Top 5 Celebrity Photographers

These are my Top 5 (living) celebrity photographers at the moment..

Some of you may not may not agree.. And to you I say..

Start your own blog! Better yet.. let's argue it out in the comment box below =)

I'm only going to do bios of them for now. .. so I can blog about each one in more detail later..

He's been called the modern day Warhol,  Which is no surprise considering Warhol gave him his first professional job as a photographer for Interview Magazine.
His colorful images have been described, as weird, shocking, surreal, sexualized, slightly disturbing, and a bit of an acid trip. He's published 4 books.

With his use of unconventional props, and extraordinary backdrops, He makes the list at number....5

-David LaChapelle

He started off  photo journalist for the Thousand Oaks News Chronicle

in 1986, He has won over one hundred national and international awards from American Photography,

His pictures has been published in Vanity Fair, GQ, Esquire, Details and Rolling Stone.

In 2003 he won a 1st place World Press Photo award.

He's photographed Bono, President Obama, The Dalai Lama, Leonardo Dicaprio and Johnny Depp just to name a few.

4-Dan Winters

He's a Los Angeles based celebrity photographer and well known Hollywood Photographer who has a distinct ability to make an image "pop", and he's incredible at bringing someones personality to life in a photograph.

In 2009 his book Faces of Sunset won first place and tied with Annie Leibovitz's 'At Work' for the prestigious SCIBA Book Award. He funds his personal projects by shooting advertising campaigns for popular television shows such as Glee and 90210, and blockbuster films like The Expendables. His clients include DreamWorks, Paramount, Lionsgate, Showtime, Warner Bros, FOX and others. He is also a contributing photographer to Vanity Fair. He's photographed top celebrities such as Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Shia LaBeouf, Alec Baldwin, Jack Black and many many more..

His use of lighting in a photograph is impeccable.

3-Patrick Ecclsine

She started as a staff photographer for Rolling Stones magazine in the 70's, where she quickly moved up to chief photographer and shot over 170 covers.

In 1983 she worked for Vanity Fair Magazine and in 1998 joined forces with Vouge Magazine.

In addition to her magazine work, she also has done ads for American Express, Gap, Disney, and Louis Voitton.

With 6 books under her belt, and the worlds most iconic images of John Lennon, Demi Moore, and Queen Elizabeth just to name a few.

2-Annie Leibovitz 

Another LA based photographer,

He started his career as a sports photographer shooting everything from surfing, to football players, to boxers,and then he found himself drawn to fashion and portraiture. But he seems to be amazing at whatever it is he shoots.

He's done ad campaigns for Speedo, Kodak, Boost Mobile,

He's shoot countless amounts of TV and movie ads ranging from from Iron Man (1 and 2), Spiderman 3, The A-team, Fantastic 4, Nip Tuck, The Entourage, 24, The X Files,

1. Michael Muller

1-Michael Muller

What makes a good photographer??

Have you ever wondered.. What makes a good photographer?
Is it the equipment? Perhaps the lighting technique? Is it the knowledge of aperture? Or the knowledge of software such as lightroom, photoshop.. etc? Or is it just the talent (or "eye") behind the lens?

I know many Hollywood Photographers and Celebrity Photographers. From the ones who have the right equipment, yet know nothing about ISO, Aperture, or Photoshop.. but take so many pictures that every so often I will see a really good photo come from them, and wonder how I didn't get an equal or better  image. And I still don't know if its the camera or the fact that they take so many shots. that they're bound to get one good shot, out of the five hundred pictures taken.. or perhaps its the combination of the two.

Than there's the super technical photographers, who know everything about lighting, aperture, ISO, and have all the right software, and though I may like some of their work.. for the most I'm not inspired by it.

There's the photographers that use a simple point and shoot camera, and come up with amazing pictures.
Or the photographers that have less than great images and photoshop the hell out of it. Are those photographers though? Or just photoshop artists?

And lastly there's the photographers who have assistants light everything, and all they do is pick up the camera, and click away, then hand their images to a retoucher. Which I believe is the case with a lot of professional photographers.

After much evaluation, In my opinion this is what makes a great photographer:
Someone who cared enough about the art of photography to at least learn photography 101. Whether self taught or in a classroom. Someone who also knows the basics of composition and lighting.

The less photoshop, the better..I strongly dislike over processed images. If I can't tell if its a painting or a photograph.. What's the point? I do feel that some knowledge of photoshop is important, because models aren't as perfect as we'd like them to be, and sometimes there's just a thing or two you need to fix in a photo. Someone who can take inspiration from other photographers without being a copycat.

And last, but most certainly not least:  Talent.. someone with "an eye". This is the hardest to write about because its the "IT factor". It's something almost unexplainable.. Something that stands out for reasons unknown. I feel all these components are important..without one, you just feel like something is lacking.