There’s a reason to every face. Capture it and you get the most honest frames in portrait photography. The scope of capturing moods and emotions reflected in all the wonderful expressions every subject has to offer makes portrait photography amazingly prolific in its range and possibilities.

When it comes to photography in general, it is always good to get inspired before you click. Do you know that there are few exceptional photographers in the world to follow and learn from when it comes to portrait photography? If you are a student at a photography training institute, you ought to know them. For enthusiasts, it is a loss to not have come across any such portrait photographer yet. But have no worries. We’ll solve that here by introducing you to some of the deserving idols in portrait photography. You could as well take this info to photography classes and help your classmates find some inspiration too.

We present this list of iconic portrait photographers reminding you that photography training courses always work great to develop your skills in photography.

Annie Leibovitz

Considered one of America’s best portrait photographers, Annie has a reputation of working with the giants in magazine and entertainment business viz. Rolling Stones, Vanity Fair and John Lennon. In fact, she is the person to click John Lennon’s last portrait. Her famous works has a huge participation of celebrities. Her works, typical with use of bold colours, unique poses and intriguing light, has gained great acclaim world over.

Steve McCurry

If you know the famous “Afghan Girl” portrait photo, you definitely know Steve. An American photojournalist, his acclaimed works, mainly for National Geographic, has won him many awards. He has done coverage of many war areas too.

The frames of his photographs have great consistency in quality and balance of elements. His “Afghan Girl”, clicked for National Geographic in 1985, became iconic for its features like expressive eyes, delicately captured facial expressions, the complementary effect of the colours of the lady’s clothes with the backdrop, and above all the sharpness of the shot that highlights everything that needs to be.

Richard Avedon

A master conceptualist, Richard’s photographs are commonly regarded for their heavy influence on American culture and style. He was a fashion photographer too. His style of photography featured skilful handling of subjects in the frame to realize unique concepts and ideas with finesse. A fine example for his exceptional portrait work is “Dovima with Elephants”, where the model Dovima poses with tamed elephants in the back. The photography has smartly fused in the elements of parallelism seen in how the model’s robes align with the elephant’s front foot.

Another classic work from Richard is “The portrait of a bee-keeper”.

Jimmy Nelson

Noted for his passion for photographing tribes and fast vanishing indigenous cultures, Jimmy Nelson, a British photojournalist, reminds us of the need to add sensitivity to the art of photography that helps preserve the remnants of ignored cultures that the next generation may not see alive. His remarkable presentation named “Gorgeous portraits of the world’s vanishing people” at TEDGlobal 2014 brings forth a commendable work and the experiences behind it that projects social responsibility that artists should practice and preach.

If you begin a quest into the works of these exceptional photographers, you’ll find a noble and worthy direction to take to make your own skills shine for its innate characteristics. To idolize these great photographers will give great inspiration and confidence to explore your photographic skills and style.