how to: useful kit

• A 'portrait' lens is not essential but can help you create flattering facial perspectives and defocused backgrounds. See best portrait lenses

• A flashgun is great for adding 'fill-light' in sunshine or lightening dark interiors. See best flashguns

• Studio lighting kits are a serious investment, but the next step up for commercial portrait photography. See best lighting kits

• Ring lights give a soft, even glow and have become really popular for portraits. See best ring lights

• Reflectors are a super-useful, low-tech way of bouncing light into the shadows. See best reflectors

Our portrait photography how to is for all kinds of photographers, shooting styles and experience levels. When it comes to taking portraits, there are many different ways to go about it – so there are plenty of great portrait photography tips to learn, whether you are capturing candid moments out on the streets or putting together skilled lighting setups on location. They don't all require expensive equipment, technical know-how or studio setups

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Claire Gillo

Claire is a professional photographer and writer, and lives by the the sea with her two young children, husband and cat in the southwest of the UK.


After graduating from The Bournemouth Arts Institute with a first-class degree in photography, Claire worked for a number of years in the publishing industry, including as Technique Editor for Digital Camera magazine.


She loves anything and everything to do with photography, from creating magazine articles to photographing ballerinas on the beach and newborn babies (but not at the same time). She mainly shoots with digital DSLRs, but does dust off her beloved Hasselblad medium-format film camera once in a while…