Droves of hobbyist photographers make a move to professional photography every year. They read a few books; watch rock star photographers shoot online; make business cards; and forge their path to a new career. When they book clients; work through the session; proof their images; and conduct a sales session; though; they encounter artistic; organizational; and financial problems they had not anticipated; and many stall out.In this book; Jeff Smith focuses on finding an audience and a target demographic; honing your posing and lighting skills; working with clients; and managing business and personnel concerns.Smith begins by taking a close look at the mind-set required for forging ahead as a professional photographer. He shows you how to define and target the clientele you want to work with and teaches you skillful approaches for creating and maintaining a strong photographerndash;client relationship. He notes that many photographers enter the business to create images that please them and explains that to be successful; photographers must instead learn to gain insight into just what the client wants to see in the final photos in order to maximize profits and keep clients coming back for more.With a clearly defined objective and approach outlines; Smith moves on to tackle common technical issues that new pros find daunting. He provides tips for creating perfect lighting in the studio and outdoors. He also discusses positioning for every part of the body; to create an ideal presentation to the camera. Next; he provides compositional tipsmdash;from where to position the subject in the frame; to selecting the best camera angle; to cropping for impactmdash;in order to maximize image impact and present the best-possible image to your client.Finally; with the technical and artistic fields addressed; Smith turns to a discussion on the business side of the profession. He offers advice on acquiring equipment; understanding costs and pricing; creating new business opportunities; identifying an ideal studio location; and even managing your time.
2014-12-09 2014-12-09File Name: B00R1PKWHS
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A Manual for the FutureBy S. W. NelsonThis book is unique in that it displays a source of knowledge which is at the finger-tips of those who wish to avoid future conflicts due to misunderstanding the rural concerns about landscape; economics; sense of place and other important concerns depending on geographic locations and societal needs. This source of knowledge is found at the Center for Rural Design founded and directed by the author with sponsorship by colleges in the University of Minnesota. The book clearly describes actual holistic community-based design and research-based design projects carried out by the CRD. Accompanying photographs and graphics add considerably for clarity. Goals of the CRD include solving complicated problems from those such as generating renewable energy from agricultural waste with new technologies to empowering rural communities to participate in discussing problems of land use; animal agriculture; food supply; community well-being; etc. A theme throughout the book expresses the importance of sense of place in rural settings when doing rural design. I find this publication not only a fine textbook but is one which should be in the library of city managers world-wide who are considering the problems of urban sprawl into the surrounding rural areas. Kudos to this author!
