Customer Reviews

The Art of Portrait Photography

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Grecco is a master of light. This book is educational, entertaining, and very well written. Grecco illustrates his lighting concepts with examples of his cutting edge portraiture, and excellent lighting diagrams. I would recommend this book for all photographers, from students, to enthusiasts, to seasoned pros....................

Jeff Sedlik, Photographer, Lighting Instructor at the Art Center College of Design, Board of Directors of the Advertising Photographers of America

I enjoyed the ideas Michael Grecco has for using light. The examples are well-explained so the reader can come up with his own ideas. I highly recommend this book if you're looking for new ideas for lighting or needing to learn how to use light when taking photographs.

Michael Grecco's book has given me very useful insights into the nature of light. This is not just a cookbook for how to put together a lit portrait, but rather a way to look at how lighting affects the mood and atmosphere of a picture and the subject. There are several levels of understanding available in his descriptions of shooting, from a discussion of what equipment he brings with him, to how he interacts with subjects. I was looking for a few lessons in how to use strobes better in my work, without compromising the spontaneity of the moment. There is a great selection of tips for all those kinds of shots where I always wondered "How'd they DO that? Solarization, cross processing, spot lighting and such are covered. The writing is down-to-Earth, but is on a level that assumes established camera handling skills. Its more than telling you what light or lens to use, its why he used what whe did. I'm excited by what I'm finding in it.

If you want to learn to think "outside of the box" of traditional portrait lighting, this is the book. You may not like everything he does, but his imagination and technique are outstanding. The only problem is the lack of color in the book.

I was thrilled when my copy of Michael Grecco's book arrived from Amazon today. As an aspiring portrait shooter myself, I am always looking for "behind-the-scenes" images and comments on how talented professionals create their work. Not only is this book full of the work that has made him one of the most sought after portrait shooters today, it also transends what you might expect from most "photography" books on the market.

I highly recommend this book to any photographer (amateur or professional) who is interested in learning what it takes to produce portraits that will take you to another level in your work.

Although the images in his book are reproduced in black and white and mono-tone, many of them were actually shot with color film.

DINO*

This book would have been much better if the publisher used color photographs instead of the cheaper black-and-white reproductions. Many of the photos were shot in color, according to the author's description of what film he used. It's hard to see or even judge the photographer's use of light in this book. The explanations regarding equipment used are sparse. There are hand-drawn diagrams of where the photographer placed the light, and a brief description of the photographer's creative inclination or perhaps inspiration for doing what he did in a particular shot (most of them were experimental), but if one is looking for a method or technique for lighting, one should look elsewhere.

I am so grateful to have stumbled upon this wonderful book. I have been wanting to push myself as a portrait photographer, and feel that my use of available light is tremendously limiting as far as location and creativity are concerned. Michael's book describes in detail the equipment he uses, the lighting setups, and the concepts behind the shoots he has done for Entertainment Weekly, Premiere, etc. I can feel that this book is going to help me take my work to another level, and I recommend it to any artist ready to challenge themselves. Thanks much, Michael Grecco, for sharing your knowledge.

I didn't know who Michael Grecco was before coming across this book - and learning his "creative lighting techniques and strategies" won't make an iota of difference in my life.

Most of the Grecco portraits shown in this book are unappealing to me. Instead of naturally striking, they appear strained and posed for effect. A photograph of two actors from a one-time hit TV series has them scowling into the camera with large shadows against the wall. So what? But Grecco claims this is the "noir" look he was after. If you look at the classics of noir cinematography and the publicity stills for those films, you'll see in a moment that this is not noir, but pale and poor imitation of noir.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery - and Grecco does go in heavily for imitation - but it does not necessarily produce striking photographs. And none of the photographs in this book are striking.

Worse, none of them are in color, although the originals clearly were. (Grecco says so in many instances.)

Crude sketches showing the light placement accompany each of the photos, but lend little. For example, no great genius is required to see that in one photo taken outdoors, a single fill light was employed. But this fact is dutifully recorded along with the outline of the pier it was taken on, the river behind the pier and the unmistakable skyline of Manhattan on the other side of the river. I mean, talk about meaningless froth.

Grecco obviously makes a good living peddling his style to magazines, but I'm not impressed by his skills as a photographer or a writer.

Jerry

This is an outstanding lighting cookbook for serious portrait photographers, though it's not written for newbies. I appreciate the fact that there is a lighting diagram for each setup, and his original idea behind it. It's well-written with precise description of what lights and mods used for each setup. Besides, each image in the book is a b&w image which makes much more sense because you I can easily judge the effectiveness of the lighting in B&W images.

I really liked the Hollywood behind the scenes stuff. Fun to find out how those cool pictures were done.