Reddit mentions: The best fashion photography books

Well I guess I found this pretty late, so if it's still open, I'd love to enter!

I've never had the chance to go to Japan, but from what I've seen and heard from friends that have, it's almost like a dream world. What I love most about Japan, honestly, is their fresh view on the world. They have a very different way of seeing things and it's truly inspirational. The entire country, Tokyo especially, is a mecca for high fashion. As a photographer, I'd love to do more research on photography works by Japanese photographers & fashion photographers. I have been yearning for more inspiration, and I feel like that's exactly what I need. A few I've found on Amazon.jp are 1, 2, and this one is kind of fun.. 3. Honestly, if you see something that you think may be better suited for me, I'd also love a surprise. Thank you SO much for this contest. I am not able to escape the US just yet, and having a piece of Japan (even if it does come in a little box) would mean the absolute world to me. <3

I think the coming advice here will be more productive than my own, a lot of great advice on this sub, but I'd get that ISO down, no need to be at 1000, it's grainy in comparison to ISO 100 or 200. The lower the better in, generally, in terms of image quality, but it will also give you better latitude with your lights. You could instead be at ISO 100, a shutter of 1/250 or something. You're basically shining a bright light on your face and an ISO of 1000 is going to make that brighter. Like, ISO's give you more light as you go up. You'd use 1000 in a dark room, not a well lit one.

Ultimately, what I think could be valuable for you is to learn your camera some more, grab a book on photography and learn about it. Even a book like this https://www.amazon.com/Lighting-Glamour-Photography-Professional-Techniques/dp/B00A183A4E or this https://www.amazon.com/Successful-Glamour-Photography-Duncan-Evans/dp/0817459235 could be really helpful to you. Your phone is getting the shot because it's using complex algorithms to make it look better for you.

Also, cool makeup work, I wish you the best of luck, the more you learn the better it'll be.

This is an interesting question. Please take with a grain of salt.

Depending on how big the shoot mostly dictates how I work with directing the model. Say, if it's on a small shoot for a magazine publication on location. I'll pick a place I find interesting, and then just go. I really like to take my time to discover a new environment. It's refreshing to not know what you might stumble upon on the next corner. I soak it in, get to know the subject, and work with them on finding what about the place inspires us and having it speak in the work. On a big shoot, everything is more planned out to the number of outfits, what you're selling, the general places in the location, etc.

Some models don't need direction from me. They understand the vibes from the simple mood board and the type of music playing on set. They can work their environment and props. I really only feed them suggestions, or i'll say STOP! RIGHT THERE! And the model just knows to work in slight movements rather than bigger ones. Those are great models. Most importantly, they're imaginative individuals.

Other models need more communication. They don't know what to do. They've ran through their go-to poses and looks and when you tell them to stand in front of this wall, they're deer in headlights. So I try to find ways to help communicate the idea I'm trying to get across. Stories, words, anything. I try to get their mind in an atmosphere where they can bounce ideas and not feel stupid about it. You, as a photographer, need to have some idea of what you're trying to capture in that moment. If you don't, how will your subject?

A story, Ryan McGinley had to direct 20 models and make it look like they were a big group of friends. He just told them to play ring around the rosie, and high five each other and just do silly things. Cedric Buchet treats music as his religion on set. It needs to be always on. He believes it creates the vibes he needs.

Every photographer will find ways to get what they want, without telling them what they want. It'll be more genuine, and more importantly, fun.

My approach and the influence I've been exposed to believe not to have people pose. Now there's nothing wrong about posing. I rather just have them always move, and my job as the photographer to click the shutter and capture that moment. A pose gives you 1 photograph. Moving gives you like a thousand. It's worked for me.

But if you're set on posing, this book might give you some ideas. It just recently came out.

http://www.amazon.com/Study-Pose-Poses-Coco-Rocha/dp/006232814X/ref=zg_bs_2030_1

Coco Rocha is pretty damn good at poses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpocKl5ncGk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfl5ZCUgQYM

SHORT ANSWER: Inspire the subject, have them move, snap more. You and your wife need to communicate your collective ideas across.

Hope this helps.

My several month old list: Fashion Podcasts and Interviews

-----------------

I've been collecting a few podcasts to listen to in my spare time and came across an enormous amount when searching both on /r/malefashionadvice, /r/malefashion and /r/femalefashionadvice.

I thought it'd be nice to share a few I've found which were interesting and which other people can enjoy.

I know my fashion interests can definitely skew to the boring, so if you have any more suggestions please comment below!

Podcasts & Youtube:

• Dressed podcast run by two fashion historians this weekly podcast explores the incredibly rich and complex history behind the clothes we wear.
  
  
• Stuff you Missed in History Class which is part of the HowStuffWorks podcast network has some great episodes on fashion history, Marie-Antoinette and the first fashion designer Rose Betin. Search 'fashion' for some good hits.
  
  
• The Ultimate Fashion History is run by another fashion historian who produces great original content.
  
  
• Loose Threads this fashion intelligence and analyst company also has a nice podcast which talks about power suiting to product manufacturer.
  
  
• Unravel is done by three alumni of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) graduate program who take a fresh and more modern approach to their topics. They go in-depth with their podcasts and have nice light hearted tone.
  
  
• The Talks has a wealth of good interviews with people in all walks of life, and there’s a good chunk of interviews of people in fashion. Here are a few selected ones: Tom Ford, Rick Owens, Thom Browne and Craig Green.
  
  
• Blamo! is a podcast by Jeremy Kirkland who talks to various people in the fashion world, from designers to GQ editors to street photographers. Notable episodes include: Robert Geller and Lawrence Schlossman of Four Pins fame.
  
  
• Business of Fashion has their own podcast section which takes fashion from a business perspective. The website as a whole is great. Original articles are informative and they have an indispensible Daily Digest worth going through. Site has a soft paywall.
  
  

  Others:
  

  
  

• Racked even though they have a lot of fluff articles and have to pull a lot of clickbait stunts the writers over at Racked occasionally write some really insightful articles on topics about garments, the industry or the politics of clothing and fashion.
  
  
• Google: We Wear Culture has a project centered around 'Fashion' titled "the stories behind what we wear". It has a lot of fascinating text and articles accompanied with beautiful images. They collaborate with notable several museums and brands.
  
  -----------
  
  Sources and thanks to:
  
  
• Early Morning Thursdays: Podcasts and Interviews by /u/setfiretoflames
  
• /r/AskHistorians flaired users' pages and sidebar
  
• An amazing amount of discussions and recommendations on /r/malefashionadvice, /r/malefashion and /r/femalefashionadvice
  
  -----------------------
  
  /u/setfiretoflames booklist Well Regarded Fashion Books: A Community List
  
  ----------------------
  
  Hey, want to get a nice coffee table book? Let’s make a list of some of our favorites.
  
  Note: I don’t own all of these, some are off friends’ recommendations, and some are for books that haven’t even come out yet. They are mostly in Amazon links for ease of use, but none of the links are affiliate ones (and any that are found in the thread will be removed).
  
  Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
  
  Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style
  
  Ann Demeulemeester
  
  Blue Blooded
  
  BEAMS: Beyond Tokyo
  
  The Carhartt WIP Archives
  
  Dries Van Noten 1-100
  
  Hiroshi Fujiwara: Fragment
  
  Maison Martin Margiela
  
  Margiela: The Hermès Years
  
  Martin Margiela: The Women’s Collections 1989-2009
  
  Rei Kawakubo
  
  Rick Owens
  
  Rick Owens: Furniture
  
  Take Ivy
  
  Undercover
  
  Vintage Menswear
  
  Yamamoto & Yohji
  
  Yohji Yamamoto

Ok well for general books I'd really recommend "100 designers 10 curators" as it helps flesh out a lot of different brands. (Most you will never see ever again)

As far as some of the bigger ones

i know there are more undercover books but i think they're pretty much impossible to find for a decent price so you're going to have to PDF find them.

this dries one looked really interesting if it's the same one i remember seeing in person.

rick has an absolute ton of books and magazines about him.

the terry jones id one are generally the cheapest but never have too much meat. they're pretty though and make for good decorations.

-Brie Baker with all the ingredients to get started (Brie cheese, fruit, nuts, honey)

-Butter Bell with a loaf of locally made bread

-Mariposa Napkin Box with Weights and Cocktail Napkins

-Cocktail Shaker Set with Bitters, Stirrers, and a nice bottle of liquor

-Cool coffee table book (esp. if it matches a gift set mentioned above (The Art of Mixology or Magnolia Table) or it's hostess-themed, such as Kate Spade's All In Good Taste or Emily Post's Manners for Today)

-Guest Book for house/bathroom/guest room (and this is always fun because you can be the first one to sign it and everyone at the housewarming party can sign it/write a message). Look around Etsy for these...I'm not crazy about the ones on Amazon.

Hope this helps! Happy housewarming to your friend!

As far as poses...it depends on the subject & what you're going for. If I'm doing a corporate head shot, that's very different than a model test. Keep things natural. I don't do a lot of "posing". I have them move around a lot during model tests. For "standard" portraits, have them sit up straight and look at their face. You can have them tilt their chin up/down or head to the side a bit as necessary.

For lighting...everything in my model tests is one big light. Usually in a giant softbox or octobox with a strobe. I'm a big fan of Rembrandt or clamshell lighting & I adjust from there. I also like using huge windows as a light source because it's soft and pretty.

But in general: keep things upbeat. Be engaging, be polite, be professional. Getting the model to connect with you is just as important as the technical stuff because if they're not into YOU as a person, it will show on camera.

Edit: Coco Rocha just put out an incredible posing book. She's one of the best in the business. http://www.amazon.com/Study-Pose-Poses-Coco-Rocha/dp/006232814X

Women In This Town is my all time fav. It's such a interesting quick little look into street fashion and people's personal styles.
Another great one is Fashionable Selby, it'll keep your eyes busy and also gives off such happy vibes.

I worked for J.Crew for a couple of years and even before then, I was absolutely fascinated with style. What helped was learning about the nuances of fabrics, prints, and patterns. I started to appreciate clothing and started to see outfits as a system - different parts coming together to form an overall image. This approach works best with work clothing. I don't have the slightest idea of how to dress casually and in an edgy way. I stick to button down shirts in various colors and prints, well-fitted pants, and different shoes. I have A LOT of clothing, but I know how each item and its color, fit, fabric, and traditional use are all important elements in how it interacts in the outfit with other items.

If you like menswear, I'd start by reading the book "Fuck Yeah, Menswear".
http://www.amazon.com/Fuck-Yeah-Menswear-Knowledge-Gentleman/dp/1451672683

Coco Rocha is one of my favorite models. She was an Irish dancer before going into modeling at a young age (16 I believe) so her background in dance helps her incredibly in her modeling! She created and modeled for her book of hundreds (if not ~1000) unique poses meant for artists

Edit: Rocha was an Irish Dancer, not a ballerina.

Edit: For those of you interested in the Study of Pose book: https://www.amazon.com/Study-Pose-Poses-Coco-Rocha/dp/006232814X

I was accurate, she did capture 1000 poses for this book.

Nick Knight has tons of video on Showstudio and you can find a few interviews with Solve Sundsbo online.

The others not so sure. Steven Meisel is notoroiously secretive.

I bought a good book a few years ago :

https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Top-Photographers-Workshops-Advertising/dp/294037824X

It's pretty insightful but might be slightly dated now.

I've always enjoyed Alexi Lubomirski's channel on youtube. He's working for major magazines.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCNhmdvSnRNmuxTIYFybk5A/featured

Especially his 'Mini Photo Tutorials'

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

I finally got my hands on a copy of "Fuck Ivy - And Everything Else". I've always liked the guy's take on casual footwear & outlook on "fuck it" fashion, and his book perfectly portrays his attitude. A lot of it is obviously meant to be "tongue in cheek" (his take on wearing sunglasses as much as possible is that "dilated pupils can blow your cover; keep them eyes quiet"); but he also rips into the "Made in USA" marketing hype, runway vs. street, flip flops, etc.

Amazon has it on sale; it's a beautiful little hardcover to have, in my opinion.

Okay, you're not going to fit it into a single book. This is a good place to start:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Gentleman-Timeless-Manners/dp/1401603351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280113263&sr=8-1

I quite like this one for clothes:

http://www.amazon.com/Gentleman-Timeless-Fashion-Bernhard-Roetzel/dp/0841601623/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

"Wings" has been done to death. Air Force 1 is my favorite.

Any true sneaker head and poster lover should check out Scoop Jackson's Sole Provider which features a ton of classic Nike/NBA posters.

Hmmm I could think of a few things, Something like This

• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leg-Avenue-8195-Suspender-Bodystocking/dp/B001EX82S4/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Bodystocking&qid=1555107742&s=gateway&sr=8-3
  
  Or
  
  
• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ciimii-Women-Crotchless-Bodystocking-Bodysuit/dp/B07BRM4ZZS/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=Bodystocking&qid=1555107841&s=gateway&sr=8-12
  
  Or
  
  
• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fishnet-Bodystocking-Journal-Blank-COLLEGE/dp/1547293810/ref=sr_1_31?keywords=Bodystocking&qid=1555107841&s=gateway&sr=8-31
  
  And send me pics of you in it if you like

W Stories which is amazing.

Avedon Fashion 1944-2000

and Kate Moss by Mario Testino

Ines de la Fressange wrote a book about men’s style tips called The Parisian Field Guide to Men's Style, however I didn’t really like it that much because it mainly focused on menswear and seemed incredibly limiting outside of that. It basically made it seem like style rules can’t be broken in a sense.

There’s also Massimo Osti’s, the creator of Stone Island and pioneer of modern day technical clothing, book Ideas From Massimo Osti, which I think focuses on his legacy and where Stone Island is now.

Edit: And of course you can’t forget the legendary Anthology of a Decade by Hedi Slimane.

Edit 2: I'm also forgetting the famous How To Be a Man by the late GQ legend Glenn O'Brien, as well as Men and Manners and Men and Style by David Coggins.

Shoe a day calendar

https://www.amazon.com/Shoes-Page-Day-Gallery-Calendar/dp/1523503327

Edit: downvoting my gift suggestion? How rude!

The Ultimate Sneaker Book is a good one. I’ve been meaning to get it myself

There are the books I was recommended:


1 2 3 4 5 6 7.

artists; alice kettle and teleke shwartz.
as far as fine fashion goes, get this book. Its amazeballs. http://www.amazon.com/The-Haute-Couture-Atelier-Artisans/dp/0865653178

This one. Picked it up a few years back

Sneaker Freaker: The Ultimate Sneaker Book! https://www.amazon.com/dp/3836572230/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_5aeACbWH3KM12

http://www.amazon.com/Study-Pose-Poses-Coco-Rocha/dp/006232814X

You can pre order it there.

is 1000 poses by Coco Rocha. Which is really 100000 photos, as they were all taken in a rig with 100 dslrs in it.

I have to stabilize and output all 1000 of those starting tomorrow. Not at all excited.

no worries. what specifically are you after? i can probably point you in more exact directions but you're asking a lot at the moment. i doubt there's any one [set of anything] that covers all of nike. even the stuff i have, which isn't much, is generally covering multiple sports or product lines.

for example...

the nike bible mags i mentioned are japanese releases and if you're not old and living in japan you won't have much success finding them now. they do get bought/sold on the secondary market. i'd ask gusto.

for basketball, this book was the best i knew of, but it doesn't cover colourways nor all models, just many of them.

for old jordan colourways, the best reference i knew of was one of the sole collector issues (cant remember which issue offhand sorry but early). years later they produced a "nike bible" type issue, but it missed so much :(

nike sb once published "every sb sneaker ever" on the website. it missed many sneakers and colourways.

for nike air max day, nike themselves published many "history of airmax" stories/etc but also they missed sneakers too.

the jordan encyclopedia that got published on kickstarter has all of the jordan colourways i think, but they have tiny pics and not much detail.



so if you can narrow down what you're after, i can probably assist. just "all of nike" is a big ask.