Beautifully illustrated, Portrait Photography in Africa offers new interpretations of the cultural and historical roles of photography in Africa. Twelve leading scholars look at early photographs, important photographers' studios, the uses of portraiture in the 19th century, and the current passion for portraits in Africa. They review a variety of topics, including what defines a common culture of photography, the social and political implications of changing technologies for portraiture, and the lasting effects of culture on the idea of the person depicted in the photographic image.

The ability to create an effective portrait is probably the single most important skill any aspiring photographer must master. Few professional photographers, whatever their area of specialization, can hope to have a successful career without ever being called upon to create a likeness of another person. The Portrait Photography Course is designed to build a student photographer's experience and get him or her started on a rewarding career. Detailed tutorials cover every aspect of studio and location work, from composition and psychology to complex lighting schemes, equipment options, and digital retouching. Portfolios of exemplary images showcase individual photographers' work and demonstrate techniques explored in the tutorials, while interviews with top portrait photographers shed insight into their methodologies and philosophies. Presented and written by a leading portrait photographer, this book is an indispensable guide to taking professional pictures.¿

The essays in this book investigate the early history and culture of the photography studio in China and Japan with particular attention to the genre of the studio portrait, and the ability of those portraits to devise modern, gendered, nationalistic, and public identities for its subjects.

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.”

In this book, Michael Mowbray shows readers how to set up a completely speedlight-based portrait photography studio. He goes in depth regarding gear and techniques, providing photographers with scores of example portraits and lighting diagrams to make it easy to follow along and replicate the portrait lighting effects that he shows. Readers will learn about selecting speedlights (Mowbray covers Canon, Nikon, and third-party units), learning standard operations, and working with the units on the camera’s hot shoe (a connectivity device on top of the camera) or in the periphery for more flexible, controllable results. Readers will learn why modifying the light from speedlights will produce a lot more bang for their buck and will also discover a host of tools—commercial and DIY—that can be used to change the direction, color, and quality of light for the ultimate artistic control.