The Enthusiast's Guide to Portraiture

The Enthusiast's Guide to Portraiture

by Jerod Foster
Released September 2016
Publisher(s): Rocky Nook
ISBN: 9781681981406

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Book description

If you’re a passionate photographer and you’re ready to take your work to the next level, The Enthusiast’s Guide book series was created just for you.

Whether you’re diving head first into a new topic or exploring a classic theme, Enthusiast’s Guides are designed to help you quickly learn more about a topic or subject so that you can improve your photography. These handy books don’t waste your time covering all the photography basics you already know. Instead, they build on that knowledge so you can quickly advance your photography skills.

The Enthusiast’s Guide to Portraiture: 59 Photographic Principles You Need to Know addresses what you need to know in order to create great portraits in natural light. Chapters are broken down into a series of numbered lessons, with each lesson providing all you need to improve your photography. In this book, which is divided into eight chapters that include 59 photographic lessons to help you shoot great portraits, photographer and author Jerod Foster covers equipment, setup, light, composition, posing, color, storytelling, and post-processing. Example lessons include:

  • Choosing a Lens and Focal Length
  • Minimum Sustaining Shutter Speed
  • The Three Degrees of Diffusion
  • Modifying Natural Light
  • Framing Your Subject
  • Composing for Design
  • The Nose and Cheek Line
  • Working with Groups
  • Letting Color Direct the Eye
  • Creating Shot Lists

Written in a friendly and approachable manner and illustrated with examples that drive home each lesson, The Enthusiast’s Guide to Portraiture is designed to be effective and efficient, friendly and fun. Read an entire chapter at once, or read just one topic at a time. With either approach, you’ll quickly learn a lot so you can head out with your camera to capture great shots.

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Table of contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Chapter 1 The Genre
    1. 1. What’s a Portrait?
    2. 2. The Portrait Movement
    3. 3. Portraiture Sub-Genres
    4. 4. A Short Note on Conceptualization
  3. Chapter 2 Equipment and Setup
    1. 5. The Automatic Portrait Setting (and Why You Should Avoid It)
    2. 6. Use Aperture Priority Exposure Mode
    3. 7. ISO and Noise Levels
    4. 8. Control the Aperture
    5. 9. Setting Your White Balance
    6. 10. Choosing a Lens and Focal Length
    7. 11. Nailing Focus
    8. 12. Minimum Sustaining Shutter Speed
    9. 13. Get a Grip
    10. 14. Buy a Reflector
  4. Chapter 3 Working with Natural Light
    1. 15. Find the Light
    2. 16. The Direction and Your Position
    3. 17. The Three Degrees of Diffusion
    4. 18. Use Window Light
    5. 19. Add Backlight for Separation and Affect
    6. 20. Create Fill Light
    7. 21. Modify the Light
  5. Chapter 4 Composition
    1. 22. Use the Visual Space
    2. 23. Rules are Rules
    3. 24. Use Leading Lines
    4. 25. Frame Your Subject
    5. 26. Pay Attention to the Background
    6. 27. Move Closer
    7. 28. Get Some Perspective
    8. 29. Check Your Angle
    9. 30. Put Something in the Foreground
    10. 31. Shoot Through Everything
    11. 32. Watch What You Cut Off
    12. 33. Watch Your Horizon
    13. 34. A Note on Composing Silhouettes
    14. 35. Compose for Design
  6. Chapter 5 Posing and Working with the Subject
    1. 36. Build Rapport
    2. 37. Coach Your Subject
    3. 38. Where Does Your Subject Look?
    4. 39. “What Do I Do With My Hands?”
    5. 40. The Nose and Cheeks
    6. 41. Posing the Body
    7. 42. Standing vs. Sitting
    8. 43. Turn Your Subject Around
    9. 44. Working With Groups I: Depth of Field and Focus
    10. 45. Working With Groups II: The Issue of Height
  7. Chapter 6 Color
    1. 46. Theory Matters
    2. 47. Let Color Direct the Eye
    3. 48. Choose Clothing Well
    4. 49. Understand the Subjectivity of Color
    5. 50. Creative White Balance
  8. Chapter 7 Storytelling
    1. 51. Get to Know Your Subject
    2. 52. Gesture and the Importance of Looking at Eyes
    3. 53. On Being Unobtrusive
    4. 54. Create a Shot List
    5. 55. Break the Rules
  9. Chapter 8 Post-Production
    1. 56. The Power of RAW in Post
    2. 57. Color, Again
    3. 58. Simplicity, Again
    4. 59. Converting to Black-and-White
    5. In Closing . . .

Product information

  • Title: The Enthusiast's Guide to Portraiture
  • Author(s): Jerod Foster
  • Release date: September 2016
  • Publisher(s): Rocky Nook
  • ISBN: 9781681981406