If you're a beginner photographer, this book can save you hundreds of dollars. If you're a seasoned pro, it can save you thousands. With access to over 16 HOURS of online video, this book helps you choose the best equipment for your budget and style of photography. In this book, award-winning author and photographer Tony Northrup explains explains what all your camera, flash, lens, and tripod features do, as well as which are worth paying for and which you can simply skip. Tony provides information specific to your style of photography, whether you're a casual photographer or you're serious about portraits, landscapes, sports, wildlife, weddings, or even macro. For the casual reader, Tony provides quick recommendations to allow you to get the best gear for your budget, without spending days researching. If you love camera gear, you'll be able to dive into 200 pages of detailed information covering Nikon, Canon, Sony, Micro Four-Thirds, Olympus, Samsung, Leica, Mamiya, Hasselblad, Fuji, Pentax, Tamron, Sigma, Yongnuo, PocketWizard, Phottix, Pixel King, and many other manufacturers. Camera technology changes fast, and this book keeps up. Tony updates this book several times per year, and buying the book gives you a lifetime subscription to the updated content. You'll always have an up-to-date reference on camera gear right at your fingertips. Here are just some of the topics covered in the book: What should my first camera be?Which lens should I buy?Should I buy Canon, Nikon, or Sony?Is a mirrorless camera or a DSLR better for me?Do I need a full frame camera?Is it safe to buy generic lenses and flashes?What's the best landscape photography gear?Which portrait lens and flash should I buy?What gear do I need to photograph a wedding?How can I get great wildlife shots on a budget?Which sports photography equipment should I purchase?Should I buy zooms or primes?Is image stabilization worth the extra cost?Which type of tripod should I buy?Which wireless flash system is the best for my budget?How can I save money by buying used?What kind of computer should I get for photo editing?What studio lighting equipment should I buy?When you buy this book, you'll be able to immediately read the book online. You'll also be able to download it in PDF, .mobi, and .epub formats--every popular format for your computer, tablet, smartphone, or eReader!

Artist secrets revealed, step by step instructions Libby Fellerhoff, North Light Magazine. Mar. 2001.

The core goal of photography is representing subjects that have depth and texture in a medium that inherently lacks both those qualities, and this book shows the best way to rise to that challenge: through the careful application and capture of lighting. It demonstrates how to accentuate or minimize textures, add or subtract highlights, and create or combat shadows to showcase the subjects in the best way and create the illusion of a third dimension in the images. Exploring techniques for lighting portraits, still-life subjects, nature images, and architectural shots, both studio and location lighting are covered in detail. The book teaches photographers how to study their subjectsÑwith all of the textures, colors, shapes, and surfaces they haveÑthen visualize the image as a finished photograph before the photography actually begins. With chapters that thoroughly cover the science of lighting and visualization, photographers can apply that knowledge and successfully create artful images.

A picture-rich field guide to American photography, from daguerreotype to digital. We are all photographers now, with camera phones in hand and social media accounts at the ready. And we know which pictures we like. But what makes a "good picture"? And how could anyone think those old styles were actually good? Soft-focus yearbook photos from the '80s are now hopelessly—and happily—outdated, as are the low-angle portraits fashionable in the 1940s or the blank stares of the 1840s. From portraits to products, landscapes to food pics, Good Pictures proves that the history of photography is a history of changing styles. In a series of short, engaging essays, Kim Beil uncovers the origins of fifty photographic trends and investigates their original appeal, their decline, and sometimes their reuse by later generations of photographers. Drawing on a wealth of visual material, from vintage how-to manuals to magazine articles for working photographers, this full-color book illustrates the evolution of trends with hundreds of pictures made by amateurs, artists, and commercial photographers alike. Whether for selfies or sepia tones, the rules for good pictures are always shifting, reflecting new ways of thinking about ourselves and our place in the visual world.

Jill Greenberg offers a fascinating, funny, and all-too-human collection of celebrity monkey and ape portraits. Each of these 76 amazing anthropomorphic photographs will remind readers of someone they know. Little, Brown and Company

Infuse your images with glowing, luminous light From high-profile wedding and portrait photographer Elizabeth Messina comes this beautiful guide to shooting lush, romantic portraits exclusively in natural light. Whether you’re photographing children, weddings, maternity and boudoir, or portraits of any kind, The Luminous Portrait will inspire you with Elizabeth’s personal approach and award-wining images, sharing the art to making flattering portraits that appear “lit from within.”

Capture the perfect portrait--even if it's with a selfie--in this updated edition of a trusted classic, now with all-new photography. Great portraits go beyond a mere record of a face. They reveal one of the millions of intimate human moments that make up a life. In Understanding Portrait Photography, renowned photographer Bryan Peterson shows how to spot those "aha!" moments and capture them forever. Rather than relying on pure luck and chance to catch those moments, Peterson's approach explains what makes a photo memorable, how to spot the universal themes that everyone can identify with, and how to use lighting, setting, and exposure to reveal the wonder and joy of everyday moments. This updated edition includes new sections on capturing the perfect selfie, how to photograph in foreign territory while being sensitive to cultures and customs, how to master portraiture on an iPhone, and the role of Photoshop in portraiture. Now with brand-new photography, Understanding Portrait Photography makes it easy to create indelible memories with light and shadow.