Holiday Sale: Heavy Discounts for ArcSoft Portrait+ and More

Hello guys, WISH HAPPY AND HEALTHY HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY! 

New Year is coming soon filled with best wishes and nice dreams. To welcome the year of 2014, and to express our gratitude, ArcSoft has provided special offers for you guys. 

Photography Bundle – 52% OFF

This bundle includes five photo editing software: Portrait+, Panorama Maker, PhotoStudio, Perfect365 and Group Photo. At the price of a copy of Portrait+ $249.99, you can get all these applications! For more details, please click here.

ArcSoft Special Offers

ArcSoft Portrait+: The First Auto Retoucher for Portraits – 60% OFF

With precise auto detection of facial features and visible skin, fast batch-processing and one-click presets, Portrait+ helps save time, reduce costs and make stunning portraits. It also has a Photoshop plug-in version to make it perfectly integrated into your current workflow.

Now you can get this awesome program, the best companion for portrait photographers, at $98.99 with coupon code Portrait45. That’s 60% OFF the original price!!! A deeper discount we offer than the one on our website, exclusively for you lucky guys who see this post. 

Retouched by ArcSoft Portrait+

Give Your Subject Space to Look Into

Reposted from Darren Rowse, DPS

As a rule (and we all know that they are made to be broken) if the person (and it works with animals too) you are photographing is looking in one direction or even if their head is pointing in that direction it is best to place them on the opposite side of the frame.

You’ll see it best illustrated in the images on this page – in each case the person is not being photographed head on but have their head pointing either to the left or the right. As a result the photographer has given them some space on the side that they are pointing/looking.

The reason for this is that when a person views an image with a person looking in one direction or the other their eyes also are drawn in that direction. In a sense you’re giving the subject of your image some space to look into and in doing so create a natural way for the photos viewer to flow into the photo also.

Even just a slight turn of the head can be effectively framed using this technique. 

Breaking the Rule

Of course breaking this rule produces interesting shots (in some cases more so). They might not be as aesthetically pleasing on some levels and could leave those viewing your images feeling a little on edge but this type of reaction to photos can be quite powerful also.

A Simple Exercise to Improve Your Portrait Photography

Photography is a gear based pastime, and because of this, it’s easy to overcomplicate a shoot by taking more equipment than you actually need. To shoot simply, you may benefits a lot. When I surf on the Internet, I find some interesting tips which may facilitate you to make a perfect portrait photos.

Simple portrait exercise

The idea is to shoot in black and white, with just one camera and one lens, in natural light. The aim is to keep your approach simple so that you can concentrate on your rapport with your model and posing and composition. Using black and white will test your composition skills.

                                                                                                                                              

Here are a few ideas to help your shoot run smoothly:

Build rapport with your model. This is really important, for fairly obvious reasons, especially if you don’t know them well. If you show a genuine interest in your model he or she will respond to your ideas and become involved in your shoot. They are more likely to be willing to help you out with future shoots. You might even make a good friend.

Communicate your ideas. You can do this by showing your model any sample photos you have prepared, and also by showing the images on the camera’s screen at intervals during the shoot. The more your model buys into your vision of what you want to achieve with the harder they will work to help you achieve it.

Pay attention to what’s happening behind your model. Keep the composition simple and try to avoid messy or bright backgrounds.

Relax. Have fun. Enjoy yourself.

(pictures&tips below are quoted from Andrew S Gibson's blog)