I just started photography, and I wanted to turn from an amateur photographer to a semi-professional photographer to make some money out of my hobby. However, my portfolio only has images of non-commercial work. I wanted to improve my portfolio to include commercial work, so I had to work for free for a while. But I only shot for free on the condition that I will post the images I took on my portfolio.

My first work was for a beauty salon. They wanted me to photograph different hairstyles on a model. I did not have a studio, nor did I have professional equipment. I only had my Nikon D3400 camera. I was advised early on to buy a wide aperture 50mm and above prime lens as these lenses were great at producing shallow depth of field with sharp images. The only one that I could afford at the time was the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G. It was an excellent lens for my Nikon D3400 cropped APS-C sensor as it is the equivalent of a 75mm lens on a full-frame camera, which can produce a relatively narrow field of view and a shallow depth of field. I depended on natural light in my photography as I did not own any lighting equipment yet.

I hired model Georgia Brooks for this photoshoot and began shooting, and I was happy with the results. But later on, when I got more experience, I learned that I need to improve my lighting and composition skills. I did so by looking at other professional photographers' work. I did not know how to Photoshop my images either, so I had to outsource a retoucher. My retoucher, Pixel Polisher, did all my retouching for me. I was pleased with the results he provided me, so did my clients. But later on, I decided to learn Lightroom and Photoshop to create my own style.

The Gear I Used in this Photoshoot

The Final Images of the Photoshoot (Edited Using Lightroom and Photoshop)

Tips and Tricks I Learned from this shoot:

• You can create beautiful imagery with the simplest, most basic camera on the market. You only need to know how to operate your camera correctly and think like a photographer.
• You do not need a studio to create artistic beauty or hairstyle photoshoot.
• Photoshop skills are valuable. Learn it early on in your photography career.
• You can achieve stunning imagery of your beauty photoshoot with natural light.
• I made a mistake by shooting some of the images in JPEG. You can edit JPEG files. However, beauty shots should be in RAW to obtain maximum dynamic range.
• If your Photoshop skills are not that good, outsource a retoucher.

I hope you learned a lot from this blog. If you are interested in a one-on-one training session, drop me a direct message on my Instagram account.