Portrait Photography: The Art of Seeing Light

Aspiring photographers are spared the rigors and tribulations of trial and error in solving lighting problems with the immense knowledge shared in this guide. Included is comprehensive coverage of the tools top portrait photographers use, the lighting styles they favor, and the problem-solving techniques they employ to ensure perfectly lit portraits. Techniques covered include dragging the shutter to produce a balanced exposure, warming the light for a softer portrait with a more accessible mood, and metering a subject with confidence for the perfect exposure every time. Filled with practical, up-to-date instruction, photographers will be able to make every portrait session a successful one.

Price: $29.95

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Art Models 6: The Female Figure in Shadow and Light (Art Models series)

Whether trying a new technique, getting in some practice time, or working on a finished piece, this figure study enables artists to create their choice of model, pose, and view whenever and wherever they’d like. The latest addition to the series will help artists become proficient in incorporating chiaroscuro or light and dark lighting?a technique used by the great masters to produce drama and depth in their paintings?to define the human form. The book incorporates a new layout featuring two primary views per pose as well as a section of close-up faces, while additional expressions and body details such as the face, hands, and feet are shown in even greater detail on the DVD-ROM. With the book, artists can study 95 poses in strong unidirectional lighting and observe the female form through more than 200 printed photos. Varieties of body types?ranging from thin to plus-size?and ethnicities are included. Poses have been carefully chosen to illustrate important effects such as foreshortening and perspective changes. With this guide, artists can achieve longer drawing sessions than they could when drawing from a model directly. While viewing from many angles and at their own pace is often impossible for artists in a studio session, it becomes as easy as putting in the disc and opening any photo. A judicious amount of photo retouching is done?not to make the models more glamorous or plastic but to remove distractions that detract from the models’ essence. The PC/Mac-compatible DVD-ROM included in the book features more than 2,500 high-resolution JPEG photos providing a number of viewing options?on a computer screen, printed out, projected for a group, or via a high-definition television. Each angle of every pose may also be enlarged, enabling artists to zoom in on specific body parts to achieve a higher level of detail.

Price: $36.95

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Westwood Light and Lens Bundle: Light and Lens: Photography in the Digital Age

Light & Lens: Photography in the Digital Age is a groundbreaking introductory book that clearly and concisely provides the instruction and building blocks necessary to create thought-provoking digitally based photographs. It is an adventurous idea book that features numerous classroom-tested assignments and exercises from leading photographic educators to encourage you to critically explore and make images from the photographers' eye, an aesthetic point of view. Acquire a basic foundation for digital photography. Light and Lens covers the fundamental concepts of image-making; how to use today's digital technology to create compelling images; and how to output and preserve images in the digital world. Explore the history, theory and methods of digital image-making. Light and Lens translates the enduring aesthetics of art photography into the digital realm. You'll view, capture and think about images from a new perspective. Increase your ability to analyze, discuss and write about your own work and the images of others. Learn with exercises and assignments by leading digital educators. Innovative techniques will train your eye to make the strongest visual statement. Solve visual problems and overcome image challenges. Whether you use a digital SLR or a point-and-shoot camera, you'll get new strategies to master composition, design and light. View the full range of the digital terrain with stunning images and commentary by over 190 international artists. Robert Hirsch is a renowned photographer, educator, historian and writer. His book credits include Photographic Possibilities: The Expressive Use of Ideas, Materials and Processes; Exploring Color Photography: From the Darkroom to the Digital Studio; and Seizing the Light: A History of Photography. He has had many one-person shows and curated numerous exhibitions. Hirsch has also conducted many workshops and interviewed eminent photographers of our time. The former executive director of CEPA Gallery, he is now the director of Light Research in Buffalo, New York, and on the Visual Studies faculty of University of Buffalo/The State University of New York.

Robert Hirsch's new edition of Exploring Color Photography is also now available from Focal Press!

*Applies technology in the service of ideas *Emphasizes conceptual problem solving in photography today

* Full of beautiful and inspiring images

 

Price: $51.95

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