Customer Reviews

The Portrait: Professional Techniques and Practices in Portrait Photography

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

 

 

As an amateur, I was looking for a book that would mold me into one of the world's leading portrait photographers. This was not the book. Some of the material went over my head (Why do I want to determine the gamma--never defined in the book--on a new film? Is that not the job of the film manufacturer?). Still, most of the book was quite understandable and full of beautiful portraits. My biggest complaint was that the text and the portraits did not coincide. Various authors, each extremely talented in their own right, wrote the different chapters. But the photographs in the chapters were seldom the work of the chapter author, so the points discussed in the text were seldom well illustrated. Although there is much to like in this book, it is not a stand-alone text. There were many absolutely stunning portraits contained in the book, but at the end of the book, you still do not have a clue of how to duplicate them. I need a book with more hand-holding.

I asked the posters on a large format board for opinions on books on portrait photography, specifically detailed information on lighting techniques and posing, and several HIGHLY recommended this book.

Unfortunately, it was not what I looking for. However, it is a fine overview of the portrait business in general, and I recommend it for someone intending to enter the business. It contains discussions on selling, dealing with the customers, and the studio environment, and discusses different types of portraiture, such as glamour, wedding and corporate.

There was one chapter on lighting techniques, but wasn't as in depth as I would have liked. Moreover, methods were discussed and not demonstrated explicitly in the accompanying photos. Main light patterns such as closed loop, open loop, butterfly and broad are discussed without giving photos showing what they are. I still have little idea what they are.

Similarly, the chapter on equipment actually contained very few photographs portraying the equipment discussed.

The lack of "technical" photos demonstrating the equipment and technique is very uncharacteristic of Kodak's books. It seems that they included a collection of portrait photographs, sprinkled throughout the book, often having little connection with the subject discussed. However, this book also has much less of the "Kodak advertising" that their other books suffer from.

I felt that this book, overall, was rather good for what is was supposed to be. My criticisms are small and hopefully would be taken as suggestions to improve the next printing. Someone actually wanting to start a portrait business will require deeper technical knowledge than that provided here. I will be reading "The Lighting Cookbook" by Jenni Bidner to pursue this knowledge. I still haven't found anything that discusses posing, though.

I use this book in both our Portrait Photography courses, studio and environmental/location. Various photographers write about their techniques and views, photographs abound, and a diverse set of opinions and imagery is set forth. I would have liked to see more technique--both in diagrams and images. Lacking are detailed descriptions of lighting techniques (short, rembrandt, etc) and accompanying images. I would also have liked to see more on controlling light (use of umbrellas/softboxes/creating highlights) again with diagrams and referenced images. I have had to add supplements for students in these areas. Overall, the book is an excellent textbook for the beginning to intermediate portrait photographer and is well worth the investment.

The photos in this book are inspiring and the text is comprehensive and easy to follow. Each technique is demonstrated with one or more beautifully composed photographs.

Having read several books on portraiture and studio lighting, this book really stood out. Besides thoroughly covering every subject related to the business of professional portrait taking, the book is packed full of stunning examples of top notch photos. Lots of technical info. This book is a 'must have' for anyone with a significant investment in 35mm, or medium format equipment.

This book really addresses the professional portrait photographer and how he or she should run their portrait studio. Photography techniques are glossed over on the assumption that you are familiar with the basics. Customer relationships, on the other hand, receives considerable attention from the author.

This book is an oldie, back in the film days, but has a lot of good general information. It covers a wide variety of topics such as which format of camera should you choose, basic business practices, how to present your finished products, and covering portraits and weddings- from the business perspective. There is a lot of information regarding various lighting technigues, equipment, etc. There is very little information on posing, and the photos are very dated. It is correctly sub-titled, "professional techniques and practices in portrait photography". It has lots of business related practical info that would probably benefit someone new to the busines.

This book is not exactly what I expected. Firstly it deals exclusively with film cameras. This book also deals primarily with how to open a studio and run a photography business.

The book was excellent in every respect. it gave me many ideas and different perspectives for posing. sometimes we tend to get static in setting up formal group shots and this book gave many unique ideas for posing. i especially liked the fact that it outlined where lighting should be set up and its effect. The used book price was right and i could see virtually no wear on the product. buy it if you can.

Their are very few books that really are worth their price. This book is one of the rare educational books that every photographer should have to have to read over and over!