Portrait photography can run the gamut in type and style—everything from the traditional “head and shoulders” shot to lifestyle and environmental, candid and street, glamour, boudoir, maternity sessions and much more. View some of the eye-catching portraits and photos of the week that stopped us in our tracks based on composition and lighting, as well as on unique storytelling moments that asks the viewer a question rather than provides the answer.

LeeAnn B Stephan knew exactly what kind of bridal party portrait she wanted to take for this couple as soon as they inquired and told her they’d be marrying at the Marigny Opera House in New Orleans.

As darkness fell, Stephan relied on the opera house’s lighting fixtures to illuminate this group portrait. “There was little direction other than, ‘Move over just a bit here,’ and ‘Okay, look blasé!’ Cathryn and Parker trusted me completely and set the tone for the rest of their wedding party to really follow suit,” Stephan says.

Deborah Dantzoff didn’t have a ton of time to photograph this couple after their civil ceremony. In Chile, where she is based, Dantzoff says, “when you are hired for this type of marriage, you only have 15 to 20 minutes to carry out your photo session since the couple prefers to go to lunch and enjoy themselves with their families.”

Since it was midday, the sun was high in the sky and casting harsh shadows down below. Dantzoff decided to place the couple against this building to play with the shapes created by the shadows.

“First, I tried to put the couple together in that triangle of light that was generated, but I realized that one cast too much shadow on the other,” she explains.

“Then, I tried to separate them and have the groom stand in the shadow to find part of his silhouette against the light. Finally, I asked the bride to lift the bouquet as a sign of ‘I got married!'”

For this editorial shoot, photographer Josh Pruitt of IVYWILD VISUALS went to a dimly lit bar in Denver, featuring vintage decor complete with a plush velvet couch and pillows.

“I wanted to contort the model in a manner that juxtaposed the almost Victorian setting,” he explains. “I also wanted to expose for the patch of light on her face, leaving the rest of the room barely lit. The stark contrast between her face and the rest of the space left in the dark is a nod to a lot of Romanticism-era art that inspires a lot of my work.”

Dan and Nardia of Foolishly Rushing In think of styled shoots as a way to collect eye-catching portraits that you can be used to market your photography business, much like a major clothing brand would put on a new campaign every few months to show what they’re selling. They get comments and questions online asking about their editorial style and how they attract clients with it, so the duo decided to put on something they call “La Captura,” a portfolio-building workshop for photographer/cinematographer teams like them.

They put on a styled shoot in Joshua Tree, one that mixed Boho flair with European-inspired elegance and simplicity. Dan filmed while Nardia photographed. “It’s no surprise why my photography style has a strong influence of cinematography and story-driven elements,” she says. “We look for natural moments—not poses.”

This shot was cropped quite a bit, says Nardia, who likes to mix up cropping when she doesn’t have time to switch out lenses as she’s shooting. “I don’t like my full galleries to feel like 1,000 versions of the same photo—same framing, same vantage point. Cropping helps me quite a bit with versatility.” 

You’d think October in Brooklyn would bring fall weather, but on this couple’s wedding day, Lucie Bulois and the bride and groom were faced with 100 °F. “We laughed so hard trying to pretend they were cool when in fact we had to take breaks every 5 minutes to pat them dry with toilet paper that we had stolen from their hotel last minute,” Bulois says with a laugh.

“I had asked them to bring sunglasses to give them an effortlessly cool, eye-catching look, as well as to make sure they wouldn’t squint too hard in their photos. My challenge was the harsh sun coming from their left side at the time we took photos. So when they walked, I asked them to always look towards it to make sure their faces would be evenly lit.”

Dig into our Photo of the Day archives for even more compelling and eye-catching imagery.