Customer Reviews

Black & White Portrait Photography

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I had high hopes for this book, and black-and-white portraiture is a real interest of mine. Regrettably, I cannot recommend the book. The book does contain some nice portraits and give some good advice (I particularly liked the advice concerning handling children); however, it was mostly characterized by what was absent. There was almost no specific information on how the photos that illustrated the book were shot (ie, schematics of location and lighting, exposures, equipment used), and in general the recommendations offered (eg: "develop your own signature style") were simply too vague. There was too little concentration on compositional elements, needed equipment, and the pros and cons of various photographic choices. Moreover, most photographers learn as much or more from analyzing mistakes as from evaluating successes, but there was virtually none of that.

In the end, no book is going to make you a good photographer. However, this book seemed to be too much of a brochure for photo services of the author and the other contributors and not enough of an aid to aspiring black-and-white portrait photographers.

The cover of the book seems to suggest a book on "unconventional" portrait photography; howevever, most of the examples shown inside are extremely conventional -- even mundane.

Furthermore the photo techniques really don't address the concepts and advantages of shooting in black and white. Virtually all the photographs could have been equally as effective in color. Frankly many would have been BETTER in color since the portraits really don't try to evoke any mood which would be enhanced in black and white -- with the exception of the cover.

This book doesn't shed any new light on portrait photography which her previous book on Group Portaits hasn't already covered.

To make things worse, the black and white reproductions in the book are of poor quality. The imagaes are flat and muddy.