According to experienced pro photographer Jim LaSala, you don't need an elaborate studio and an inventory of fabric backdrops to create professional-quality portraits. With a good DSLR, a pop-up diffuser, a collection of background-worthy images, and the right image-editing tools, you can digitally compose artistic, distinctive portraits in the comfor of your home or apartment.
For example, LaSala created this visually striking portrait by combining elements from two different photos. He shot the image of the woman in his home using nothing more than a pop-up diffuser as a temporary background. Then, using the Vertus Fluid Mask plug-in to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom software, he easily removed the image of the young woman from the living-room shot and placed her in front of an archived image of a wall mural that he had shot while walking around the streets of New York.
In creating the finished portrait, he applied some of the fundamental rules of photo composition and color harmony he had learned by entering print competitions sponsored by affiliates of the Professional Photographers of America (PPA).
On this portrait, LaSala used the Nik ColorEfex Pro plug-in to Photoshop for the retouching, adding contrast and a little more lighting. And, in Photoshop, he changed the color of the fur so it would blend better with the mural background.
Even though he had shot the jazz-inspired wall mural months ago, he located it quickly in his archives because he has mastered the powerful digital asset-management features built into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
LaSala, who was a wedding photographer for 14 years, still shoots portraits on locaiton. But now he is using his skill in combining photographic elements to make art. Two of his electronic compositions are included in PPA's prestigious Loan Collection.
You can see examples of LaSala's fine-art compositions and read more about how his career has evolved in a post on Studio LexJet.
LaSala likes sharing his methodology with others. He offers workshops and training in the use of Vertus Fluid Mask and the other tools he uses to create portraits and photo compositions.
Because he lives in the high-rent, economically squeezed region of northern New Jersey and New York, LaSala knows how expensive it can be to set up and operate a studio. He likes to remind his students, "No studio. No background. No problem."
If you would be interested in learning more from Jim LaSala, leave a comment on this post or at Studio LexJet. Or contact him directly at his website: www.jimlasala.com