Customer Reviews

John Hedgecoe's Figure & Form

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4 star:		(1)
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What a disappointment. This book contains very little that specifically relates to nude photography and nothing about glamor. It's a mediocre photo book. Most of the pics aren't even very good. This book doesn't come close to matching the quality of the author's other books I've seen.

I have noticed that the people that have reviewed this book did not give it very good reviews. But I think I know why. Well for one, one of the guys thought it was an art book, when it is obviously an instrutional book.

Before I go any further, I would like to emphasize that this is a BEGINNERS book. If you are looking for advanced techniques on photographing the nude, you may not like this book. As for me, I found it very helpful. As I am a beginner in nude photography.
The author does not go into much detail about each subject, but gives enough information to help out well. Plus, i find that part of the fun of photography is exploring, and we dont want all the fun spelled out for us.

The author goes step by step through the different kinds of nude photography. I have to say that the models are not very attractive, but that is a part of the beauty of photography. We are not looking to make playboy models here. For me, I am into black and white, so I was able to skip through much of the book to the parts where I was interested in. I also prefer real sunlight rather than artifitial light. This was an area of the book that helped me a lot. You are shown different views of models and how the light effects them. Also, the diffence in sunlight and lamp light. And trust me, there is a very big difference.

All and all, this book was a good buy for me. I am glad that I purchased it. I dont plan to read it and follow it as a photography bible, but there are some helpful tips that are nice.
Again, I will say that this book may not be for experienced photographers and is not an art book. But to help all of us amatuers out and to show us what we need to know.

this book is not a book of art to look at, rather it is more of an instructional book, how to photograph nudes. though i don't think that these principles apply just to nudes, you could use them on any portriature. hedgecoe really has the basics down. the problem with the book, why i only gave it a three, is that the examples he uses are not very good pictures. i've never seen any of his other work, so i don't know what kind of photographer he is, but my understanding is that he can create better images that was shown in this book (in fact, many of the pictures look like leftovers from his work done in the late 70s early 80s). also, many of the techniques he describes are ones any photographer should know about, or at least any photographer who isn't just starting out. and a beginning photographer shouldn't try to take on nudes until they have a little experience under their belt. the final problem with the book is hedgecoe's apparent surprise at using computer imaging. it almost feels like he has just discovered the digital camera and photoshop.

it's not a horrible book, but i wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't a beginner.