Photobird Daily

People photography and portrait photography are obviously popular photography topics. We’ve written about them many times before in the Photobird Daily, and you’ll see more of them here in the future.

I think photographing people is one of the easiest types of photography to start learning, next to landscape photography. Like landscape photography, when photographing people, you need to know a few important, key elements to get started with some remarkable, initial results.

The Art of People Photography by Bambi Cantrell and Skip Cohen is a good place to start. Their book is filled with beautiful portrait examples to inspire you, along with tips and instructions to get you started in the right direction. The Art of People Photography may not provide as detailed instruction as Bryan Peterson’s Beyond Portraiture, which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, but it does give you quick tips and instruction to get you started and to give you a good understanding of people photography.

While flipping through both books, it’s very interesting to see the different styles of portrait photography between the authors of the two books. The photos in The Art of People Photography seem to be more traditional and mainstream, such as photos you’d find in a magazine fashion editorial or a school portrait. The photos in Beyond Portraiture, on the other hand, seem to be more artistic and creative, with bold colors. Both books have very beautiful, evocative photos; they’re just two different photographic styles. If you’re fortunate to have both books side-by-side, compare the photos; it’s a good, fundamental exercise to note the different photographic styles.

As of today, eight reviewers on Amazon.com have rated The Art of People Photography with an average of three and half stars. Two of those reviewers say the book is “Very useful”. Some of the positive reviewers may not have read the book, and their comments seem to be reflecting more on the successful authors than this specific book itself. The negative reviewers seem like professional photographers that were expecting something different from the book. The Art of People Photography appears to me like a good book to get started with people photography — to dip your toes in the water, if you will — and some of the negative reviewers sound like they’ve already been swimming in the deep end, so this book would not be intended for them. On the other hand, the tips may be valuable to professional photographers, even to refresh their memories, so I guess it all depends on what you expect from a 176-page book that costs less than $20.

The Art of People Photography is published by my favorite book publisher, Amphoto Books, which also publishes Understanding Exposure, by Bryan Peterson. Understanding Exposure is listed as a prize each month for the Photobird Photo Contest, but the winners actually get to choose a book. Winners may choose one of the books listed on the page at http://amphotobooks.com ; click the book covers and if “Amphoto” is listed under the ISBN number at the top, then the book is available as a prize. The Art of People Photography is also available as a prize in the Photobird Photo Contest, as are Baby Face and Mastering HDR Photography, two books I wrote about recently. Enter the contest for your chance to win The Art of People Photography!

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