Celebrity Photography Techniques with Annie Leibovitz

Photography Tips

Annie Leibovitz has been a leading lady in the world of photographers since she first started working for Rolling Stone in the early 1970s. Prior to that, she studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, working on building her skills as a photographer in her spare time. Once shifting her creative focus from painting to photography, her career rocketed, and she became one of the most sought after celebrity photographers of our time. Listen to her explain her approach to photography in the short interview below:

Outside of Rolling Stone, Leibovitz’s work has appeared in countless major publications including Vanity Fair, NY Times, and Vogue. She has photographed many notable celebrities including Queen Elizabeth, the Obama family, Bruce Springsteen, Clint Eastwood (below), and her controversial Vogue cover of LeBron James.

“I like to combine ambient light with a strobe, I do it a lot. It allows my background to become seamless in a way, very flat. The image itself becomes almost one dimensional. By lighting the subject I find they pop forward, then I leave the camera open to get the background.”