Stock photography by Woodstock IL portrait photographer Ryan Klos, exclusive photographer for istockphoto.com.

Self-Portraits for Stock


When I have time to play in the studio, I often end up on the front side of the camera in the name of practicing new lighting techniques or using new modifiers. Sometimes those photos end up in my stock portfolio, sometimes I just like to laugh at them.

I recently grew a sweet beard and then, after sporting that for awhile, I shaved down to a mustache. Both styles were worthy of documentation, as you can see. The photos will likely make their way to my stock portfolio, because, well, who wouldn’t want portraits of someone with such sweet facial hair? Here are a few from the set.

Tech stuff: the first image and black and whites were lit with a beauty dish slightly at camera right, strip box behind me and to the side on camera left. The ‘stache pics were lit with a single overhead softbox. Also, the two bottom pics were processed using X-Equals Cold Storage preset Polaroid 669 Warm Curve in Lightroom 2 and then tweaking it for a unique look.


Portrait Session

I recently shot these portraits of two friends of mine in the studio. Partly for fun, partly for stock and partly for a review I’m working on.

We had a great time, and I got to test out my new 6.5-foot soft box for a few of them. I processed them in Lightroom with some tweaked presets, and then Photoshop for some final touches.

Black and white portrait, by Ryan Klos
Black and white portraits, by Ryan Klos
Portraits, by Ryan Klos

Tear Sheet | Church Devotional

Cover photo by Ryan Klos

I was recently contacted by a woman at a church in Denver, CO who used one of my stock photos on the cover of their Lenten Devotional. She contacted me because when they printed the devotional they neglected to add my photo credit on the inside (standard rules for istockphoto).

She felt so bad that she contacted me and asked if they could pay me something extra! Of course, I didn’t ask for any more money, but she said she’d send some copies of the devotional. Then she put a nice note in the following Sunday bulletin giving me proper photo credit. What a cool experience—I love honest people!

I’ve got several copies so I get to share with the model, Larry Jenkins. You can see more photos of Larry in my istock portfolio.

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