The Enthusiast's Guide to Portraiture: 59 Photographic Principles You Need to Know

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.

Jerod Foster is a Texas-based magazine/editorial, commercial, and natural history photographer. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Texas Tribune, and Sports Illustrated, among others. Jerod is drawn to telling stories about human influence on the natural world, which can be seen in his agricultural work, as well as work for clients such as The Nature Conservancy, The Texas Land Conservancy, and Yeti Coolers. Jerod is also a professor of practice at Texas Tech University, where he teaches a variety of photography and visual storytelling courses. His emphasis on visual and cultural storytelling has resulted in the formation of both professional and academic relationships worldwide. He is the author of multiple photography books, including Storytellers: A Photographer’s Guide to Developing Themes and Telling Stories with Pictures and Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Directing the Eye, Creating Visual Depth, and Conveying Emotion.