Michael Zelbel

Today I’m pleased to present the first guest post ever on this blog, by one of my favorite photography teachers, Michael Zelbel, author of the bestselling ebook The Art of Boudoir Photography with Speedlites. If you’ve ever seen his videos, you know Michael is a colorful character full of passion for his subject. To get the full effect of his personality, you should read the following with an enthusiastic and slightly zany German accent. — Phil

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Hello! For many beauty photographers who are just starting out on this awesome artistic journey, introducing variety to their pictures can be a daunting task. A limited skill set and a shoestring budget can be legitimate obstacles to expanding your creative horizons.

Now, usually I tell you how to shoot some beautiful images using only a few bare necessities: essential lighting gear, a camera, some kind of interior space, and your imagination.

However, there is another great option you should look into—putting together excellent home-made alternatives for costly and fancy equipment!

The Bubblewrap Filter - Vintage Holga meets modern soft focus?

Today I want to tell you how to manufacture a bubblewrap filter for your lens that would put McGuyver himself to shame! So if you’re interested, read on…

First things first: why would you even want a Do-It-Yourself filter? Well, gradually, as you tap into different creative techniques, you will want to have a massive collection of lens filters for every purpose imaginable: polarizers, warming/cooling filters, neutral density filters, and many others.

They can help you put a new spin on an otherwise unremarkable photo—and the best part is, you don’t even have to do anything! All you need to do is install it and then start taking pictures. For artists who don’t enjoy post-production or who simply want to add a stroke of novelty to an image this is a godsend and a must-have.

So the short answer is—filters are cool! The only downside to them is their cost and fragility, which can be an obstacle to aspiring beauty photographers on a budget.

But why bother buying a manufactured lens filter—why not make one? Now, don’t fret—I’m not going to force you to blow glass and then coat it in various substances. I mean, it would probably be hilarious for both of us, but I can only teach you the things I know and have tried myself!

Just for fun, let’s make a super-simple filter out of bubblewrap that you can put on the lens hood of your camera and use in beauty photography shoots. Everyone has a bit of bubblewrap left over—and even if you enjoy popping it (a pretty soothing activity, isn’t it?), it will still make for a perfectly decent filter!

Let’s get to it, shall we? Here’s what you are going to need for this particular DIY extravaganza:
- some bubblewrap;
- a rubber band;
- a lens hood;
- scissors.

Once you’ve got everything necessary for making a bubblewrap filter, follow these three simple steps:

One. Place a piece of bubblewrap over and around the lens hood, on the end you don’t attach to the camera.

Two. Fix it in place with a rubber band. Clean up the loose ends of the wrap, lest they get into your line of sight.

Three. Cut an odd-shaped hole in the middle of the bubblewrap. The magnitude of “oddness” is up to you—the hole should be fairly sizeable though, so it would accommodate the main subject in the foreground and leave some of the background intact.

Your high-tech bubblewrap filter in place

It’s pretty much impossible to mess up, so after step three you should end up with a perfectly usable bubblewrap filter. Now it’s time for that awkward moment when you look in bewilderment at the masterpiece of your making and ask, “What do I need it for again?”

Let’s see how this nifty little filter can add to your arsenal of photography techniques and make your pool of shooting ideas that much deeper!

With a bubblewrap filter, you can take virtually any picture and give it a softer, more romantic touch. Transparent bubblewrap acts as a really blurry foreground, mimicking the way sunbeams bounce off glass. In fact, those blurry dots you see are indeed sunbeams, caught by the wrap and focused into the lens.

A logical question to ask would be, “But what can a few faint beads of light add to my pictures?” Well, sometimes an image benefits from a blurry foreground — for instance, if there is a lot of empty space around your model that you would like to fill with…something. Now this trick of light can help you fill that space, without having to change the physical set where you are shooting.

Before filter: Lots of empty space....

With the filter, a little more mystery. Because the filter uses light trapped in the bubblewrap, it works best with a dark background like this.

As with any other technique that is meant to enhance photos, don’t overdo it. A filter should be used as a finishing stroke, a cherry on top of a solid “lighting + composition” combo, just to make things more interesting. Occasionally it can be used to salvage otherwise unimpressive images… but not very often.

Before filter: too much distracting detail and empty space in the surroundings.

With the filter, it's more seductive, and the viewer's attention is drawn to the faces and actions of the couple.

Also, it goes without saying that a bubblewrap filter is, in a way, a lighting effect – so please don’t pile it on a photo that already features a distinctive and imposing lighting pattern. It will look out of place in it.

Other than that, feel free to experiment – see how far this DIY piece of equipment will get you. I think you will be surprised at how much you can do with such a deceptively simple instrument!
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Phil here again. What I like about Michael’s bubblewrap filter (aside from the price) is the way it provides a secretive, voyeuristic look, as if we are spying on a tender scene through a curtain of beads or from behind a screen. And it’s so simple!

Even if that is not the look you need, I hope this post inspires you to get creative and look around you for ways to use everyday materials and a little imagination to enhance your photography.

One last thought: I know that Michael has a private Coaching Club for photographers, which he RARELY opens to new members. He’s going to be opening it briefly soon, but the only way to get an invitation to join is by purchasing his affordable ebook The Art of Boudoir Photography with Speedlites. The book is awesome, instantly downloadable, and I highly recommend it whether you are interested in his Club or not. It’s among the best boudoir books I’ve seen, at an unbeatable price.

Almost Missed It

If you’re like me, it’s probably hundreds or thousands of missed opportunities, especially if you have kids or pets that tend to do photogenic things at unpredictable times.

But at least now I end up smacking my forehead in regret far less often than I used to. Below, I’ll tell you how I changed my habits, but first, this morning’s story is a classic example.

Today I woke up, looked out my window, and saw a cruise ship making a sweeping turn into San Diego bay, perfectly positioned between the skyscrapers for a dramatic shot under the brooding morning clouds. I’ve never seen a cruise ship in this position before (I hope the captain wasn’t showing off for friends onshore…) It’s a rare event.

I knew this photo opportunity would only last for a few seconds.

Fortunately, I now keep a camera ready at all times (actually, I keep several ready, but all you need is one). So I grabbed the Canon 7D from the “camera counter” near my kitchen—I chose the 7D because that was the body that happened to be attached to my 70-200 lens—then I ran out onto the balcony, and got the shot.

In the past, I would have missed it.

But about a year ago I made two big changes to my camera habits, changes that have allowed me to get quick shots like this, and also to go out the door on short notice (when a friend suggests an excursion, for example) with a good camera in hand.

The Camera Counter

First, I decided to dedicate a space—the “camera counter”— in a central area of my apartment for keeping a camera handy at all times.

And I mean handy. Not in the bag, with the lens cap on and the power turned off. I keep at least one camera waiting and hot, like an ICBM awaiting its launch code—power switch in the ON position, lens cap off, and with settings appropriate for snapping a fast shot.

That means, even if I came home late last night after shooting indoors with a tungsten white balance at ISO 1600, I try (with a success rate inversely proportional to my beer intake) to remember to reset everything to my personal default settings before putting the camera to rest. For me, that usually means: Aperture Priority mode (widest), ISO 200, Auto White Balance, center focus point.

Those may not be your settings, and they may not be perfect for every photo, but they are a hell of a lot better than grabbing the camera and squeezing off a few urgent frames at last night’s 2-second shutter speed, at ISO 3200, with a fluorescent white balance and the focus point in the upper right corner.

With the lens cap on.

In fact, I usually keep not just one but several cameras ready with a variety of lenses and flashes on them (see nearby photo of the camera counter). After all, I’ve got to keep the cameras somewhere. Why not handy?

Of course, if you have little kids who slobber on things, you may need to hang your camera on a high hook in the closet, or somewhere else out of reach. It doesn’t matter where it is, as long as you can get to it fast.

By keeping all my cameras handy, I don’t have to bother changing lenses or adding a speedlite flash, I can just grab the camera that is already set up for my needs. But even if you have just one camera, it only takes a few seconds to change a lens or add a flash, if you also keep those things nearby.

Which brings me to the second behavior change that has improved my spur-of-the-moment photography.

I keep one small camera bag ready and loaded at all times with a basic kit of gear. In theory I used to do this, but in practice, my gear was actually always scattered randomly among the 3 or 4 camera bags that I use. When I wanted to consolidate the essentials in one bag it was always a major chore and a good excuse to just leave the camera at home.

But now, sticking to the discipline of keeping a ready “Grab-&-Go Bag” has put an end to this excuse.

What goes in this always-ready bag?

• 1 Speedlite flash with charged batteries
• 1 Extra set of 4 charged AA Eneloop batteries for the Speedlite
• 1 Spare charged battery for each of my camera bodies (since I don’t know which camera I’ll throw in until the last minute)
• 1 small point-and shoot pocket camera (for backup or handing off)
• 1 set of cheap radio triggers for using the flash off-camera
• 1 Small LED flashlight (amazingly helpful at night)
• Lumiquest 80/20 flash diffuser
• Sto-Fen Omnibounce flash diffuser
• Colored gels for flash
• Extra memory cards
• Alcohol lens wipes
• Small reading glasses (now that I’m old and my eyes are going)
• Business cards
• Model releases
• Pen
• Optional: 1 extra lens, based on conditions (telephoto for day, fast for night, etc)

Ready to Go in Seconds

The choice of which camera to put in the bag depends on the location (do I want to risk carrying the expensive gear?), the amount of walking (should I carry the lightest camera?) and other factors (do I need a built-in flash? do I want a full or crop sensor?).

Whichever camera I choose, I put a mid-range versatile “walk around” lens on it before sticking it in the bag. If I’m using a crop-sensor camera like the Rebel or 40D or 7D, then that lens will be the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS. If I’m using the 5D Mk II, that lens is the 24-105mm f/4 L IS.

Since the bag is always ready to go, it takes only a few seconds to choose a camera body, put the right lens on it, and stick it in the bag. Then I’m out the door with no excuse for not carrying a camera.

These small behavior changes—keeping a camera handy, resetting it to default, keeping a stocked bag—have made a huge improvement in my ability to get fast shots, and to take a camera with me on spontaneous excursions.

And the bruise on my forehead is slowly starting to heal.

What’s in your Grab-and-Go bag?  If you have a helpful tip, the rest of us would love to read it in a comment below.

By Robert Baker - Click to enlarge

Here’s a bit of inspiration for those of you hoping to launch a career in photography.

Robert Baker was one of the first buyers of my off-camera-flash portrait course. At the time, he wrote me to say, “I got a TON more out of these videos than I thought I would!”

Well he wasn’t kidding. Apparently Robert learns fast, because soon he was posting photos on his website that looked like the work of a seasoned professional.

All of the photos on this page were lit with small flashes using the principles taught in my course. And frankly, many of them look as good as or better than anything I’ve ever shot.

Click to enlarge

What I love about Robert’s photography is the careful balance between the ambient background light and the controlled light from the flash on his subject.

He also has a great eye for color, and for composition. All of these elements combine to lift his work well above that of many professional portrait shooters out there.

And it’s paying off for him.

Click to enlarge

Robert Baker – Napa Photography

Robert also has an excellent blog with in-depth tutorials on flash photography and camera gear:

Click to enlarge

In short, this guy is doing everything right. I find it really inspiring to see this hard work, talent, and dedication paying off and allowing Robert to embark on what is sure to be a very promising photography career.

Olloclip 3-in-1 Lens for iPhone 4

I love the iPhone, both as a smart phone and as a pocket camera, but all too often I find myself cursing the camera’s narrow field of view.

It’s especially troubling when you’re in a tight space and you just can’t get far enough away to frame your subject, or when you have a vast subject that really deserves a wide angle lens. At times like this, you really miss your DSLR.

Well, a clever company named Olloclip has just given us one more reason to leave the heavy DSLR at home, with their Olloclip 3-in-1 Lens for the iPhone 4 and 4S.

Olloclip Fisheye—You shot that with an iPhone?

This lightweight lens kit gives you a wide-angle, a fish-eye, and a macro lens, all in one tiny package that slips onto your iPhone in seconds to literally expand your photographic horizons.

Compare the photos below taken with the iPhone’s standard lens and with the Ollo wide and fisheye. You’ll see that it really does deliver wide angles of view, and its optical quality is excellent for something so lightweight and reasonably priced (okay, $70 is not exactly cheap, but when was the last time you bought three—count ‘em three!—lenses for under a hundred bucks?).

Of course, the Olloclip is not without its flaws.

Lens flare from Olloclip-covered flash. Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

1. The biggest annoyance is that it covers the iPhone’s flash, so you won’t be doing any night shooting with it (but you can get some interesting lens flares if you forget and leave the flash turned on).

2. The second nuisance is that you have to remove the case from your iPhone before you clip it on. Even a transparent screen protector will interfere, because the Olloclip slides on with a tight friction fit. So your iPhone must be naked to use it.

3. The wide-angle lens creates quite a bit of barrel distortion (more than a typical wide angle on a DSLR). See the series of three photos above, and note the warping of straight lines in the wide-angle view. Of course, you can remove most of that in post-production with Lightroom (learn how in my Lightroom course) or other software, but objects near the edge of the frame are still a bit fuzzy even after un-warping it.

4. Finally, it can be tricky to lock focus with the macro lens, which requires getting VERY close to your subject (less than an inch). If your subject is moving or blowing in the wind, it will often drift out of focus before you press the shutter button. But when you get the focal distance right, the results are amazing.

Amazing macro images (click to enlarge)

In fact, it’s the macro images that impressed me most about this lens kit. The wide and fisheye sometimes feel more like fun gimmicks, but the macro lens is like carrying a microscope in your pocket!

The clever design of the Olloclip conceals the macro lens behind the wide-angle, to keep things compact. Just unscrew the wide, and now you have a macro.

The Olloclip set comes with a microfiber lens bag that doubles as a lens cleaner. Basically, everything about this little kit does double duty to pack a ton of functionality into a tiny package.

In the end, despite its drawbacks, I love this little lens kit. It’s the biggest photographic bang-for-the-buck that I’ve purchased in a long time.

Shop Amazon.com for Olloclip 3-in-1 Lens for iPhone 4 and 4S

As always, if you buy from my Amazon links you support my site and help me product more free tutorials. (Or at the very least least you buy me a beer.)

Point Loma Sunrise (click to enlarge)

This morning I woke up to a sight I’ve never seen before: the sun sparkling from windows on Point Loma, on the far side San Diego Bay, reflecting a fiery shimmer across the water.

Still half-asleep, I grabbed the nearest camera and my 70-200 f/4 L lens, snapped a shot, and went back to sleep.

Later I wondered, why have I never seen this before? (All right, smart aleck, I’ll admit it’s true that I’m rarely up at the crack of dawn.)

But there’s a more fundamental reason. It hasn’t happened before.

I’ve lived in my current apartment for less than a year, and this is the first day the sun has aligned with those windows across the bay to bounce light back in this direction. (Actually, it may have happened exactly 6 months ago, but that day either it was cloudy, or I was asleep.)

Of course, this phenomenon should come as no surprise to me.

Because I know that twice a year, you can stand at exactly that fiery spot on point Loma, at sunset, and take brilliant photos of the city’s buildings reflecting sunlight across the bay.

That photo opportunity is the mirror image of the one I saw from my windows this morning.

And it happens exactly twice a year. It’s so well-known that it even appears in photography guidebooks about the area. And on those magical days you’ll find dozens of photographers setting up tripods and long lenses on the sleepy streets of Point Loma.

And I have even been one of those photographers in the past.

The Reverse Shot (click to enlarge)

The shot nearby was taken from Point Loma last fall, during that brief span of time when the sun strikes perpendicular to the city’s streets and makes dazzling light on the buildings downtown.

What lesson is there in this for us photographers?

We’re all quite good at remembering to take advantage of the changing light over the course of a day. We know there are magic moments at sunrise and sunset, and we often build our schedules around them.

But how often do we forget that the angle of the light is different every single day of the year?

The light you saw yesterday will not be the light you see tomorrow.

Things in your neighborhood, or even your own back yard, may look today as you’ve never seen them before.

So get out there and shoot.

Phottix Odin Transmitter

My Phottix Odin flash triggers just arrived, and oh, man, it’s like Christmas came early at my house.

Finally a gear-maker has delivered all the features I’ve been wanting in a flash trigger for years!

• TTL Metering? – Check
• High Speed Sync? – Check
• Second Curtain Sync? – Check
• Manual Power Settings? – Check
• Multiple Groups? – Check
• Backward Compatibility with cheaper triggers? - Check
• Super Low Price? – Well, um… six out of seven ain’t bad

Seriously, I can’t think of anything that is missing from these triggers. Technology has finally caught up to my fantasy wish list.

So, why is this trigger a big deal?

First of all, it’s one of only a few TTL triggers on the market.  The others, including the Pocketwizard Flex System, and the RadioPoppers, are ridiculously expensive, and in the case of PocketWizard, known to have some radio interference issues with Canon flashes.

So the Odin is newsworthy with its lower price point, rock-solid reliability, well-built construction, and user-friendly operation.   (I managed to set it up and test it without even consulting the manual.)

The price point looks even better when you consider the backward compatibility with older Phottix triggers, like the affordable Strato and Strato II Multi. (You can see my previous reviews of those triggers by clicking those links).

Of course, any flashes attached to the older Strato series receivers don’t transmit TTL information.  But frankly, for me, this is not a problem.  Because in a given lighting setup, I typically want only my main and fill lights in TTL mode, while my rim lights or background lights are locked down in manual mode anyway.

So the Odin gives me a perfect way to use the heap of Strato receivers that I already own—to power my manual back lights, while using my Odin receivers for the front lights in TTL mode.

Odin Test with Speedlites (click to enlarge)

I set up a little test rig just to illustrate this mix-and-match scenario for you.  The moment I un-boxed the new Odin, I attached my two Odin receivers to two TTL Canon flashes (for the main light), and then I put some older Strato and Strato II receivers on two additional Canon flashes in manual mode, to serve as back/rim lights.

In other words, I’m using four different types of Canon flashes, and three different types of Phottix triggers, all at once.  How’s that for mix-and-match?

See the nearby image of my first test firing of the four flashes, on my kitchen counter. Straight out of the box, first shot, and everything is firing.  I love it when stuff just works!

Odin Indoor Test with 4 Flashes

It was raining outside, so I couldn’t do the “overpowering the sun with high-speed sync” shot I had in mind, so, instead I dragged the lighting setup into my living room and bribed my daughter to stand in for a few test shots.

You can see my lighting setup nearby, and the photo that resulted from it. (Mind you, this was not an attempt to create art, it was just me confirming that the gear works and that all the flashes and triggers were firing and doing what they are supposed to.)

It went perfectly,  with no misfires, and accurate TTL metering on the subject in every shot.  It just works.

Odin Indoor Test Lighting Setup

The next day the weather cleared up, so I again bribed the offspring to stand for a few shots, this time out on the deck in bright sunlight.  This was the test I wanted.  Can I overcome the sun with a speedlight in High-Speed sync while using a wide aperture for backgrdound blur?

Odin Outdoor Test (1/1000 sec) HSS

You bet I can.  See the shot nearby.  She is rim lighted by the sun.  Note the blur on the buildings in the background from a f/4.5 aperture.  That required a shutter speed of 1/1000.  Try doing that with your manual flash triggers!

All right, you may be saying, but I could do that with the Canon or Nikon built-in wireless flash system.  But you couldn’t. Not in this configuration.   See my lighting setup shot.

Odin Outdoor Test Lighting Setup

From my shooting position, I was standing nearly beside my main light, too far forward for the flash to see a master’s signal.  And the fill light was hidden behind a concrete wall!

With Canon or Nikon wireless, no line of sight means no communication.  With the Odin, I don’t have to worry about line-of-sight between my master unit and my flashes.

Now I’m free to move around and put my lights wherever I like.  This is liberation.

I think you can see now why I’m excited about these triggers.

Early users are also reporting that the Odin works with many Canon-compatible third-party flashes, but you’ll have to do your own research there, as Phottix makes no promises (and who can blame them?)

Nikon shooter?  Be patient, your Odin is coming soon.

Now that I think about it, there is one thing Phottix left out of the Odin that would be handy. The infrared focus assist beam that you get with an on-camera Speedlite or a Canon ST-E2 transmitter can be a lifesaver in low-light situations.   (Of course, that beam still shines from your remote TTL flash, but it won’t do much good if it’s firing into an umbrella.)  For some shooters who do a lot of low-light work, that could be a problem.

But for me, even without that little feature, these are simply the best flash triggers I’ve ever seen.

Check Odin pricing at the Phottix Store

P.S. If this techie stuff seems over your head—or beyond your budget—you might want to start with my beginner off-camera-flash course which teaches you the basics of how to get started with off-camera-flash on a shoestring budget.

Thankfully he hasn’t made a liar out of me with his second book. Off-Camera Flash: Techniques for Digital Photographers fully lives up to that earlier praise, and more.

In a richly informative yet admirably concise 125 pages, Off-Camera Flash provides a wide-ranging look at its subject without becoming lost in the technical mire—and believe me, with this subject, it can be easy to get bogged down in the details.

Modern hot-shoe flash units have become so complex—in many ways more complex than our cameras—that some less-technically-minded photographers have simply thrown up their hands in despair (this has been known to lead to a newfound “artistic” viewpoint that adamantly defends natural light as the only true light).

But have no fear. Neil van Niekerk rides to the rescue with this well-organized and lavishly illustrated guide. Sure, it requires some technical knowledge of f-stops and shutter speeds, and there is hardly a page without at least one acronym like TTL, ISO, or occasionally even a CTS, but he truly makes the subject about as painless as it can be.

Best of all, he illustrates his principles abundantly with photos—so abundantly that a flip through the pages reveals more photos than text. I particularly like his frequent use of an ambient-light photo next to the equivalent flash photo, so your eye gets trained in making the leap from, “If this is how my subject looks in a natural light test shot, then I can add flash to get this result…”

The case study photos reflect the basic workload of a commercial photographer: weddings, models, fashion, and portraits, plus a smattering of travel and street shots to show that you can still do OCF when you don’t have time for a careful setup or the help of an assistant.

Many of you will be interested to know that this book makes an ideal companion to my own off-camera-flash portrait photography course, because van Niekerk and I tackle the subject from different angles. Where my course gives you a basic introduction to the subject in easy-to-digest video format—with heavy emphasis on beginner’s equipment and the technical details of flash settings—van Niekerk’s book takes a more advanced working-photographer’s view of the subject, focusing less on the equipment and more on the art of creating the environments, and the lighting, that yield particular artistic or commercial results. It’s the perfect Advanced Course to follow up my beginner’s video series.

Best of all, despite the professional-looking results of his work, van Niekerk’s approach does not require a lot of expensive gear. Most of the photos in the book were taken with a single Speedlite flash and one inexpensive modifier, because, as the author elegantly puts it, “In my opinion, that intersection between ‘best light’ and ‘simplicity’ is around the point where you use an off-camera flash in a softbox.”

That focus on simplicity informs the entire book.

Highly recommended.

Check pricing on Amazon

As always, if you shop from my Amazon links, you help support this site (and you add a few pennies to my beer fund, providing essential fuel for producing more free tutorials).

“We don’t have a budget for photography, but we’d like to use your photos. We will offer you credit.”

Before I go on, check out writer Harlan Ellison’s video rant below (caution: strong language). It applies to writers, photographers, or any creative person being asked to deliver their goods for free:

Early in your photography career it can be tempting to accept these freebie requests in order to get “exposure.” After all, you want to get seen, build a reputation, get links to your site.

But each time you deliver free photos to a for-profit business, you are actually destroying the photography marketplace that you one day hope to succeed in. You are helping to spread this pernicious idea that photography, and other creative work, should be free.

Many of us have become so tired of responding to these inquiries that we simply reply with a link to one of these web pages:

Reasons Why Professional Photographers Cannot Work for Free

We Have No Budget for Photos

Sometimes I even get requests from individuals or organizations who want to view (or distribute!) my flash photography portrait course or my Photoshop training course for free. You can probably guess my answer.

Of course, demanding fair compensation for your work does NOT mean you should never do free photography for friends, organizations, or causes that you choose to support, as a charitable contribution. You should! But just make it 100% clear to the client, and to yourself, that that is exactly what you are doing in those cases.

And next time a magazine, organization, or business asks you to provide free photos or accept a cheap token payment—no matter how tempting the “exposure” seems — Just Say No.

Otherwise, when you finally develop your skills to the point where you can make a living at photography—there won’t be a photography business left to make a living in.

How To Photograph Nudes Like a Professional

This guy knows it all, and he reveals it all in this book that goes WAY beyond nudes to cover almost everything involved in a photography career.

If you have ever dreamed of working in any way with models, fashion, beauty, or glamour photography, you’re going to want to download this book right now.

Karyl spills the secrets of his 25-year career, telling you everything including: how to find models, choose the right gear, light your shots,  retouch in Photoshop, handle the business side, and much more.

He even describes his own struggle and rise to success, a story I found both fascinating and inspiring. (I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I spent a whole day reading this book because I was so intrigued.)

Here’s a small sampling of chapter headings to give you an idea of what’s contained:

Some General Thoughts on Photography

And of course Karyl includes dozens of case study images from his own portfolio to illustrate the principles throughout.

One bit that I found eye-opening was his breakdown of the difference between Beauty Models, Fine Art Nude Models, and Glamour Models (did you even know there was a difference?) and his advice on how to locate and work with each.

The chapter on retouching alone is with the price of the book, in my opinion, offering concise, straight-to-the point guidance (illustrated with Photoshop screenshots) for the practical problems encountered every day by a portrait or glamour photographer.  

And Karyl’s thoughts on legal issues, working with assistants, hair and makeup, and simply working with models, all reflect the kind of wisdom that can only be gained over the course of a career.

I consider this book a steal at $29, and you get the instant gratification of an immediate download.

You can download it here

Plus, if you buy it from my links on this page, a portion of the sales goes toward helping me produce more free tutorials for you.  Double win!