Essential Elements of Portrait Photography: Lighting and Posing Techniques to Make Everyone

Book Preface

The Goal of This Book

The goal of this book is to help you greatly increase the quality and beauty of your photography. The book covers the essential elements of portrait photography—from common mistakes to the needed equipment, we lay a foundation of how to use the tools of the trade. We then get into a discussion about the point of portrait photography and the art and skill of photographing people to ensure that they look their very best. Perhaps the most important idea in the entire text is the process. Conducting a successful portrait photo shoot, no matter the location, is based on a repeatable and reliable process that increases the quality of the images and creates a well-conducted experience for the photographer and subject. The unique and important issues of photographing people in the studio, outdoors, and indoors on-location are examined in detail with example photographs and descriptions of how the images were produced.

Frequently, I am asked by other photographers to demonstrate how to use a particular camera control or tackle a specific photographic problem. Sometimes the question concerns the setting of camera controls in a particular kind of situation such as bright sunlight or setting strobes in a studio environment. I am always glad to assist and provide advice on what I know works for me. This book contains many of those questions and answers. Technical jargon has been minimized. This book is not an attempt to impress the reader with complicated ideas or complex technical information. Quite the opposite—the information in these pages is presented as a straight-forward, one-on-one discussion on using proven portrait photography techniques to quickly make huge improvements in your image capture.

As you turn the pages of this book, you’ll encounter Tech Tips. Don’t be put off by the term “tech tip”—these sections, like the balance of the book, have been written to be easily understood and enjoyed. Each Tech Tip presents insights that support or build on information presented in the text. The major points covered in the book can be learned even if you decide to bypass the Tech Tip text.

It is my sincere hope that you will enjoy the content of this book and that the tips and techniques presented will help make a significant increase in your knowledge and skill and prepare you to be a better portrait photographer.