Portraiture is a fun but also difficult genre of photography, as you have to manage not only your camera but a living, breathing subject. This helpful video will show you nine great tips to improve your portrait work.

Coming to you from Jamie Windsor, this helpful video explores nine ways to improve both posed and street portrait work. Of all the tips, I think trusting your gut and posing are the most important. When I first started taking portraits, I could rattle off all the right settings like a talking photography manual, but my shots all looked stilted and uninspired because I hadn’t learned the first thing about posing or interacting with a subject. It was easy to get caught up in learning parameters because they’re objective quantities, whereas posing and interaction take a lot more intuition and connecting with your fellow humans. Similarly, there are rules all over the place for portraiture, and while they’re certainly helpful guidelines, if your instincts are taking you in a certain direction, give them a chance. That’s normally where creativity is waiting to blossom. On another note, be sure to note that when he’s talking about the law, he’s talking specifically about England, and the laws where you live may differ.