Creative Portraits: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques

Creative Portraits: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques

Released August 2010
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9780470623268

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Book description

Go beyond the basic rules of photography to capture stunning portraits. Portrait photography is a vital topic for photographers of every level of experience, from amateur to professional. Written by renowned photographer Harold Davis, this inspirational book encourages you to define our own photographic style and capture stunning, creative, and unique portraits.

You'll discover tips and techniques for "breaking the rules" of basic digital photography so that you can go beyond the fundamentals such as composition, lighting, and exposure in order to create memorable and incomparable portraits.

  • Explores the most common subject of most photographers-people-and explains when, why, and how to forgo the fundamentals to capture memorable portraits

  • Encourages you to define your own unique photographic style and offers information and inspiration to help you do so

  • Delves into a variety of creative techniques that you can use when exploring ways to take lively and stunning portraits

Illustrated with Harold Davis's striking portrait photography, Creative Portraits will both inform and inspire you.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. Acknowledgements
  3. Credits
  4. Introduction
  5. 1. Window of the Soul
    1. 1.1. Kinds of Portrait Photos
    2. 1.2. Why People Sit for a Portrait
    3. 1.3. Why Photographers Make Portraits
    4. 1.4. The Psychology of Portraiture
    5. 1.5. Understanding People
    6. 1.6. Character is Destiny
    7. 1.7. Capturing Emotion
    8. 1.8. Telling the Truth About Someone
    9. 1.9. Vanity and Narcissism
    10. 1.10. Artifice and Portraiture
    11. 1.11. Creating a Self-Portrait
      1. 1.11.1. Getting a friendly friend to help
      2. 1.11.2. Flickr for self-portrait inspiration
  6. 2. Day in the Life
    1. 2.1. Assignment: People
      1. 2.1.1. Approaching People
      2. 2.1.2. Model Releases
    2. 2.2. Composing Portraits
    3. 2.3. Street Photography
    4. 2.4. Environmental Portraiture
    5. 2.5. People at Work
    6. 2.6. People at Play
    7. 2.7. Working with Models
      1. 2.7.1. Casting Models
    8. 2.8. Propping
    9. 2.9. Clothing
    10. 2.10. Hair and Make-Up
  7. 3. Portrait Techniques
    1. 3.1. Posing
    2. 3.2. Jumping
    3. 3.3. Backgrounds
    4. 3.4. Positioning Your Camera
    5. 3.5. Making Camera-Eye Contact
    6. 3.6. Movement and Shutter Speed
    7. 3.7. Aperture and Depth-of-Field
    8. 3.8. Choosing the Right Lens
  8. 4. Lighting Techniques
    1. 4.1. Working with Light
      1. 4.1.1. To See the Light
      2. 4.1.2. Kinds of Light
    2. 4.2. Lighting at Home
    3. 4.3. Direct Flash
    4. 4.4. Studio Lighting
  9. 5. Kids and Families
    1. 5.1. Photographing Kids
    2. 5.2. Working with Families
    3. 5.3. Portraits of Children
    4. 5.4. Casual Kid Photographs
    5. 5.5. Environmental Portraits of Kids
    6. 5.6. Making Sure Your Kids Love Photography
  10. 6. Portraits in the Digital Darkroom
    1. 6.1. Workflow and File Formats
      1. 6.1.1. How much retouching is too much?
    2. 6.2. Multi-RAW Processing
    3. 6.3. Fixing Flaws
      1. 6.3.1.
        1. 6.3.1.1. Use the Clone Stamp Tool to remove blemishes
        2. 6.3.1.2. Use the Healing Brush Tool to remove lines
        3. 6.3.1.3. Use the Patch Tool to hide shadows
    4. 6.4. Working with Skin
    5. 6.5. Enhancing Eyes
    6. 6.6. Selective Sharpening
    7. 6.7. Black and White
    8. 6.8. LAB Color Inversions
  11. Notes and Resources
    1. Further Reading
    2. Learning Photoshop
    3. Sensor Size and Focal Length
    4. Software
  12. Glossary

Product information

  • Title: Creative Portraits: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: August 2010
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9780470623268