There are 3
things that i look for when I am buying a book:
-
Clean
and simple layout
-
Easy
content organization within the pages and the book itself
-
Most
important of all- CONTENT – Great, new and insightful information, that I can’t
find online.
Fashion
Photography 101 approaches the business and technical side of fashion
photography (Big plus).
In my
opinion there are 3 different types of consumer/photographer that will buy this
book:
-
Fans
of Lara Jade’s Work
-
Fashion
photographers (beginners) who want to know more about the industry
-
Professional
photographers from other fields who want to pick up some new tips or want to
expand their businesses
Who will
benefit more from this will be, of course, new fashion photographers, but there
are enough content to please (almost) everyone.
The layout
of the book is clean, simple and well organized (Main chapters: equipment,
preparation, the creative team, shooting, scenarios, working photographer,
organization, retouching and marketing).
I have to
admit though that some information is common sense, like the Creative team
part, for example. Anyone that reads fashion photography magazines is familiar
with hairstylists, stylists, make-up artists and so on, and with their role
on a photoshoot.
With this,
I am not saying this is a bad thing, because I think Lara wrote this book with
every kind of photographer in mind. Let’s face it, there are a lot of people who want to
be fashion photographers but they don’t have a clue about important and
fundamental things until they do some research on the subject themselves.
I wish Lara
has talked about this or included this:
-
Never
before seen images (there are indeed a couple of photos that I haven’t seen
before but that’s it);
-
More
personal experience when it comes to mistakes and what she learned with that;
-
More
in-depth information about “The importance of social media”.
What I
loved the most:
-
How
to choose the "right "shot
-
How
she uses adobe lightroom to organize her files
-
The
chapter “Scenarios”
-
Lighting
setups – very useful ! – I just wished the photos would have been taken by Lara
-
Personal
assignments - Lara suggests that you should set personal assignments and goals
for yourself when it comes to personal work. I just love this because it makes
your work harder, practice and have an objective look on your own work, in
order to evolve and grow.
Last but not least, this is going to seem like I am getting paid by Lara
to say nice things (I am NOT), this book alongside with her CREATIVElive three
day course it is the most inexpensive fashion photography course that you will
ever come across – incredibly useful and worth it!
I felt very inspired by this book, and most importantly, as it was
referred innumerous times at CREATIVElive course, you don’t need to have the
best camera/equipment and a professional studio to produce great images, you
just need to work hard, be passionate about what you do, have an excellent work
ethic and learn from your mistakes.
For those of you who don’t have the patience to read such a long post, I
answered this key question for you – remember this is just my honest opinion:
Is this book worth it?
Yes it is !!! This book approaches both sides of fashion photography –
business and technical side, which is a big plus, it even covers social media
channels and how to use them to promote your work, all based on Lara’s personal
experience.
Even if you aren’t a fashion photographer you will be pleased with the
amount of content and the wide variety of topics that are mentioned on the
book. If you are new to this type of photography then this book – I believe –
will become your bible, and 10£ for such a useful and precious book is very
affordable.
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