Focus On Photographing People: Focus on the Fundamentals

Abstract

Taking good photographs of people is a combination of many factors: What is the best light for the subject? How should they stand? What aperture should you use for maximum impact? This easy-to-follow, highly visual guide to portraiture explains the technical and aesthetic considerations of creating great images. Step-by-step instruction, tips from an experienced professional photographer, project assignments, and gorgeous photography make learning how to take good photos of people quick and easy. Aimed at beginners or amateurs toting a DSLR and wanting pointers on how to make their people photography really shine, this book offers the basics on composition, lighting, posing, street photography, and post-production techniques in a fun and conversational manner. Highly visual guide to the most popular subject: people Tip boxes, summaries and assignments make learning the techniques easier Not just a photo technique book--advice on posing, backgrounds and lighting to make portraits stand out Amazon Exclusive: A Letter from Haje Jan Kamps on Focus On Photographing People, "Let Me Help You Become a Better Photographer" Haje Jan Kamps Dear Amazon Readers, It probably won't come as a surprise to anyone that I have a longstanding love of photography. The only thing I like more than taking photos myself is encouraging others to develop as photographers and watching their photography come alive. As such, I spend a lot of time writing about photography, I blog over on Pixiq, and I've written and edited dozens of books. (A mostly complete list with handy links to the books here on Amazon is available on my site.) Taking photos of people is one of the most fun things you can do with a camera. You capture personality, emotion, and life in all its glory. You're quite likely to run into me roaming the streets of London with my camera, hunting for another slice of life, captured through the art of street photography. People are one of my favorite subjects for photography, whether I've captured their essence in a studio or out in the streets. In this book, I'm sharing everything I've learned about photographing people, step by step. It doesn't matter if you're not that self-confident as a photographer, I'll take you right through from the basics to the nitty-gritty of getting portraits that dazzle, amaze, and inspire. If I could, I'd love to teach you everything I've learned over the years in person. It turns out, however, that if I want to teach photography to 50,000 people, writing a book is a teensy-weensy bit more efficient. So, you should buy the book here on Amazon, but I also promise that if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to take a good stab at answering them for you. Send me an e-mail or come find me on Flickr. I'm always happy to give feedback to help you along. Oh, and two quick tips to make your photos better even before you order the book: get closer, and get the eyes in focus every time. Keep snapping, ~Haje An example of a high key photo taken with improvised lighting. This portrait was taken in a pub, if you would believe it. The book shows you how to retouch images to get the most from your portraits. Using a shallow depth of field is a great technique to get rid of messy backgrounds. A self-portrait with my trusty old Olympus Trip camera. Street photography is fun and rewarding--there's a whole chapter dedicated to this art form in Focus On Photographing People!