Digital Camera World » family photography

Family photo ideas: make a striking family portrait from individual faces in profile

jmeyer — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:01:42 +0000

Many photographers struggle for great family photo ideas, but some of the best family portrait photography is that which relies on the old adage that less is more. In this quick and easy tutorial we’ll show you how to make one of our favourite family photo ideas – shooting individual family members in profile and combining them on the computer into one striking family portrait.

At once simple yet instantly recognisable, side-on profiles have been a popular record of a person’s likeness since long before the invention of the camera.

From the silhouetted keepsakes of 18th century lovers, to the royal visage adorning every coin in your pocket, profiled portraits have been ubiquitous for centuries.

One reason for this may be because they show off a person’s unique features in such a clearly defined shape, which also makes for a fascinating family portrait.

Here we’ll show you how to shoot a series of dramatically lit profiles of an entire family – one person at a time – then stitch the individual portraits to create a family photo that not only looks stylish, but also delivers an interesting study of the similarities and differences between each face.

If you’re planning on shooting your own, we’ve got a host of useful tips that will show you how to set up, light and shoot your family in profile.

Once shot, you’ll find a step-by-step guide that shows you exactly how to put your images together in Photoshop. This is much easier than you might think.

All we need to do is use the Lighten Blend Mode so that the lighter parts on each layer show through, then tidy up with a little painting. As the images are mostly black, this makes combining the faces a quick, painless task.

If you prefer to watch, there’s a video among this month’s files that guides you through both the camera skills and Photoshop technique involved in creating an elegant family portrait that will be cherished for years to come.

Family Photo Ideas – step-by-step how to shoot your striking family portrait (1-3)

01 Use a black background
Begin by putting up a black background. Black velvet is best because it’s completely non-reflective. If you don’t have one, you can improvise with some other common material.

It’s crucial that the background remains as dark as possible, so watch out for light  spilling onto it from your flash or lamp. If there is any spillage, reposition the light or place something between the light and background to block the light from reaching it.

02 Set up a light source
You’ll need a strong light source to create your dramatic profiles. We’ve used an Elinchrom home studio flash head here, fitted with a small softbox to diffuse the light.

If you don’t have a flash head, you could use a flashgun fitted with a diffuser as long as you can trigger it wirelessly or via a cable. Alternatively, a strong lamp will work, but you’ll need to increase your camera’s ISO and adjust exposure to allow for weaker light.

03 Position the light
Set up your light source off to one side and slightly behind where your subjects will be. The positioning, height and angle of the light is vital, because the aim is to light the edge of the person’s profile while keeping the rest of the face fairly dark.

Directing the light straight at the person will result in harsh light, while swinging it more in the direction of the camera will ‘feather’ the light and give softer results. Take a few test shots to determine the right angle.

PAGE 1: Family Photo Ideas – step-by-step how to shoot your striking family portrait (1-3)
PAGE 2: Family Photo Ideas – step-by-step how to shoot your striking family portrait (4-6)
PAGE 3: Family Photo Ideas – step-by-step how to combine your images into one portrait (1-4)
PAGE 4: Family Photo Ideas – step-by-step how to combine your images into one portrait (5-8)

How to shoot a group portrait indoors

jmeyer — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 14:00:27 +0000

Do you want to take better family portrait photography? This simple guide to how to shoot a group portrait indoors will help you take control of the light for perfect family pictures.

The downside of shooting at this time of year is that it’s probably cold and miserable outside, so you may be confined to indoor locations. But don’t panic, because with a bit of thought and planning you’ll be able to capture the kind of family photographs to be proud of.

How to set up and shoot a group portrait indoors

1 Use natural light
There’s no better light to use in portrait photography than the natural kind, so use it to your advantage. Position yourself with your back to the light so that it falls onto the group. Be aware that strong light is best avoided, so try to shoot on a bright but overcast day or move your group so they’re not in direct light.

2 Avoid cluttered backgrounds
It’s safe to assume that there’ll be varying amounts of clutter around the house at this time of year. Try to keep it out of your photos. Shoot against a neutral, clutter-free background so the focus is on your group.

3 Make ’em laugh!
Ideally, people should be all smiles in group portraits. However, children may be a bit shy and teenagers may be a bit moody. To make your group laugh, ask someone to stand close to you and pull faces or clown around. This should result in some great shots!

4 Take multiple shots
To avoid the curse of shooting closed eyes, hold the shutter release button down and take two or three shots, one straight after the other, of each group. If you don’t have a shot with everyone’s eyes open, you can always cut and paste images together later.

5 Show the results
One way to help your subjects relax is to show them a few of the shots using the screen on the back of your camera. This is the great advantage of shooting digitally – being able to see images straight away rather than having to wait for prints.

PAGE 1: How to set up and shoot a group portrait indoors
PAGE 2: What you need to shoot an indoor group portrait

Family Photos: what the pros won’t tell you about taking pictures of family

jmeyer — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 01:00:26 +0000

Taking official family photos is a role that most photographers find themselves assuming whether they like it or not. Taking pictures of family – especially your own immediate family – can be quite a challenge certainly in terms of technique, but also in getting everyone to work with you, to think about the process and stay engaged while you direct them.

All the professional photographers know this, but it’s a trade secret they’re not so quick to dish out. In this portrait photography tutorial we show you everyhing you need to know to shoot family photos everyone will be proud of.

We’ll show you how to keep it natural, capture candids, direct a shoot, keep your family focused on the shoot and how to mix it up with action shots and stylish alternatives that can give your pictures of family a real unique look.

Children have an energy and a vibrancy that’s difficult to capture inside a studio – and almost impossible when they’re shouting ‘cheese’! Capturing their personality in a totally natural state will always work best, and if they’re your kids you’ll know what’s likely to work.

Are they always full of laughter? Are they daring? Maybe they love to sit quietly and play with a favourite toy? Whatever personality they have, the first challenge when photographing them is to recognise that and work with it.

Regardless of where the shoot takes place, you must get them used to the camera. Energy levels will always be highest at the beginning of a shoot, so use this to your advantage and don’t waste a single shot.

Use this ‘golden hour’ to play with them and make the connection. Fit a wide-angle lens and avoid looking through the viewfinder to compose your shots, shooting from the hip and poking the camera towards their face instead. Get them used to the shutter sound and not having to look down the lens and smile.

Keep it natural
If you let them play around and don’t force the issue at the beginning, the calmer portraits and natural-looking family photos will come later. Keep them on their favourite swing or seesaw at the park and carry on shooting.

Tell them the family photo shoot is a big game and promise them a treat if they win. All they have to do is to be good and allow you to get some great pictures – while they have all the fun.

Whenever the energy’s there, keep shooting pictures of family. Some children get bored really quickly, so while they’ve got a spark left in them make sure you’re getting the pictures. You can of course help the action out a little by introducing movement in your photos.

Select a slower shutter speed by switching to Shutter Priority or Manual exposure mode and choose around 1/30 sec. Use a wide-angle lens around 18-24mm to help reduce camera shake and activate your flash to help freeze the subject and sharpen up the child’s face.

This method will really boost the action in any picture and give it a sense of speed and energy. Try getting them to jump in front of the lens or run around playing a game where they have to catch the camera.

PAGE 1: How to get natural-looking family photos
PAGE 2: How to take family action photos
PAGE 3: How to direct family photo shoots
PAGE 4: How to capture candid pictures of family
PAGE 5: Getting the best from your family
PAGE 6: Group family photos: how to keep them engaged
PAGE 7: How to shoot stylish family photos
PAGE 8: How to shoot baby portraits

Professional Photographer to the Rescue: family portrait ideas you’ll treasure forever

jmeyer — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:00:37 +0000

In our latest Professional Photographer to the Rescue post, our pro suggests some simple family portrait ideas and portrait photography tips that can liven up your group photos to give you more dynamic images, whether it’s your own family portrait photography or a client’s.

Meet our professional photographer

Neill Menneer runs Spirit Contemporary Photography, a photo studio in Bath that specialises in family portraits. Neill also runs photography courses in the studio, and on location around the picturesque city. See more of his work.

Meet our apprentice

Paul Furniss runs an ink cartridge recycling and refilling business in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. In the evenings he often converts his shop into a makeshift studio, where he’s undertaken several shoots of family and friends with his Elincrom lighting kit and backdrop set. He’d like to go pro, and wanted our help in taking his portrait photography to the next level.

Technique assessment

After an initial round of shots, Neill suggested that Paul changed his camera settings for capturing perfect portraits

JPEG not RAW 
“Paul had been shooting in RAW mode, which is great for rescuing shots that have been under- or overexposed, or taken on the wrong white balance setting and the like, but in a studio there’s no reason not to get everything spot-on in-camera in the first place. I’ll take around 150 shots in a one-hour session, so having them as JPEGs means editing is faster, file sizes are smaller, and by selecting the Portrait Picture Style you have a head start when it comes to processing.”

Exposure settings
“Paul had set the maximum flash sync speed of 1/250 sec – but while this is fine with Speedlites, it isn’t so good with studio flash in my experience. I got him to shoot in Manual at 1/160 sec and f/10, with ISO125 – it’s the speed of the burst of flash and generous depth of field that combine to freeze movement and capture sharp shots. With the exposure locked, we then adjusted the power on my studio lights to brighten and darken the setup, until the exposure was good.”

PAGE 1: Meet our professional photographer & apprentice
PAGE 2: During the shoot
PAGE 3: Final tips from our professional photographer
PAGE 4: Our professional photographer’s recommended gear

Child Photography: tips for taking natural-looking portraits of children

jmeyer — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:30:30 +0000

Photographing children is something that many photographers say should be avoided at all costs! While it’s fair to say that child photography can be challenging, it really doesn’t need to be a painful experience. If you’ve got children of your own or friends with kids, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, taking family portrait photography to capture the magic of an exploding smile, the emotion of a child in thought or the expressiveness of a mischievous grin far outweighs the risks of tears and tantrums.

If you’ve ever struggled with photographing children, we’ve got the solution to your problem. We’re going to show you how to take the stress out of child photography and create a natural environment that’ll reward you with winning shots.

Forget about formal settings and posed shots. Those aren’t the ideal situations for taking portraits of children that also express their personalities. For natural-looking child photography we’re going to create a relaxed and casual environment in which children can simply play and be themselves, and while they’re playing we’re going to capture candid images.

This is a great way to capture natural expressions and the children won’t get so frustrated with adults pointing cameras in their faces or shouting at them to ‘say cheese’.

Despite the natural approach we’re taking, and the informal look of the resulting photographs, there’s an art to successfully capturing a real winner.

You need to make sure you’ve got the right location for child photography as well as for play, and that your camera and equipment is ready to go, as the children won’t wait for you to tweak your settings and setup. Let’s see how it’s done…

Step-by-step how to shoot natural-looking child photography

01 Go natural
Natural light is the best, so try to create a shooting environment outside using available light. We’re using a tree house, which works a treat as there’s some nice open shade and the background is good and natural. Otherwise most parks have great play areas that can work just as well, although make sure other people’s kids aren’t in shot.

02 Be prepared
Before you do anything you need to make sure your camera’s exposure settings are all sorted out. If you’re fiddling with dials or scrolling through menus in the middle of the shoot, not only will you run the risk of missing the shot, but the children will quickly start to lose interest in the whole event. Time is of the essence; use it wisely!

03 Action shooting
The settings you’ll need are similar to those you’d use for shooting sports or action photography. Use a fast shutter speed (such as 1/125 sec or faster) to avoid any subject movement. Don’t compromise on this – if you have to increase your ISO to 400 or 800, do so: your DSLR can handle it.

04 Beautiful bokeh
A wide aperture such as f/2.8 helps you achieve a fast shutter speed and creates a shallow depth of field, which will throw the background out of focus. This can be a useful way to de-clutter a distracting background. Depending on your lens, it can also introduce some striking bokeh effects.

05 Exposure Compensation
It’s usually a good idea to use exposure compensation. About half a stop overexposed works well. Your subject’s face can often fall into shadow, and this ensures there’s enough detail. The amount needed will vary depending on the location and light, so try a test shot if you’re uncertain.

06 Continuous mode
Switch your camera’s shooting mode to Continuous. When you’re getting some good shots, keep the button pressed to fire several shots in succession and you’ll be more likely to capture a winner. You’ll need lots of memory on your card, especially if you’re shooting raw format files (which you should be).

07 Fun time
Once you’ve got your camera set up you should be ready to start. It’s a good idea to start playing a game or engage with some sort of activity with the kids to get started. Don’t bring out your camera until everyone’s spirits are high. However, keep it near by so you can grab it when you need to.

08 Start shooting
Once everyone’s having fun, get your camera and fire off a couple of shots. A winning shot isn’t all about big smiles with the subject looking the camera – sometimes a more contemplative shot of a child concentrating on a game or puzzle or eating can be just as engaging.

Child Photography: tips for candid portraits of kids

jmeyer — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 11:00:58 +0000

Are you frustrated by the quality of your family portrait photography – namely, your pictures of your children? We’ve pulled together some of our best child photography tips for getting natural-looking candid portraits of your kids.

Below we’ll offer some child photography tips the pros use to get children to smile for their camera, as well as suggest some simple, inexpensive accessories you can use to get a better exposure.

Follow this advice and you’ll soon be on your way to being not just the Official Family Photographer for your own children, but for all of your friends and family as well!

Tip 1
When you’re photographing kids, try to avoid the temptation to direct them too much. You’ll get much more natural-looking candid portraits of kids if you just let them have fun. If you do want them to look at the camera, only grab their attention occasionally, and ask them if they can see your eye through the lens so that they look directly at it.

Tip 2
Children’s expressions are fleeting at best, so to be sure you don’t miss the moment, watch the action unfold through the viewfinder as much as possible, and shoot short bursts on Continuous mode to capture the fun frame by frame. If you prefer to engage with your subject, try firing off a few frames while you’re looking over the top of the camera instead.

Tip 3
Despite the focus of this article, don’t get too bogged down with getting sharp photos; kids move around a lot, so it doesn’t hurt to set a slower shutter speed occasionally and capture a bit of motion blur in your photos. You can use this simple panning technique to capture their movements.

Tip 4
Kids tire – and bore – easily, so catch them while they’re fresh and work as quickly as you can. If you do find they’re flagging, take a break for a while so they can recharge their batteries, or enlist a helper to distract them with a toy or game (right).

Tip 5
Although it’s best to use natural light whenever possible, flash does have its place. Outdoors it can be used to provide a striking catchlight in the subject’s eyes, while indoors it can help in low light. The key is to expose for ambient light first, and then set flash exposure compensation to, say, -2EV to make sure it’s subtle. A diffuser  or softbox can also help in this respect.

Tip 6
A fast lens is essential for shooting flash-free portraits indoors, while indoors and outdoors it enables you to minimise depth of field and blur out the background. If you have a camera with an APS-C sensor, a 50mm f/1.4 makes a great portrait lens.

Tip 7
No portrait photographer’s arsenal would be complete without a reflector. Particularly useful are Lastolite’s TriGrip reflectors – they feature a sturdy handle, and reflect light on one side and let it through on the other, which means they can be used as either a reflector or a diffuser.

Tip 8
If you have to resort to flash to light indoor or outdoor portraits, attaching a diffuser will soften the light. The larger the diffuser, the more even the light, and Lastolite’s EzyBox Softbox is hard to beat – it assembles and attaches in seconds, and produces an impressively even spread of light

33 myths of the professional photographer

jmeyer — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 03:00:16 +0000

The professional photographer is often associated with a glamorous lifestyle and lots of money. However, sadly this stereotype is not the reality. Professional female portrait photographer Kelly Weech debunks 33 of the most common myths of the professional photographer and reveals what life is really like for those who get paid to take pictures.

Myth 1 – To be a photographer, you just press a button, right?

Many believe with the clever technology of digital cameras today you simply point and shoot; however, this is simply not the case. You can have the best camera in the world but if you only use it on auto you might as well own a compact (see our 44 essential digital camera tips and tricks).

Myth 2 – Anyone with a nice or expensive camera can be a pro

Being a professional photographer is more than just the gear and equipment we own. It is about running a business and making a living to survive not just taking pretty photographs (hear more professionals sound off: 50 photography tips from famous photographers to jobbing pros).

Myth 3 – When in doubt, 1/125sec @ f8 always works

No it will not always work. Professionals know how to handle lighting situations and the problems you may encounter to still get the shot. Particularly at a wedding, there will be no second chances so you best know how to capture the dark church to the bright midday sun (check out our guide to Common mistakes at every shutter speed – and the best settings to use).

Myth 4 – All pro photographers act in a professional manner

Unfortunately not all professional photographers know or understand that to be a professional you are servicing the needs of a client and not your hobby. A true professional knows how to act and handle people in most situations that may arise.

Myth 5 – A professional produces better quality image than an amateur

I have seen many talented amateurs with a passion for photography who produce better quality images than many ‘pros’, but being a professional is a lifestyle choice as well as a career move. Some people really just do it as a hobby and for the love of technology or photograph (find out How to be a Getty contributor).

Myth 6 – Everything can be fixed in Photoshop

Photoshop is another skill set altogether and you cannot make a bad photograph good in Photoshop. However, you can make a great image exceptional if you know how to use it to the best of its ability (check out our 101 Photoshop tips you have to know).

Myth 7 – Qualifications guarantees a good photographer

Becoming a professional photographer is like driving a car. The more experience you have the better you become. Qualifying is just the beginning.

Myth 8 – A wedding photographer only works on Saturday

Photographing the wedding is the fun part; however, wedding photographers then need to edit the photographs, produce albums, market their business, find new clients, update a website and blog constantly, file accounts, handling enquirers, meet future brides and grooms, network with suppliers and compete against 22,000 other registered wedding photographers (download our free wedding photography cheat sheet).

Myth 9- Nikon is better than Canon – and vice versa

This is a debate which dates back many years but in all honesty, just choose the brand or camera you personally prefer and be happy with your equipment. All digital cameras are very good these days. The megapixel war will always continue, but remember it is what you do with them that counts.

Myth 10 – That we always get paid

Sometimes to get ahead you will have to work for free but what you need to do is evaluate what it is you will actually gain in terms of exposure and publicity (see our 10 tips for preparing and selling photo prints).

Myth 11 – Presets and Photoshop actions make up for a bad photo

No. These should enhance a photograph but will not cover up a critical mistake such as exposure or focus (check out our in-depth guide to Manual Focus: what you need to know to get sharp images).

PAGE 1: Myths 1 through 11
PAGE 2: Myths 12 through 22
PAGE 3: Myths 23 through 33

3 stupidly simple lighting techniques that will transform your family portraits

jmeyer — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:41:14 +0000

Portrait lighting is an area that even the most confident photographers struggle with, but using it to get professional-looking family portraits is much simpler than it may first appear. Like most areas of photography, it’s simply a case of taking it one step at a time.

In the following tutorial we will break the different areas of portrait lighting down and examine how each light affects the final result, as well as where to position them in your home photo studio (see also our 10 tips for setting up your home photo studio).

We start by shooting with a single light, before moving on to a fill light that softens the shadows, and then introduce a light to illuminate the background (for more on family portrait photography in general, check out our free family portrait photography cheat sheet for getting great images in a range of situations).

These are all 3 very simple portrait lighting techniques that you can use at home when shooting your own family portraits. Use these techniques and soon you can transform your family portraits from looking like this

to looking like the portrait on the bottom – thus saving you a small fortune from getting them shot professionally.

This tutorial will also hopefully give you the confidence to experiment with more complex lighting set-ups that will quickly improve the quality of not only your family portraits, but other genres of photography you like to shoot. So without further ado…

Family Portrait Lighting Technique No. 1: One light set-up

We start this tutorial by positioning a Bowens flash unit to the right of where we’re shooting from. To soften the light from this flash we bounce the flash into an umbrella (see No. 4 below).

In manual mode, we set an aperture to f/4 to get a shallow depth of field, and a shutter speed of 1/200sec to prevent motion blur from any ambient light. We then adjusted to head’s power to get a good exposure (in this case 1/16th power).

We start with our subject, Henry, sitting on a chair, so that he doesn’t move around too much while his father fires off a few frames to get a feel for how this simple portrait lighting set-up works.

There are several shots in which the back of the chair is visible, and when Henry inevitably faces away from the flash unit, there are too many shadows on his face. But despite these limitations, a single light works well.

With just one light we’ve done a good job of capturing expressions, but there are some noticeable shadows across his face, and the background is quite dark.

It helps that the room is mostly white, as it softens the light by bouncing it back into the shadows. To soften the light further, we also try using a reflector to bounce light back into the shadows, but this needs an extra pair of hands, so we decide it’s time to add another light.

Family Portrait Lighting Technique No. 2: Adding fill light

Henry is doing a great job as our model, but he’s understandably getting a little bored, so we decide to give him a break while we set up the next light. The second light we need is used to lighten the shadows created by the first light. For this we fit a softbox to one of our flash heads, and place it above our shooting position.

This flash unit is half the power of the main light, so  we set it on the same 1/16th power to give a lighting ratio of approximately 2:1. This simply means that the first light we used (called the key light) is around twice as bright as the second light (called the fill light).

This set-up also lights a larger area, which is ideal when shooting kids because they don’t stay still! To learn more about how to pose children, see our 13 tips for better pictures of babies, toddlers and teenagers.

With the new lighting in place, we decide to do without the chair and let Henry loose a little. This gives us the opportunity to shoot several different crops, from the classic close-up portrait to full-length shots (learn more about classic portrait styles and poses by downloading our free posing guide cheat sheet).

This presents a much greater challenge than the previous sitting portraits because we have to frame the shot, focus, and capture Henry’s best expressions. But we manage to master all of these disciplines, and capture some great shots as Henry pulls poses like a seasoned model.

Here the poses are much more fun and dynamic, but the background could do with more light

Family Portrait Lighting Technique No. 3: lighting the background

Now that we’re getting good results from the two lights, we need to take a look at the background. We set up one of our lights on a low-level stand, and point it towards the white backdrop we’re using. Unlike the other two heads, this one doesn’t have any light modifiers fitted to it, so even on minimum power it’s much brighter than the existing lights.

After taking a quick test shot we decide to increase the power of both the key light and the fill light to balance the exposure between these and the background light. This means that we have to reduce the aperture to f/7.1 to compensate for the increase in light.

The depth of field is less critical with this set-up because the brighter, over-exposed background means that any distracting marks and creases on the material are already less visible (find out more about depth of field and what every photographer should know about using it).

Again, we let Henry roam free with this set-up because the usable area lit by the two front lights is big enough for Henry to move around in. This proves to be a good idea, as he poses for us without too much prompting.

We still have our work cut out for us, though, in keeping up with the movement, and on a few of the shots some of the light from the background spills onto the side of Henry’s face, but even these are successful and produce some modern-looking high-key portraits.

With things going so well we decide to try one last change to the lighting set-up by putting a snoot on the background light, creating a pool of light behind Henry. But trying to get Henry in the right position and with  a natural-looking expression proves to be a challenge too far, so we decide to call it a day while we’re still ahead, and Henry can have a well-deserved rest.

Family Portrait Lighting Technique No. 4?

Using flash modifiers

Can we squeeze in a 4th? Technically this isn’t a lighting technique, but it’s very useful to know (and own) so we thought we should include it. There’s a vast array of accessories available that can change the quality of the light from your flash unit to give your family portraits a range of different effects. Here are three of the most useful that we can recommend…

Umbrella 
There are two types of umbrella: reflective ones that bounce flash onto the subject, and translucent ones, which you fire flash through. Both types soften the flash light (see our quick guide to bounce flash photography in 4 easy steps).

Softbox 
A softbox is attached to the flash and the flash is fired through layers of diffusing material. This produces a very soft light, but unlike umbrellas, it’s easy to control where the light falls because the sides prevent the light from spilling out.

Snoot
A snoot is an attachment that  is used to produce a narrow area  of light. This is particularly handy if you want to highlight specific areas of your subject. However, this accessory can produce very harsh shadows, because the flash is pointing directly at the subject (find out how to eliminate harsh shadows when using flash).

Family and Friendship category winners: Photographer of the Year 2011

dcworld — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:49:29 +0000

Winner

Les Enfants Terribles, by John Rux-Burton (UK)

What the judges were looking for:
“The judges will be looking for more than just family snaps in this category. It’s open to artistic interpretation, and images should seek to reveal through photography the emotions and tensions of family life.”

2nd place

Wedding party dance, Kaunus, by Maciej Dakowicz (UK)

3rd place

Brothers in arms, by Pravin Bhowanydeen (Mauritius)

Family Portraits: Create a modern look

dcworld — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:04:58 +0000

Give your portraits a modern makeover using Photoshop

In recent years, a distinct style of commercial family portrait has increased in popularity – shot against a pure white backdrop and processed in striking high-contrast mono. Here, we’ll demonstrate that there’s no need to pay through the nose for commercial photography. With Photoshop Elements, you can recreate the effect with a little judicious image editing.

We’ll start with a typical family portrait shot, desaturate the colour, and then perform a little Levels magic to generate the super-high-contrast tonality. By using Levels, you can compress the tonal range of your desaturated image and shift the distribution of the highlights, midtones and shadows.

Of course, as with any really effective graphic image, you’ll need to do a little bit extra, tweaking the final image with some manual dodging and burning. The Dodge and Burn tools enable you to selectively lighten and darken particular tonal ranges – in effect you’re able to paint with light. The Exposure setting controls how much the tools lighten or darken your chosen range of tones. You’ll get brilliant results, and save a fortune too!