The Essential Student Guide To Professional Photography

This essential reference for photography students explains how to become part of the professional community. By defining professional photography today, and exploring what is expected of professional photographers, the book demystifies this often-misunderstood and misjudged career track. The easily accessible text provides readers with valuable information, inspiration, and education on topics including developing your photographic voice, finding your area of specialization, exploring the moving image, building a website, and understanding self-presentation, promotion, legal aspects, and marketing. It also features inspirational projects for students to embark on their education in photography.

The Photo Student Handbook is a collection of short, easy-to-read chapters filled with expert advice on enhancing image-making skills and launching a career as a professional photographer. Designed to help students grow beyond the technical aspects of photography, this book presents a variety of methods and strategies proven to strengthen visual awareness, engage creative thinking, and deepen the conceptual aspects of image-making. Topics include how to: - improve the ability to see actively - understand light as a main character - cultivate a creative mind - make a standout portfolio - unpack critical theory - find and develop a creative voice. Packed with valuable tips, insights, and advice from over a hundred instructors, professionals, senior students, and experts, this book is engineered to help instructors guide students step-by-step through the methods and strategies needed to achieve creative success both in the classroom and the real world. This book is ideal for intermediate- and advanced-level photography students and instructors alike. Visit the accompanying website www.photostudent.net for extra chapters, exercises, quizzes, and more.

Stephen and Joan Dantzig operate the Hawaii School of Photography and have been turning point-and-shoot photographers into photographic artists for more than five years. In this book, they put their wisdom to paper with a promise to help readers rise up and learn this powerful practice from the ground up. Photography is more popular than ever. We are inundated with images by the traditional media and now, increasingly, in social media. Every day, countless amateurs who've enjoyed using cell-phone cameras or simple, automatic-everything-point-and-shoot cameras decide to take the plunge and buy an SLR—a camera with all the bells and whistles that allows complete control over the way an image is recorded. Too often, those cameras collect dust because the users lack the necessary guidance. This book is designed to show readers the ropes of SLR photography. Beginning with a look at the components of SLRs and moving into the modes/options than come standard on today’s cameras, readers will learn to understand and use their cameras. With the basics under their belts, they’ll move on to understanding the basic tenets of photography—specifically, the art of capturing an accurate exposure. From there, readers will learn how to use their exposure controls to depict a subject or scene creatively—from determining how much of the scene should be in focus or obscured by a beautiful bokeh (desirable blur) for effect, to deciding whether to freeze motion or elicit the feeling of movement. Readers will learn what constitutes the “right” light for photography, and how to use highlight and shadow to create drama and add interest and a sense of dimension in their images. Information is presented on composition (the artful arrangement of the elements of the scene within the confines of the frame in a way that excites the viewer), adding artificial light, and much more. All concepts are reinforced by the introduction of 43 skill-building and concept-reinforcing self-assignments designed to heighten understanding and boost confidence. With lushly illustrated pages and concise, jargon-free, easy-access lessons, this book is an important resource for all beginning photographers.

John Child has refreshed and updated his inspirational studio photography guide to cover all the latest techniques. Now beautifully illustrated in full colour, featuring brand new student and author work, Studio Photography guides you through the techniques you need to create successful studio images. Through a clearly structured learning approach, you will stimulate and express your creative ideas using a wide variety of activities and assignments. With a strong commercial orientation, the emphasis is highly practical and focuses on technique, communication and design within the genres of still life, advertising illustration, portraiture and fashion. This successful guide is an essential tool for those working in a controlled environment where the image output is to film or digital file. You are encouraged to experiment whether you have expensive equipment, or are using natural light sources; either way you will see how it is possible to achieve acceptable results and develop your skills.Revision exercises, useful links and up to date advice are featured on the associated website www.photographyessentialskills.com.

From shooting basics to image editing, this textbook is an all encompassing reference that can be used by students in any level of photography class as well as those studying to complete the Certified Professional Photographer program. Beginning with an overview of camera choices and basic camera functions, this guide outlines the fundamentals of lighting equipment, light theory, composition, and digital imaging while providing a comprehensive roadmap for efficiently taking images from conception to client presentation. Tips for overcoming obstacles are offered from the hard-won advice of photographers who have successfully passed the Professional Photographer Certification Program tests.

Studio photography is a common career path for aspiring photographers and students but the professional and commercial nature of the field makes it a challenging area to break into. Whilst other introductory books on the subject are often bogged down with too much technical detail or too many 'show-off' shots, Studio Photography: Essential Skills offers a practical and accessible guide to the fundamental techniques for successful studio photography. Whether photographing a person or a product, you need control over the light, mood and look to arrive at the perfect result for a particular assignment. This book takes a commercial and creative approach and considers the important elements of lighting, exposure, capture, art direction and the studio setting to ensure a successful shoot. With a clearly structured learning approach and a wide variety of activities and assignments to inspire and engage you, this is an informative, stimulating guide to the basics. Broaden your skills and increase your earning potential with Studio Photography: Essential Skills!

This book is intended to be the primary textbook to support any college who would like to run a Photography 101 course for students. The course is designed to offer tutors an independent learning tool to enable students to learn the craft of using an interchangeable lens camera (DSLR or Mirrorless) and the basics of an image-editing program (Adobe Lightroom) to enable them to take creative control of the imaging process. The curriculum offers a step-by-step and jargon-free approach to learning the fundamental skills of creative camera control. Each page features a large image with a brief explanation of how the creative controls of the camera have led to the resulting visual appearance of the image. Information on each page is stripped down the essentials and text is carefully selected to be unambiguous and kept to the bare minimum to ensure rapid acquisition of the skills on offer. This effective course-in-a-book allows students quickly to become technically proficient, and instructors to efficiently evaluate students’ progress.

Lighting is one of the most important aspects of any photograph. The best images create dimension and drama, which goes beyond formulas and lighting recipes. In Lighting for Photographers: An Introductory Guide to Professional Photography, commercial photographers and instructors Joe Lavine and Brad Bartholomew offer a unique philosophy of lighting, starting with an understanding of the characteristics of lighting to build great shots. Including interviews from professional photographers and illustrated with over 200 images, this book introduces basic photographic concepts and equipment needs, and takes the reader from the lighting process through to starting a successful career in photography both in the studio and on location. Readers will learn a comprehensive approach to lighting including what light does, composition, experimentation, practical tools and techniques, equipment, metering and histograms, and how to launch and grow their career. With downloadable instructor resources featuring discussion questions and quizzes, this fully updated edition is ideal for introductory level photography and lighting courses as well as the amateur photographer looking to apply the appropriate lighting to realize their conceptual and aesthetic goals.