Taken at Coronado Island, San Diego. I like how the rocks complemented the white shirt and made my model look very masculine.

The girl in this photo has beautiful eyes, lips and dark dark hair. I suggested a very red lipstick color and put the red flower in her hair for a better effect.

Here I told my model to look away from the camera and focus on something in the distance and think about something peaceful. this gave me a peaceful photo.

red beads and white shirt plus a blur effect added by photoshop lightroom

Trees can make a great background for a portrait. I used it one day and have been using ever since

This is a portrait of an actress taken in my home studio. I used a golden reflector here.

I love this high key technique, I think it adds some mystery.

The nicely blurred background (the bokeh) makes the subject stand out

Jeans, colorful top and wrist bands. I put the girl under the tree and made her laugh.

I did not want the model to smile here. I asked her to take this awkward pose and make a mean kind of a facial expression

Overexposed background can add softness but as you can see it can also give the model the look of being cool if used a certain way.

One of the most challenging lighting techniques. I struggles for some time before reaching this light and not overlighting the background due to a small studio space.

The magic time before sunset gave me this great light, I picked the background and shot away

I wanted to show this girls crazy spirit here. She loves color and is very edgy but sweet at the same time. This is all her!

Taken while the workout session. This model usually was shy or too serious looking when working out. I captured his natural smile when his friend made him laugh.

I had a natural fan in form of wind here. I love using nature for photography

This bokeh effect is thanks to my wonderful 1.4 f lens but also the perfect lighting that time of the day, the model was sitting in shade but there is sun behind her and the background is far away.

I picked a random cafe on the street, put my subject at one of the tables ad told him to check the time. It looks as if a busy business man is rushing for another meeting

The model was walking back and forth here as if she was on the catwalk. At one point she stopped and I called her to look at me and caught that cool pose and look

I wanted to show a man in the suit sitting on rocks

Hand in pockets- this is usually a pose I use for men. It makes them feel more comfortable

Green nature always works as a background

Turning the model's face to the side a little is in most cases a good way to underline the facial bone structure

Overexposed background and a golden reflector

Here is used a fan to make the girl's hair flow nicely and used a slanted camera angle.

The san is my background here and I asked the model to look right into the camera's lens and give me a serious look

I hung a white curtain on the window for some softness and overexposed the background.

I love palm trees and there are plenty of them in San Diego. I blurred the background out so the palm tres are nice and soft and do not take away too much focus from the subject in the front

Relaxed pose and bubblegum. One thing I would fix here is to ask the model to turn her eyes slightly towards the camera so we don't look and too much of the white part of the eyeballs. It gives the girl a scary look. Still I like the photo

Brick walls are an amazing and I think jeans are a great item to pair with brick.

The slanted angle makes the green stripes in the fence look ever more interesting. The girl has a sexy look but looks very sweet at the same time because she is holding her pet doggie.

The girl is sitting on the stairs with her lower part of the body sideways and her torso turned towards the camera. The wind gave the fan effect

I have realized that many time, chopping the upper part of the subjects head make a better composition for a portrait. It is not the rule but it does work many times.

This is not a standard type of a portrait. The girl is not trying to look pretty but she is sticking her tongue out and you can see lipstick on her teeth. Her hair is all messy on purpose and I think it just makes a funny egdy photo

Stairs and brick walls. What else can you ask for? A little wind? There you go. Taken 30 minute before sunset- you do not need anything else besides your external flash.

This photograph shows a tough girl who likes sports and is serious about what she does. Black background light from the right

Once again I used a brick wall as a background, the red looks great with it

The girl is under a tree and her hair and scarf are blown by the wind. The three strong colors in the picture make up and interesting shot

The background is the beach and the photo is snapped it movement. My model was a little self conscious so I gave her the scarf and just told her to move around with it and keep the eyes on the lens. The wind added a great effect once again.

It is very difficult to shoot at the beach on a sunny day. You have to be able to use too much sun to your advantage. Here the model is bathing in the sun.

It put my model on the bench next to a busy San Diego street with card driving by in the back.

When photographing people by the window it is important to have just enough light on them but not too much. It is good to have an assistant with a reflector. The bride is looking into the distance which gives some romance.

A straight on portrait of an actress. She was wearing avery interesting costume. I wanted to show the costume but focus on her face so I zoomed in just enough to get both.

You have to believe me when I tell you this was taken at a swimming pool in a nice complex in La Jolla. My light source was the sun and my flash only.