14 SIMPLE Photography Tips for BREATHTAKING portraits

From the comments:

1. Fill the frame,

2. Use colors, play with vibrance before saturation

3. Straight composition, don't let horizons cut the models head. Keep model in lower two thirds, or eyes above in top thirds

4. Eye contact, direct into lens is striking

5. Shoot continuous mode, 2-3 photos. First photo will be blurrier and not as sharp due to shutter, and autofocus

6. No distractions in background, on lens, or on makeup.

7. Many locations, 4-5 ideal

8. Keep eyes in focus

9. Smooth even light is important

10. Posing - model looks better at an angle

11. Expose for the face

12. Keep crop intentional. If showing upper body, make sure to crop out knees.

13. Pick right time of day. Golden hour (sunrise/ sunset) looks best

14. Rules can be broken

I've watched many videos on portrait photography in preparation for a shoot. Of all the videos I found, this was the absolute best. Dense in info and amazing examples. Truly inspirational. Had me taking notes! Thank you - Jon Bear

Great video...  However, when "filling the frame" with your image; I strongly suggest that you take the focal length you are using into consideration. I do not like anything shorter than 85mm focal length on ar full frame camera for head and shoulders because getting close enough to fill the frame with a 50mm or shorter focal length will often cause distortion. I generally don'y like anything shorter than 50mm for 3/4 shots while 35mm is O.K. for environmental portraits...

When using a crop sensor 50mm is the absolute shortest that I will use for head and shoulders portraits and I usually prefer longer than that...  My 28-75mm makes a pretty nice people lens on a crop camera because the 42mm equivalent wide side doesn't distort the image while the 112.5mm long side is great for head and shoulders portraits.  I also like my 85mm f/1.8 lens on both full frame and crop cameras for general portraiture... Richard Crowe

 All the advises are greatly apprecieted, thank you. 

But most of the entry level photographers don't own proffesional cameras. That means some basic tech problems: burned areas (even at sunset), low cost cameras have lower BW range (shadows on the face will be harder), auto focus not always great... 

In conclusion a begginer will have to work and struggle a lot in post production.

Thank you for your video,  i wanted just to say that photography have a lot of points that have to converge in order to have nice photos, your amazing advises are one of them. 

Anyway i'm still trying to make great shots with my canon 700D :) - CasseyEmery