How do I take pictures this good?

So I hope there aren't any forum policies against discussing other people's work like this. IF there is, my apologies. But I spend a good deal of time looking through the posted pictures of people here as I feel this is a good learning tool. And my favorites are from the gentleman who started this thread:

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1229494

I guess I could message him directly but I didn't want to give off a weird cyber stalker vibe, so maybe he'll see this thread and chime in as well.

I find the look of his pictures and the overall style to be exactly what I'd like to be able to do. I don't want to constrain myself completely to portraits as I do like taking other types of pictures. But generally I enjoy taking pictures of people.

I was heartened to see that he shoots with a 50D, as I thought you needed a FF to get portraits that looked like this. I have a 60D, so camera wise I'm set. The 12 inches behind the camera needs a lot of work, and probably the 6 inches or so in front as well as the 50mm 1.8 is the only fast prime I own.

So what kind of stuff should I be learning and/or buying towards the path of taking these types of quality photos?

I would guess a fairly long lens, 85mm or 135mm. Given the popularity of zooms these days, a 70-200mm F 4.0 or F 2.8 would be more than adequate to do this type of work. an exif reader could tell you exactly what lens he is using.

learn lighting and composition.... and practice, practice, practice

The 70-200L 2.8IS II will give you that bokeh

The Dark Knight wrote in post #15020522
I was heartened to see that he shoots with a 50D, as I thought you needed a FF to get portraits that looked like this.

You are not the only photographer to think that he needs a FF camera to get excellent pictures.

Or to to phrase it differently; you are not the only photographer who cannot get the results he wants out of his crop camera and who thinks that switching to full frame will result in an immediate epiphany, converting his mundane imagery to great shots.

That line of thought is what the Canon Gods were counting on when they decided to introcuce the 6D. I expect that there will be a lot of unhappy photographers who, after making the switch to FF, won't be able to understand why their imagery hasn't immediately become National Geographic Magazine quality. At the same time, the Canon folks will be very happy at all the 6D's that they will sell.

Here is a quote from Bill Fortney of the Nikon Corporation. I totally agree with it:

"If you aren't getting extraordinary images from today's dSLRs, regardless of brand, it's not the camera!"

You need to get a model like that.

Looking at his flickr page, he often uses the 70-200 2.8 II as well as the 50L and 135L.

But more importantly as someone else mentioned, is probably his knowledge of composition and light.

LV Moose wrote in post #15020583
learn lighting and composition.... and practice, practice, practice

Yep pretty much.

I'm going to throw in my guesses on breaking down the first set.
Lighting:
1. Natural light - golden hour (the hour before sunset) - shown by both the color of the light (it's warmer and more golden) and also by the shadows. They have hard, defined edges which is indicative of a smaller light source. (Remember that small and large are relative sizes - the sun is freaking huge but since it's so far away its a point making it highly directional; unlike an umbrella or window right up on somone's face. The light comes in at all angles filling the shadows and creating softer transitions from light to shadow.)

2. Off camera flash/strobe of some sort - diffused with some sort of softer modifier, either a smaller umbrella or apollo orb or something similar. Its not a softbox because the catchlight is round. And the light has a more gradual transition from light to shadow making it softer.

3. Probably the flash on a stand again - shooting slightly up at her. The bottom of her nose is illuminated and there is a shadow line going upward towards her ear. This is mostly side lighting, a little more angle on it and it would be into horror lighting territory (imagine a flashlight under your face - it just doesn't look right most of the time because light falls. Exceptions are stuff like candle light or lamps in the floor - it's supposed to look that way).

Composition:
All three shots employ the rule of thirds to some extent. If you're unfamiliar with it draw a tic-tac-toe board across the frame - our eyes are drawn to both the intersection points (also called nodal points) and also anything happening on the lines. If you have an iPhone turn on the grid on your camera - that's the rule of thirds (I assume that Android phones have a similar option).
1. She's on the left line.
2. Her face is in a nodal point.
3. Again she's on the left line.

The other thing that's important in portraiture is subject interaction and direction. You can't be a stone behind the camera, this is personally where I have the most problems as an introvert, coming out of my shell. You may not have these issues.

For resources on learning lighting this forum is a pretty good place - I've learned a lot just by being a lurker If you have cash to spend I cannot recommend enough Zack Arias' creative live courses - foundations of a working photographer would be a great place to start. If you don't have any cash currently the strobist blog (www.strobist.com) is also a great resource and has links to other sites once you've devoured all that info.

Nice looking subject, nice locations, great lighting, fast telephoto.

Far more to do with the tog, model, location & lighting than with the camera.

You would get 98% of that with a 600d and 50f1.8