Lara Jade, a high profile fashion photographer based in New York, released her own fashion photography book, Fashion Photography 101. Today I'll be reviewing her book and revealing a few pages with you guys. You will read about my general opinion of her books content so you can make your own decision to purchase. I had received this book as a christmas present from my aunt and was completely taken by surprise! Originally, my mother was suppose to get me this book for christmas but I really wanted a squarespace website instead. So when I unwrapped my present from my aunt, I was pleasantly surprised! I began reading it and was quickly impressed with all the imagery and her editorial work she included in her book. It sparked a lot of inspiration for my own photography.

The book itself is 160 pages, or ten content chapters. She writes about everything from equipment to retouching and everything in between, and most importantly she writes from her own experience as a fashion photographer.

Reading through the first chapter of this book, I was bored. It was information about cameras, choosing a DSLR and her favourite lenses. It got very technical, very fast. That being said, she made it up with her stunning imagery. That's not to say the information was not useful, it's just that technical parts of photography have always been confusing to me.

Moving through the book, we move onto the preparation and creative team chapters. This is when the book takes a more in-depth look into fashion photography. She teaches you how to prepare for a shoot, find inspiration, sketch and how to get into fashion photography. I learned a lot in this chapter, including some new terms I never knew existed. Plus, the fashion portraits she includes in this chapter are inspirationally beautiful!

Now we move onto my favourite chapter of this book; shooting. Two reasons why I love this chapter, first is because all her imagery and secondly because of her helpful tips. She gave excellent tips regarding natural light, which is my favourite way to take pictures!

This chapter also includes two pages full of photography terminology. So if you're looking to brush up on some new terms, you'll learn them here.

Chapters 5 (Scenarios), 6 (The Working Photographer) and 7 (Organization) are in my opinion the most important to read. She gives a plentiful amount of information on each subject, and answers a lot of questions you might have. You might have also noticed while flipping through these particular chapters that there is no chapter 6, but two chapter 5's. I guess we're all human.

The remaining chapters 8 (Retouching) and 9 (Marketing), including the appendices still carry value to me, as I get to learn how she retouches and how she markets but I also understand that I have my own ways of doing both. But then again, I did learn a few new tips that I haven't before. Take from it what you will.

As my overall opinion of this book, I think it's great. It does have its flaws but it also contains content that is easily graspable to the aspiring fashion photographer, extremely helpful tips and you'll learn new terminology to use and understand as your fashion photography career starts blossoming. You can find the book here.

Thank you for reading.

Lara Jade - Fashion Photography 101 Book Review