3 Portrait MISTAKES That Helped Me IMPROVE 

The first 1000 people to use the link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/eliinfante11201

Thanks for the shout-out Eli! I remember Justin brought up a good point in that podcast, that using the widest aperture available is the visual representation of why we pay so much for these lenses. If you pay for it, damnit you're gonna use it, right? But I think all your shifts in mindset are well described here. It's natural for us to be repetitive when we find something that works well. It can take a long time to recognize that the repetition may be holding us back. Another thing I've found that can lead to an explosion of fresh ideas is trying a completely new niche of photography entirely. For me, I photographed a professional wakeboarder over the summer and I went in hell-bent on getting a specific flash-lit image. About halfway through the day I realized how much the flash was getting in my way of timing, and once I abandoned it completely the image quality went way up. A tough pill to swallow for a devout strobist🤣. Keep up the great work!

I was lucky when I first started shooting in the early 90's because I came from an art background. My understanding of light and shadow along with color theory was already in place. Everybody goes through different experiences and changes throughout a career. I was very fortunate in my career to have met and heard Dean Collins and Monte Zucker talk about lighting and portraits. Although I can't quote either one of them I'll share the two things that I learned. 1. The big secret about lighting is not the light, but rather the contrast and relative brightness of areas in the photo which triggers the brain to react and move the eye in a photo. 2. Be very careful with your composition so that you end up with a portrait that has a nice composition and not an awesome composition with a person in it. Loved the video!

Muchas gracias.

Great info, thanks Eli.

A much needed video thanks 🙏🏾

You remain my best

I’ve been shooting for about 6 years and about 2 with artificial lighting. Watching this perspective is really interesting because i fee like a lot of us can get stuck doing the same look over and over again, especially when bokeh photos do so well on Instagram

Those are some amazing tips Eli!! This is so good! I also gotta challenge myself now and shoot in uncomfortable settings

Thank you so much for this video! You are the best Eli!

Helpful and awesome video!!

Nice tips! Thanks.

Wow! You just opened a new window of possibilities for me. I never thought of it the way you explained it and almost ALWAYS put sun behind my subject and my key light on the opposite side and try to do 90% of my wedding photography shots with a 70-200mm lens at f2.8...or a 85mm wide open with blurred background. Thanks for opening my mind to new possibilities. I will still shoot with a telephoto lens but will definitely try other type of shots as well and focus more on composition. I love your more recent work you have been posting on FB.

Self assessment and keeping an open mind are vital qualities to maintain in one's life in general. Thanks for reminding us !

This was one of your most insightful videos yet. Good stuff Eli!

Thaaaaaaank you soo much. You got the right words really its all about being outside of comfort zone

thank you so much man the same thinking

All of these are great points. I am so focused on getting the lighting just right that I forget about my surroundings. Slowing down and focusing on my surroundings could really help. Thanks for sharing Eli!

First of Eli, thanks for sharing. I for one, wouldn't think of those as mistakes. If they were, I would also be guilty of the first 2. Personally, I think those are the path each of us has to go through and experience for ourselves. When we find something that works, we tend to stuck in the rut (so to sepak), till we are so sick of doing the same thing over and over again only then it will push us out of the routine and try something new. Again, my point is, they are not mistakes, but stepping stones that we shouldn't stand on them for too long without moving on. Of course, as you've mentioned, it's ok repeat them from time to time.

Thank you so much. Nough said!

I totally agree. A good photo with good composition and good backdrop, is so much better than just to blur out the background. I have also done this alot, but have found out that it is much more pleasing to find the right spot, and incorporate a good background.Good video!

Thanks a lot for this Video Eli!!! thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge!!!

Solid advice here. When you stop growing and evolving, the work becomes stale and dull. Keep pushing and experimenting.

Thank you. This hit me really hard to always have a go to look and then stuck with it.

I still love dramatic clouds , bokeh and HSS cuz you have been inspiring us for so long taking amazing shots using these techniques. 👍

I'm new to your channel, I must admit I am really very impressed with your work, very professional, and how you educate your subscribers/viewers. Really well done, keep it up!

This is so helpful thanks a lot Eli

Thanks, great video!

Você é show Eli!!!

Very useful brother. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks a lot for making this video. Such a lovely video. So much to learn from.

I love your work bro

Loved the whole concept of this video. It also helped me recognize my mistakes as well. I noticed that I always shoot low angle to make the subject more tall and I don't challenge myself enough to utilize different compositions

It’s all in the evolution/journey of a OCF photographer. For most, that blown out background look is why many of us get larger sensor cameras and fast glass. But it definitely can become a crutch. Love your work and how you continue to push your creativity.

Outstanding! Great insight. Life long learners almost most successful! Since I don't have a "go to" shot, I always look for what the light is doing and compose my shots accordingly.

Great video! I’ve found myself in this same rut and this video was very refreshing

We've all been there! I'm sure I wasn't the only one nodding my head at home :) Thanks for this inspirational video Eli!

Good tips

Damn, thanks so much. Thus is critical to hear at this stage in my photography. ❤️❤️❤️

I love your photos 😍

I just got a sonny iii and got the lens that comes with it. And was already contemplating getting the 85mm gmaster. I have zero experience. This video has opened my eyes about to maybe look at another dirección. Will be watching all your videos to learn from you. Thank you for a the good content.

Helpful video.. Me too.. Thanks for sharing.. 👍🤝

Eli, I agree with every single word, what you’ve said. My photos became much better since I use the environment and place the model into it and create depth on the image. The photo with a blurry background was too 2D look and the model looked like been photoshoped on the image.

Im glad his my teacher your the best

High speed sync. is also good to balance the sun as a key light with speedlight fill. High speed sync. can cut back the strength of the sun compared to the speedlight which isn't as powerful as bigger flash units.

f2.8 is the best aperture! :P I only use the low aps for video streaming and cute close-ups ^^

Dude thanks a bunch, your talk, pardon the pun, was illuminating

Haha, damn, man, calling me out on Number 1! 😂 I have to admit, that’s a big part of my mindset right now when I do portraits - gotta have that bokeh. But I’m glad you brought it up, and I’m going to try and start challenging myself to think differently. Great stuff in here, man.

Thanks for sharing this educative information with us and again for the 14 days skillshare link

Bro, I feel exposed!!! Thank you for getting us to think!

In regards to your title- I still think of portraits as a photo that is an honest representation of who the person is. There is not one portrait in my portfolio. Those people were all working off a script. They go back to real life when the work is done. While your mistakes are not issues for me , whatever helps you better serve your content can only be a step in the right direction.

Good job ser 🤪

Thank you Eli for that great inspiration of thinking :-) I think i do the same - bokeh bokeh an shoot every time wide open. Thanks a lot ;-)

Love the insight! Also, what light stand were you using at 7:52?

Yoo that literally Me 😩😭 thank you Eli 🙏🏾🔥

This was well done and very informative. Can you do another same subject but show your work? More like a tutorial going into depth with thought process.

I’m guilty of all 3 lol 😂 great video.

Excellent, thank you Just a question, what do you mean by « key Light same direction as the sun »?

I miss the magic words 🥲 lets cover TODO EL PEDO. Nice video eli 👍 you are awesome 🙌🏽

that was me too

Can you share the name of the book that discusses LUTS?

What was the name of the book regarding the brain's look up tables?

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Infante ! no tienes videos en español ?????

How do you avoid getting stuck spending insane amounts of time editing 10-15 images per shoot for your models? I spend like 2 hours shooting and 40-50 hours editing that shoot. That means I get to do 1 shoot a week at most and the rest of the time I am at home behind my computer selecting and editing, especially skin retouching takes a insane amount of time, I feel like it's holding me back from getting more experience/better doing shoots. I have to turn down like 80% of the models that ask me for a shoot because I got a backlog of previous shoots I need to edit for 40-50 hours each

Michael Zelbel sent me here.

For anyone who wants to listen to the podcast it's on Spotify too - open.spotify.com/show/5LSP9DAOmInjMpARGQ3hIi

Ur thumbnail is better than the photos in the video

Someday I’ll be that good

excelente pero seria bueno en español...

Damn I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt roasted watching this

I have friends that still only shoot wide open. Ah the #bokehcrutch

Subtitles please

So many New LUTS but no word about emotions or feelings of models... I think you're thinking too much about tech and post things ;)