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 caught our attention, and read the backstories on the how they were created.

Fiona of Smittenpixels Co. observed the bride quietly sitting on her bed on the morning of her wedding, waiting for the groom to come by and pick her up for their ceremony. Fiona opened up the curtains to let the light stream in, “and it illuminated her face, with the veil softening the frame,” she notes. “The morning light was flickering with the passing clouds, and we had to wait for them to open up for the light to fall directly on her.”

Arno and Nina of A Bear Photography hit it off with this couple from the moment they photographed their engagement shoot. The comfort level between them was definitely there, so when it came time for their wedding day—and the bride needed a quick lipstick touchup amid their portrait session—the duo didn’t even take a break from shooting.

The groom “jumped at the opportunity to help out his new wife and committed wholeheartedly to the job,” they recall. “Halfway through, we got this face of pure concentration and realization that it might be a little bit harder than he anticipated. This is definitely one of our fave shots on the day, just the two of them doing their thing.”

Hyggeland, a wedding photographer based in Hong Kong, likes for his photos to have a sense of mystery in them, allowing just enough room for the viewer to fill in their own imaginative narrative.

It was Hyggeland’s first time photographing at this location, a popular weekend spot for people. “My clients were feeling so nervous and embarrassed, so I asked them to face to the sea, enjoy the wind and listen to the sea—then the moment was captured. Even though they are not holding hand or hugging, you can still feel they are connected.”

Caleb North got the opportunity to shoot a photo similar to this one for the engagement shoot between these two (who are also close friends of his), so when it came time for their wedding, he wanted to recreate it.

“The lighting outside was beautiful and the pavement was a perfect reflector for this shot,” North recalls. “It was a little more complicated than I was anticipating to get their eyes to overlap, especially since it was all done in camera rather than Photoshop. But with some patience and a few tries, we got the shot, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.”

Iceland-based photographer Bettina Vass knows that the Skógafoss Falls are one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. When a couple flew over from the U.S. for engagement photos, she knew she’d be hitting a lot of the show-stopping locations along the south coast of Iceland.

“I always plan my shots ahead because of all the tourists who might walk into the picture,” Vass says. “When we got to the waterfall, I saw that two tour buses had just parked close by, and I knew I only had a few minutes before 50-plus people appeared on the site. I quickly asked the couple to walk towards the waterfall. I also noticed a rainbow I wanted to capture and knew it might disappear any moment. This picture is one of the four I had time to take there.”

Dig into our Photo of the Day archives for even more compelling imagery.