Simple Ways to Improve a Portrait

Jeff is joined by Connor to talk about some simple ways to improving a portrait.

Episode Resources:

Suzy’s Facebook group post: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ImprovePhotographyListeners/permalink/1956774681291859/

Portrait Session Podcast – https://www.portraitsessionpodcast.com/

Photo Taco Podcast: AFMA Explained! – https://phototacopodcast.com/afma-explained/

Photo Taco Podcast: AFMA Revisited – https://phototacopodcast.com/afma-revisited/

Photo Taco Podcast: Back Button Focus – https://phototacopodcast.com/back-button-focus/

Episode Sponsors:

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Portrait Instruction in Portrait Session Podcast

In today’s episode we are going to do a little mini mentor session for a listener and Facebook group member Suzy Parish.  Before we do that, the discussion Connor and I are going to have today is just a tiny example of the kind of discussion and learning that happens over in the Portrait Session podcast.

Connor, take just a moment and talk about this last season of Portrait Session.

Connor: Portrait Session talks about portrait photography.  Had a over one hundred episodes prior to a change in 2017 when the podcast was moved to seasons.  The first season was all about developing portrait photography into a business. Getting setup as a business and making money.  The second season we are interviewing some expert photographers in various portrait photography niches, the pros and cons of them.

You can find the Portrait Session podcast over at https://portraitsession.podcast.com

Simple Ways to Improve Portraits

Now let’s talk about the simple steps we can see to help Suzy with her portrait.  I wanted to do this in this episode because I haven’t heard much in the way of this exact thing shared in a podcast.  I mean in personal mentoring, or at something like the Create Photography Retreat you might have someone help you with the setup to get a good portrait, but I wanted to cover it here on the podcast because this is something I wish I had it when I was getting into portraits.  

I totally remember being in exactly the same spot as Suzy.  Early on I was taking photos of my kids and trying my hand at landscapes.  As I learned more and made improvement it wasn’t long before I had friends and family asking me to take photos of their families.  I had no idea what I was doing and I got very average, maybe even below average portraits because I didn’t know some of the very basics.  Some simple things that can be done to make a massive difference.

I’m not saying Suzy’s photo is below average like mine were.  But she is clearly frustrated, here is what she wrote in her post:

“Please help!