Lighting for Portrait Photography [Paperback]

Steve Bavister (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2007

Great portraits are more than technique. They demand a broad range of skills...and a way with people. Lighting for Portrait Photography looks at the work of top photographers who reveal exactly how their finest portraits were created, and the beautiful full-color examples throughout the book show famous and unknown faces in commercial, editorial, and personal work. Many different styles of portraiture are covered, from simple set-ups using one light to more advanced multi-light plans. This fully revised edition of a popular original includes completely new lighting diagrams and the latest equipment and techniques.
 * Great examples and explanations from top photographers

* Portraits of the famous and the not-so-famous--and how each image was created

* Fully revised and updated with new lighting diagrams and more


 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steve Bavister, one of the most respected photographers in the United Kingdom, currently shoots for stock. He lives in Peterborough, UK.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Rotovision; 1st edition (October 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2940378304
• ISBN-13: 978-2940378302
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #696,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent learning tool, June 1, 2005

By 

Oddly Opinionated (Fresh, Clean-Scented New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lighting for Portrait Photography (Paperback)

The book includes explanations of why the photographer went with the approach they did (including the dead-honest "I only had five minutes to set up" in a couple cases). It shows diagram layouts of what lights were used at what angles, which is excellent for learning what the basic layouts are, and giving you a leg up if you want to shoot a portrait and are thinking about how to approach it.

And best of all, it's not all HIS photographs. Most books suffer badly under the weight of a single photographer trying to demonstrate something. By definition, every photographer has a style, and in any "one photographer" book you're going to get a ton about shooting in THEIR style, but almost no diversity of approaches abd styles. That diversity is important in learning the principles that let you develop YOUR OWN style. That's great for booksellers, since you probably have to digest 10-15 books to get enough range to have a sense of what's possible. (Assuming there are 10-15 books that are good - and my bookshelf suggests there aren't.)

As to "not useful for social photography portraits" - if you're looking to shoot school portraits, or families in front of the same backdrops, that's probably true. But if you're looking to do creative portraits with some sizzle and style and snap to them, this book has many examples that you could go duplicate right away. And it'll give you the raw material ideas to come up with 20 other approaches.

The best of the 10 "lighting for..." books on my shelf - more content than all the other 9 put together.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An "I can do this " book, June 5, 2004

By 

V. Theis (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lighting for Portrait Photography (Paperback)

I've bought a couple of lighting books that showed rather complex multi-light setups with hairlights,gobos,booms,backgrounds,barndoors yada,yada,yada that left me thinking "hmmmm,I wonder if I can do this??"
This book displays beautifull portraits with simple ambient light, single light, easy soft box etc. setups with clear setup diagrams with the portrait shown. An example, hardly ordinary, was one shot of Tony Blair where the photographer had literaly 180 seconds to setup for the sitting. It made me feel "hey, I CAN do THAT!".
Simple well written for the contemplative novice(me I hope).

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By far, my favorite, July 6, 2006

By 

Donamari T. D'andrea (Charlotte NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lighting for Portrait Photography (Paperback)

I am a portrait photographer and I pull this book out all the time to review lighting set ups and get inspiration. A definate must have for any photographer. I especially love that the book extensively covers one and two light set up and using foamcore bookends. You don't need a bazillion lights to create amazing images.