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Diagrams,techniques and tips of portrait photography studio lighting and the fashion photography industry

 

You want to take some good portraits, you have bought a nice digital camera and have been going out taking photos of your friends and relatives, but you did not do very well. Your friends tried to give you hints and tips but it only confused you. If you really want to shoot and enjoy photography, then do yourself a big favor. Take some lessons in portrait lighting basics to enhance your photography.

 

You have several choices when it comes to lessons. You can find a friend who is really good. Find a local professional and spend a few money. Read all the photography magazines and buy some videos. Learn and study all the studio lighting diagrams.Plunk down the cash and go to a photography school for some serious training

 

Whichever option you choose to pursue, the most important thing is to learn from your lesson, especially if your are paying someone. Pay attention to what you are taught. As soon as possible go shooting portraits. Even the pros spend a lot of their time practicing different photography techniques.

 

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Monthly Featured Studio Lighting Book

Christopher Grey's Studio Lighting Techniques for Photography: Tricks of the Trade for Professional Digital Photographers [Paperback]

 

Product Description

 

Taking the guesswork out of lighting, this invaluable examination provides tools and techniques from an accomplished expert. The most essential principles for photo shoots are presented through lengthy image sequences, considering different finishes for reflective surfaces, types of light sources, light modifiers, and even light placements. From creating fundamental looks to the effect of fine-tuning placement and setting, this detailed guidebook enables photographers to maximize productivity on any shoot. Concluding with the most effective solutions for solving lighting problems, this study is an excellent resource for both active professionals as well as intermediate to advanced students of photography.

 

About the Author

 

Christopher Grey is a noted photographer, author, speaker and instructor who has written numerous books on photography, lighting and camera systems. He’s the recipient of national and international awards for his work, and considers each day another opportunity to ask his favorite professional question, "What if…?"

 

 

Grey covers a number of lighting techniques that are beyond the basics, like shaping the background light, or using an incident light meter, or feathering a light, or using a beam splitter. These techniques will be of interest to people already comfortable with photographing with studio lights, but will be of little help to novices. Each chapter is almost like a tip in a tip book, except that rather then tell you what to do without providing understanding, the author explores each subject in great detail. For example, in discussing the use of a hair light he presents several different sources, like large and small softboxes and strip softboxes, illustrates the application and effect of each, and even shows the difference in effect with slight changes in the direction in which the model faces. There are plenty of subtly varying images and every technique is supported by lighting diagrams.

Because this is such a fine-tuned book, I feel compelled to tell you the things it does not cover. There is no explanation of the basic lighting set-up of main, fill, hair and background light (in fact Grey doesn't even use traditional fill lights); no discussion of equipment, either cameras or lights, other than some light modifiers which the author has constructed; and no discussion of exposure, except to the extent that modifying exposures when using some of his techniques will change the effect. The lighting is limited to strobes, so if you use speedlights or hot lights, you will have to convert the author's advice. On the other hand people interested in product photography that has an artier twist, or even fine art still life images, can probably get something from this book.

Given all of that, if you fit into the niche, this will be an excellent book for you. Grey emphasis that the photography business is very competitive and that, in order to be successful, the portrait photographer has to come up with a look that is different. The differences he creates are often subtle but they may open new doors for the appropriate reader.

 

Christopher Grey's Studio Lighting Techniques for Photography: Tricks of the Trade for Professional Digital Photographers

 

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