Portrait_Column

Portrait Tips: Lighting the Hulk

Levi Sim

It doesn’t really take too much imagination when you have a muscleman in front of your lens to picture him as a green mass with purple highlights. It’s either because

Portrait Tips: Challenge conquers dread

Levi Sim

Dread: That’s the feeling that happens when you know you’re in over your head but you have to perform anyway. Dread started weighing on me and pulling my stomach into

Portrait Tips: Crop the crud

Levi Sim

Everyone knows that to make romantic, intimate-looking photos you need to be in a romantic kind of place. You’d better build a strong relationship with the Italian restaurant nearby so

Portrait Tips: “It’s not about you!”

Levi Sim

This is about mindset. Somehow, late in the last century, folks became worried about how they looked in photos. People my grandparents’ and parents’ ages were very concerned about how

Portrait Tips: Using window light

Levi Sim

Using the light from a window is a terrific way to illuminate your subject. It can be the biggest and softest light off all — and it’s free. One of

Portrait Tips: Photograph the relationship

Levi Sim

The one thing most worth photographing is the relationship between people. Everything else is documentary. When you make photographs, always be on the lookout for the photo that will reveal

Portrait Tips: One light for life

Levi Sim

I was thinking the other day about what one lighting tool would I choose if I were stranded on a desert island for the rest of my life with a

Portrait Tips: A chance with Patch

Levi Sim

The other day a fellow contacted me about a picture I made nearly ten years ago. He was an assistant to the master woodcarver and I spent a few minutes

Portrait Tips: Identify the environment

Levi Sim

I’m pretty excited because Vanelli and I are teaching a class at Photoshop World on environmental portraiture. I love making environmental portraits because they help inform our knowledge of the

Portrait Tips: Perfect your un-pose

Levi Sim

Every client you will ever have will say, “I prefer candid photos, not posed photos.” And we get that: We understand that they want pictures that look like a moment

Portrait Tips: Remember for yourself

Levi Sim

It’s a good idea to look back. Ten years ago I was looking at my photography idols and wondering what it’d be like to be doing this for a decade.

Portrait Tips: Get your camera lower

Levi Sim

Your camera’s height has a strong effect on the impact your portraits make. I’m a fairly tall individual, and if I don’t pay attention, my camera comes right up to