With the December Challenge in full swing, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some important things I’ve learned so far.

• Lighting is very important.
• Make sure to choose a shoot time that gives you good natural light.
• Careful with the mid-day sun pounding down on you. Can you say over exposed?
• Choose a nice shallow depth of field (DOF). Makes for good clear focus where you want it.
• Be Creative! Take a few minutes to think about who you’re planning to shoot.
• Look at everyone else’s portraits. I’ve learned quite a bit looking at all the participants’ portraits.
• Keep reading.
  • StudioLighting.net has great articles for those with limited budgets who want to use some lighting.
  • The Strobist also has amazing amounts of material for us portraiteers.
    • Here’s a great couple of articles I’m reading right now.
      • Bouncing Flash.
      • Great steps for multiple lights.

I know there’s so much more. I just wanted to help a bit. Too much information, and you’d read this article, but NOT do anything about it. Just offering you a handful of important tips, I think you’re more likely to apply what works for you. What have you learned? Comment away!

Don’t forget, in just 15 days, the December Challenge will begin.

All you need to do is commit to shooting a portrait a day, each day of December, 2007. You don’t need a blog, just upload them to Zooomr (or Flickr if you must). Tag them with, “decemberchallenge” so that I can track them all easily.

During the month, I’ll write a couple of posts, tracking our progress. You should too, if you blog. With each post, I’ll also include some of my favorites from the Challenge.

Now, there are many of you out there who seem interested, but you’re concerned that the Challenge is too much for you. Don’t be discouraged! It’s really not that hard. I’m going to make a nice long list of everyone in my life who I can shoot. A friend from church, who flies for the US Navy, the comical lady who watches our kids on occaision, my pastor, a friend who is a local deputy sheriff, one of my wife’s pretty friends, all people who are great subjects. You only need 31 people. Everyone knows 31 people!

If you don’t know how to pose someone…try this. Have your subject stand or sit, however they feel comfortable. Now, use a lens that is somewhere between 30mm and 100mm. Set your camera to Aperture Priority and shoot at f/2.2 (or 1 stop above your lowest f-stop setting possible.)

Now have your subject close their eyes. Give them an emotion. Any emotion will work. For example, let’s say you say “giddy”. Tell them to think about the last time they were giddy. Interact with them, make them tell you about that situation. Keeping their eyes closed, have them talk about it until you see their face begin to “go back to that moment”. When you think they’re ready, have them open their eyes. Now! You’d better have focused and framed the shot. Right when they open their eyes, shoot away!

There are many methods that work well. This one is what I’m using, and will try to see how it works over time. Don’t be afraid to use emotions that lack a smile. Sadness, depressed, anger, melancholy, thoughtful, etc.

I hope you all decide to take the Challenge, and we’ll enjoy the ride!

***********Update***********
Follow along with the participants at Zooomr and Flickr.
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My October Challenge was so successful for me personally, and for the handful that participated, that I decided I want to continue growing and stretching my abilities. So I took some time this month to look at more areas of photography where I could use some work. I spent a good deal of energy flipping through pages of Zooomr, Flickr, and many photography blogs searching for genres of photography that interest me, but I lack the skill. Many ideas came to mind, but I continually kept coming back to portraits.

So, without further adieu…

For the month of December I will be shooting portraits. This time I won’t be committing to shooting only my topic all month. This challenge will be to shoot a portrait a day. One a day, each day, for the whole month of December.

Back at the beginning of October I was introduced to the photography of Bill Wadman. Bill is a New York based portrait photographer who completely rocks. During this whole year, 2007, he has been viciously attacking his own challenge to shoot a portrait a day, all year long! You can follow along, and see the year’s total so far, at 365Portraits.com.

Next, I sent out a call to my photoblogging friends, in search of the best existing blog posts about creating portraits, and I’ve been reading up on their tips. Here’s a short list of some good articles I’ve read:

• Photographing The People of Monterrey: Epic Edits
• How to bypass the Portrait Mode on Your Digital Camera and Get Great Portrait: DPS
• Overcoming Depth of Field Problems in Portraits: DPS
• Experiment with Different Framings with Portraits: DPS
• Top 5 Friday Better Portraits: Open Origins
• Super Quick And Easy Tip For More Flattering Portraits: Photodoto.com
• Portrait Lighting Names: Professional Photography 101
• Portrait Lighting For Beginners, Portraits With One Light: Sublime Light

You might think that a whole month is a long time to shoot a portrait every day. I’d agree, on a different month. December, however, makes it quite easy to shoot more people. This is mainly because of the increased interaction we all face during the Christmas season; Christmas parties, family dinners, gathering a bit more even at church, all events and activities that get me out and interacting with people more.

Another element to this Challenge is to try and shoot people in their daily life. A staged portrait in a studio has its place, but I’m not looking for that refinement. Catching people in their place of work, or in a place or state that is very typical for them is what I’m looking to capture. Below are several examples of what I’m striving to achieve.

I think I’ll actually schedule some of the shoots. I see no reason why I can’t plan ahead to stay on top of this undertaking.

So, do you think you have what it takes to accept an challenge like this? Are you satisfied with your own portraiture? Do you need or want to grow in your own ability to be more creative and get great light when shooting portraits?

Then join me as I shoot a portrait-a-day!

When tagging your images on Flickr and/or Zooomr, use “DecemberChallenge” so that we can track our progress. Additionally, if you want to vary this a bit for yourself, you could choose to shoot a stranger each day. That’s not my focus, but you may do that if you wish.

Below are a few really good portraits…

Oh yeah, Digg it!