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Book Advice: Commercial Portraiture

Book Advice: Commercial Portraiture

Relaxed or formal, corporate or candid, commercial photography is used to communicate a visual message, an emotion or a precise brand concept. It is also one of the most lucrative sources of income in photography. That’s why it’s important to understand the skills in studio lighting, storytelling and lifestyle in order to make a client’s vision come to life. The following list is a great selection of books intended to aid photographers looking to find their vision in this field.

01. Pricing Your Portraits

Accurately pricing your products is widely agreed upon among portrait photographers as the main factor in whether or not a small photography business will be successful. Smith talks readers through how to obtain an accurate appraisal of how much it will cost to produce a final image, enabling upkeep of this fine balance.

Publisher: Amherst Media | Author: Jeff Smith | Release Date: 2015 | ISBN-13: 978-1608958719

Buy on Amazon

02. Fine Art Wedding Photography

Fine art wedding images look as if they were pulled from the pages of a glossy wedding or lifestyle magazine. In this book, Jose Villa shares his secrets for bringing a stylized sense of composition, lighting, posing, and most important, design, to the images, while still keeping them organic and narrative.

Publisher: Amphoto Books | Author: Jose Villa | Release Date: 2011 | ISBN-13: 978-0817400026

Buy on Amazon

03. Inside the Dramatic Lighting Techniques and Creative Vision of Portrait Photographer Joey L.

In Photographing Shadow and Light, Joey L. lifts the curtain on his dramatic approach to portraiture, sharing his personal philosophy and a behind-the-scenes look at 15 striking photo sessions. He provides readers with a step-by-step description of how he visualized each shoot, formed meaningful connections with his subjects, and “built” his signature dramatic lighting effects—one light at a time.

Publisher: Amphoto Books | Author: Joey L. | Release Date: 2012 | ISBN-13: 978-0817400149

Buy on Amazon

04. Storytelling Portrait Photography

This book shows readers how to integrate a photojournalistic skill set into a child-and-family portrait session. Readers will learn how to create images that capture the essence of the people in front of the camera and tell unforgettable stories about their daily activities and milestone moments. Tips for creating fun sessions, choosing breath-taking locations and meaningful props will aid readers to create timeless portraits.

Publisher: Amherst Media | Author: Paula Ferazzi Swift | Release Date: 2017 | ISBN-13: 978-1682031483

Buy on Amazon

05. Fashion and Lifestyle Photography

This book shows readers how to integrate a photojournalistic skill set into a child-and-family portrait session. Readers will learn how to create images that capture the essence of the people in front of the camera and tell unforgettable stories about their daily activities and milestone moments. Tips for creating fun sessions, choosing breath-taking locations and meaningful props will aid readers to create timeless portraits.

Publisher: Ilex Press | Author: Dixie Dixon | Release Date: 2017 | ISBN-13: 978-1781574225

Buy on Amazon

06. Photographing Men

This book shows readers how to integrate a photojournalistic skill set into a child-and-family portrait session. Readers will learn how to create images that capture the essence of the people in front of the camera and tell unforgettable stories about their daily activities and milestone moments. Tips for creating fun sessions, choosing breath-taking locations and meaningful props will aid readers to create timeless portraits.

Publisher: Rocky Nook | Author: Jeff Rojas | Release Date: 2019 | ISBN-13: 978-1681984605

07. Close

Close presents 120 portraits of different subjects, including influential people across the arts and entertainment industries, politics, business and sports. Schoeller subjects his sitters to equal technical treatment: each portrait is a close-up of a face with the same camera angle and lighting. The expressions are consistently neutral, serious yet relaxed, in an attempt to tease out his subjects’ differences and capture moments “that felt intimate, unposed. Amid Schoeller’s famous subjects are also some unknown and unfamiliar ones, a means to comprehensively make his project an “informal anthropological study of the faces of our time.”

Publisher: Steidl | Author: Martin Schoeller | Release Date: 2018 | ISBN-13: 978-3958294912

Buy on Amazon

Cover photo by William Randles on Unsplash

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