Alternative Portraiture

In this book, Benny Migliorino teaches readers how to work with speedlights—lightweight, relatively inexpensive, and powerful palm-sized flash units—to create dramatic, dimensional, flattering lighting. 'Migs' presents 60 portraits shot in a wide range of environments—from cramped quarters and fluorescent light, to dimly lit rooms, to makeshift “studio” spaces in a client’s home or office. Readers will learn critical lighting skills from reducing the contrast range and creating softer, more flattering light; to re-creating traditional studio lighting patterns in varied existing-light scenarios; to adding fill for a rounder, more dimensional view of the subject; to overpowering the existing light; and working in mixed-light scenarios. Whether you’re working solo or with an assistant, with one speedlight or multiple units, using “bare” (unmodified) small flash or harnessing its power via flash-mounted or freestanding light modification devices, you will learn how to make quick work of creating professional, evocative portraits that bring out the best version of your subject and highlight the personal connection he or she has to their personal environment.

In this book, Benny Migliorino teaches readers how to work with speedlights—lightweight, relatively inexpensive, and powerful palm-sized flash units—to create dramatic, dimensional, flattering lighting. 'Migs' presents 60 portraits shot in a wide range of environments—from cramped quarters and fluorescent light, to dimly lit rooms, to makeshift “studio” spaces in a client’s home or office. Readers will learn critical lighting skills from reducing the contrast range and creating softer, more flattering light; to re-creating traditional studio lighting patterns in varied existing-light scenarios; to adding fill for a rounder, more dimensional view of the subject; to overpowering the existing light; and working in mixed-light scenarios. Whether you’re working solo or with an assistant, with one speedlight or multiple units, using “bare” (unmodified) small flash or harnessing its power via flash-mounted or freestanding light modification devices, you will learn how to make quick work of creating professional, evocative portraits that bring out the best version of your subject and highlight the personal connection he or she has to their personal environment.

Portrait photographers agree that one of the most important yet shrouded aspects of running a successful business is accurately pricing your products for profit. Some charge too little, then scramble to photograph and edit photos for throngs of clients, only to become overwhelmed and burn out. Others price too low initially, just to get people in the door, but soon mark up their prices and lose clients to new photographers who charge rock-bottom prices. There are still others who price themselves out of the game right out of the gate. Jeff Smith, owner of two thriving portrait studios teaches you how to tackle one of photography’s most vexing problems—working out a pricing structure that allows you to cover your costs and clear a profit that you can live comfortably with. Smith begins by showing you methods that he—and countless other pros—have used in a misguided attempt to reap a great cash flow, helping you avoid time-and-revenue-burning missteps. Next, he walks you through the process of figuring out where your money goes—How much should you shell out for new equipment? What falls into the category of “overhead?” How much do you need to pay your staff and yourself?—and then moves on to show ways to cut costs, price individual prints and packages, maintain your desired business volume, retain existing clients, and delegate tasks in order to work smartly toward profitability—all while enjoying your work and achieving professional and creative satisfaction.

Written by renowned photographer, author, and broadcaster Tom Ang, this book delivers exactly what the title promises and tells you how to photograph absolutely everything. Avoiding intimidating technical jargon, Tom explains the basic elements of photography - light, color, composition, and focus - then goes on to show how to make them work for you. From still lifes to children's parties, thunderstorms to sunsets, close-ups to panoramas, every photographic subject, technique, and challenge is covered. Using step-by-step photographs and instructions, Tom shows you how to take the best possible picture in any situation. Want to photograph city lights at night, animals in action, a family portrait? Tom makes it easy. Employing a user-friendly "recipe" formula, he shows you the best approach for each subject, gives expert tips on improving an image, and tells you how to set up your camera - so you really can't go wrong. Inspiring galleries at the end of each section describe alternative techniques to try for every subject. There are also tips on basic post-production, showing how to crop, improve color and contrast, and remove unwanted elements of an image. How to Photograph Absolutely Everything guarantees to make a better, more confident photographer of absolutely everyone who reads it.

This visually stunning, hilarious and outlandish book of photography presents Danish performance and conceptual artist Søren Dahlgaard's ongoing series of 'Dough Portraits', in which he creates absurdist portraits of people with their heads encased in dough. Invited by art galleries, museums, biennales and institutions from all over the world since 2008 to undertake commissions, he has photographed more than 2,000 sitters of all ages and backgrounds in diverse settings in countries as far afield as Canada, Denmark, Brazil, the Maldives, Kosovo, South Korea and Australia. Collaboration, process and performance are as much elements of the work as the finished image itself, with each participant 'co-creating' their own portrait, first by kneading the dough, then by placing it on their head or having it put in place by others, and then by carefully selecting a pose - all before of an audience of amused or bemused onlookers. As a result, while their faces might be covered, their individual personalities shine through, these sticky lumpen masks revealing as much as they conceal. Humorous and ridiculous as the pictures are, they also carry a darker sense of the uncanny and the sinister. They also allude to the ways we define ourselves and express our own unique identities, as well how we measure the stranger in an age when the covered face is so contested politically and ethically. In the book, selected portraits from all the main projects in the series are reproduced in full splendour and lavish detail alongside photos and stills of the shoots as they took place. Commentaries by some of those who commissioned the work as well as others who were smothered in dough and then photographed or who merely witnessed the events unfold recount their experiences, and reflect on the various aesthetic, ethical and social issues raised by Dahlgaard's transformation of this everyday and universal material into the stuff of art.