If you’re just getting started with taking portraits, or would like to start taking portraits but don’t know where to start, this is the place to be. Even if you’ve been taking portraits already, you may just find something useful in this series.

In this series, I’m going to take you from an absolute beginners starting point, and take you through to a point where you’re taking consistently beautiful portraits. I hope to take the guesswork out of your learning process. When I was learning to take portraits, I had to scrape together bits and pieces of information on equipment and technique from all sorts of sources. There were many large open holes of information where I just couldn’t find the answers to my burning questions. I never did find them until I figured them out on my own. These gaps will hopefully be filled with this series.

I stumbled on this video which is a great primer on aperture and depth of field. This video is geared toward the beginner who is still working on figuring out some of the basics.

Shelton Muller of Total Image magazine hits on the differences between landscape and portraiture as it relates to depth of field. There’s even a tip or two in there, such as to focus your camera on the subject’s eyes when taking a portrait.

This is a great video for anyone who is trying to wrap their head around the creative aspects of their camera’s aperture settings.

You’ve all seen photos taken by a point and shoot camera. When that flash fires, the snapshots come out looking like, well, snapshots. Many budding photographers fall into the trap of thinking, “Well, that’s easy to fix, I’ll just buy one of those fancy cameras” and run out and buy the latest digital SLR. They take their first pictures and see…more snapshots.

You see, the problem isn’t necessarily the camera, it’s the flash. Don’t get me wrong, having a SLR means you have the creative tools to take your photography to the next level, and if you’re serious about taking pictures, get one. But even SLR cameras have the built in flash right there an inch or so from the lens. This is the most unflattering of all lighting on a person’s face and body. To get pleasing light, the light must come from another angle to create shadows and dimension on a person’s face. This is known as modeling.

Yeah, I know what you were thinking. But that’s why you’re reading this, so I’m okay with it.

A couple weeks ago I went to an undisclosed amusement park in southern California for a conference for work (I do have a day job after all). After about four days of listening to executives droning on about mission statements, I finally had to take a few pictures before my head exploded. Luckily for me, I brought my Canon 20D, my 430EX flash, my Pocket Wizards, and a compact light stand. Sounds like the makings for some fun to me.

David Hobby is a Baltimore Sun photojournalist who also runs Strobist, which is a great site to learn how to light on the cheap. He’s all about using small flashes and using quick, intuitive setups to create great shots. Strobist isn’t just a blog, it’s a true photography movement with a huge following.

He’s put together an awesome primer for anyone who wants to learn how to light better. He’s created Lighting 101: Learn the Basics, and after reading it, I’ve changed how I take photographs. He’s now working on Lighting 102, but I highly recommend you start with Lighting 101.

In Lighting 101, David will teach you how to get your flash off the camera and balance flash with ambient light, how to use gels, how to get soft light and hard light, how to hook up your flash when off camera, what gear every photographer on the go needs, and much more.

This is an invaluable series that every pro photographer or enthusiast alike should read. It will change your pictures.

When you’re done reading Lighting 101, you’ll be ready to start Portrait Lighting For Beginners, right here on Sublime Light.