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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Portrait Rules, January 4, 2010
This review is from: The Portrait: Understanding Portrait Photography (Paperback)
Most photographers take pictures of people. What is it that transforms these images from snapshots to portraits?
Glenn Rand and Tim Meyer offer their ideas on how to make this transformation in "The Portrait: Understanding Portrait Photography." In clear, textbook-like language they explain most of the subject. Chapters range from descriptions of equipment, through lighting ratios, to posing and facial analysis. The authors break down each topic covered into the simplest components. For example the chapter on light dynamics includes a series of illustrations that shows the effect of moving the key light around the subject from a location on the camera axis to one almost directly behind the subject. The authors show us both a photograph of the lighting set-up and the effect on a bust. The illustrative portraits are not just those of the authors, but of a number of successful portrait artists, like Melvin Sokolsky and Joyce Tenneson.
There are many good books on portrait photography and authors must introduce a different way of looking at the genre to add something to the field. Here the authors often call attention to the "Light Dynamic Edge" which is the transition between the lit and shadow areas of a portrait. Following this concept throughout the book can provide a new way of thinking about portraits.
Although I found this book helpful, I was a little disappointed to find that several of the ideas were mired in the past, like extensive reference to lighting ratios. In the world of digital imaging, the ratios themselves seem less important than the effects of different light positioning. In fact, one of the faults I found was that while most of the rules and calculations of portrait photography were explained, an over-arching view of what one might try to accomplish with a portrait seemed lacking.
In addition, it seemed to me that the authors were presenting information in an approach to portraits that was a little removed from the needs of an audience that was seeking fundamental information. In the discussion of artificial lights there was reference to large strobe lights, but not to the more affordable and convenient speed lights that many will use, although a translation to such equipment is not difficult. Similarly, priority was given to the use of the incident light meter, which might be ideal, particularly in a studio setting, rather than the in-camera meter that the average photographer will rely on. I suspect this approach follows their syllabus for students at the Brooks Institute where the authors are currently employed. Individual interested in a simpler form of portraiture will probably be more interested in the books of Joe McNally.
Ultimately this book will probably prove most useful to the photographer interested in learning and articulating the rules of portrait photography rather than just moving beyond the snapshot.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good but..., June 25, 2011
This review is from: The Portrait: Understanding Portrait Photography (Paperback)
This book is good to begin with, but I believe it would do better if you do indeed have the required tools to try out the technical aspects mentioned in the book.
In many occasions there are some descriptive terms for some tools without any diagrams or pictures explaining the tools or other things, and there a lot (a lot not all) of portrait images with no caption except of the photographer, frankly I didn't know what to study and understand precisely from these photos. There are other photos however with some explanations.
The book does explain the basics however, but you might have to cope with it and reading it slowly (might useful to keep some notes or stick-it notes to put some remarks). The book at the end includes some tips for the portrait photographer when it comes to attitude and relations with clients, but it's not a large portion of the book, only few pages.
After all, it is a good book and can be kept as a reference, but surely it can use more diagrams and less words.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Resource for Portrait Photographers - Comprehensive and Clearly Written, March 9, 2010
This review is from: The Portrait: Understanding Portrait Photography (Paperback)
I've been waiting for this book to be published by RockyNook since they first advertised it when the image from pg. 126 was going to be the cover image (about 8 months ago). I wanted a comprehensive resource for portrait photography. This is it.
There is a real problem in the world of photography references and technique guides - many books discuss too much information and therefore discuss no one topic thoroughly, and many photographers are privileged enough to right books because they have a strong portfolio but they are not good writers.
Rand and Meyer's "The Portrait" is a photography technique book worth buying because it is a book worth reading - twice. Twice, because it is so filled with information and because it is written with fairly precise language.
Although this is a technique book the language used in it is very thoughtful too, here is an example "Photography is a powerful language. However, the strength of the language has no meaning if you have nothing to say" (pg. 157). Now, that is a well known fact in professional portraiture but it is written fairly well. And again and again in this book well known facts among professional portrait photographers are explained here in a very clear manner.
This book is tailored primarily toward digital photographers but Rand and Meyers go out of their way occasionally to discuss film (since much good work is still done with film).
Unlike most photography technique books, Rand and Meyer go out of their way to place these techniques in their historical context.
Most authors of photography technique books use only their own portfolio as examples in their books. But Rand and Meyers have gone out of their way to include famous photographs worth reviewing for inspiration (like the Marilyn Monroe images on pg. 16 or the profile of Twiggy by Douglas Kirkland on pg. 144).
Just as David duChemin's Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision is the best contemporary book on travel photography so too is Rand and Meyer's "The Portrait" the best contemporary book on portrait photography.
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