The Mobile Photographer

The Mobile Photographer by Robert Fisher.
This is a great little guide to learn what options there are for adding mobility to your workflow. He discusses apps, hard drives, and gear giving recommendations on what has worked well for him. He discusses briefly what you need to know to at least get started with the basics on everything he recommends and a few tricks to make life a little easier. I was particularly interested in using a tablet as a remote while shooting tethered. I was happy to see he talked about wireless hard drives since I have been looking into them as well. Now I have something to go off of when I shop. If add mobility in your workflow is something you've been thinking about you should consider this book.
Find it here:
Amherst Media
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Fine Art

This morning while waiting for the little babe to wake up I read the book Fine Art Portrait Photography by Nylora Bruleigh. Her images are absolutely stunning. Some are styled after vintage photographs while others look like paintings and still there are more that look like a fantasy. It is art photography at its best. Creating something real while also making it look like what we photographers see in our mind's eye. She does heavily utilize photoshop, which isn't necessarily a bad thing by any means, but she does have quite a few where only minor adjustments were made. She has several images from her Fairytale series in the book. She does a wonderful job making Cinderella and Snow White come to life in these photographs. I could probably go on and on with my amazement at her images but you should really just see them for yourself so you can find Fine Art Portrait Photography by Nylora Bruleigh from these retailers:
Amherst Media
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Modern Weddings

In recent years there has been what some may call a trend in wedding photography of photojournalistic photographs in place of or in conjunction with traditional posed photographs. Personally I like this style. It's how I shoot. I also think it captures the feel of the day more accurately. My most recent book read was The Beautiful Wedding Photographing Authentic Moments by Tracy Dorr. This book discusses how to effectively shoot a wedding in a documentary manner. Capturing those once in a lifetime moments during a wedding is what photography is all about. Tracy gives solid tips on what type of shots to keep in mind, what cues to look for, and suggestions for editing images and final presentation. There is also a little bonus at the end where she briefly discusses applying the same techniques to children's photography. The Beautiful Wedding can be found here:
Amherst Media
Amazon
and
Barnes and Noble

Pricing Your Portraits By Jeff Smith

I received this book even before it hit the presses to get my opinion on it. Can I just say how awesome this was? I was able to implement his pricing strategies that much sooner. He doesn't offer quick fixes for pricing like I have seen advertised by some photographers out there. You know that super easy pricing formula to get you earning six figures in no time and of course you have to shell out some serious dough to gain exclusive access to this information. Not so here. What you have here is truth. Time is money being one of them. For example when you don't get something right in camera and have to fix it later in post that is cutting into your profits. Quite significantly when you apply numbers to it. He talks about how each facet of your business, no matter how small, will affect your bottom line. But this book is really about more than just making money. It's about having it all -studio, happy clients, and most importantly a home life. Because when you can run your business well that is what you get.
Look for it soon here:
Amherst Media
here:
Amazon
and here:
Barnes and Noble

Macro

Shooting macro images is one of my absolute favorite photography genre. I just finished reading Shoot Macro Techniques For Photography Up Close by Stan Sholik. I learned some new techniques like focus stacking which was not really around when I started shooting macro back almost 10 years ago. So much has changed because of digital! But that subject is better left for another time. He also used fiber optic lights for many images which I found interesting. They allowed him to put the light right where he wanted it which is critical for lighting such small objects. Of course there are some outstanding images in this book and not just flowers which I feel end up as the fall back for a lot of macro photography. Not that flowers are a bad subject by any means but it's nice to see something else from the macro perspective. All in all a very good book.
Find it here:
Amherst Media
here:
Amazon
and here:
Barnes & Noble