96 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, a posing guide I can relate to!!!, February 18, 2008
This review is from: Posing Techniques for Photographing Model Portfolios (Paperback)
Most of the "posing guides" I've seen fall into two catagories. There are the "show 'em a thousand pictures of a babe in a swimsuit in various poses" books. I find those totally useless. I'd rather tear pages out of fashion magazines and make my own book than look at the same girl posed a 1000 different ways in the same black swimsuit.
And then there are the books that are obviously done by someone specializing in senior (as in high school senior, not old folks...) pictures with the requisite wooden rail fence poses, the stairstep poses, and... well if you've seen the books you know exactly what I mean. In fact, Amherst, the publisher of this book, has several of them. I'm not knocking them, it's just that they really are not what I'm looking for...
So it was a pleasant surprise to discover Mr. Pegram's book. While he aims it at producing pictures for models portfolios, it's not to hard to figure out that models want to show off exceptional pictures in their portfolios. Thus the poses are contemporary, sexy -- when appropriate, and generally a cut above the run of the mill. Oh, did I mention the models are all female?
If you're expecting the usual 1/3 of the book on how to use a camera, choose lights, and read a light meter... Surprise, surprise... that ain't none of that. God bless Mr. Pegram!
The images are excellent, the models are attractive, the writing is succint and well done, and there is sufficient information that even a grizzled old pro photographer can probably pick up a few pointers.
[...]
Trust me, if you're looking for a posing guide that looks like pictures you'd want to make, take a look at this book.
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extremely helpful resource, August 18, 2008
This review is from: Posing Techniques for Photographing Model Portfolios (Paperback)
I've not been shooting models for very long, so I'd say that I am in the beginner/intermediate category.
So far, I've been tearing out photos from Vogue, Numero, French and others and tried to duplicate and then improvise, but I've always felt that posing and placement of the models was kind of mysterious and "difficult" to get a real grip on. (how to elongate a model, how to make the butt smaller, how to pose the model in a way that leads the eye trough the photo etc)
-So I've basically used "what looks good" thus far (and I see after reading this book, that some of my past shoots have lots of room for improvement :) )
- It can be easy to get lost in the process during a shoot, thinking and stressing to get the light right, -and forget to instruct and help and tweak the model correctly, often resulting in photos that need to be cropped to hide bad hands, or simply scrapped due to a bad pose, caused by bad instructions, for example.
(I mainly work with new/inexperienced models and often need to instruct and tweak their pose, this is a great learning tool for both model and photographer)
I mean, I've managed "fair" trough improvisation, try/fail, but it was only after reading this book that I started to really understand more on how and why this and that works - and why some of my previous attempts have failed.
The book is comprehensive and well laid out, it covers and explains the cause and effect from posing the feet and legs, to fingers, hands and arms and also the body and face.
I think that the photos in the book compliment the text very well, what I really liked, was that the author not only show the "best" pose, he also often show everything from bad, to fair, to good to excellent posing -and all complemented with very understandable text captions.
I've seen enough tutorials from the classic 70's to know that this wasn't what I was looking for, this book is fresh, modern (imo) and is written by a guy that not only knows his craft, he also knows the industry very well.
Highly recommended!
OH
Norway
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35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Fine Points of Model Photography, March 22, 2008
This review is from: Posing Techniques for Photographing Model Portfolios (Paperback)
Unlike most books on modeling and model photography, this book has more than just a bunch of pictures of pretty women. The author takes the time to explain posing concepts like creating an 's curve' in the positioning of the body. Great detail is given to graceful hand posing. It is the little things that differentiate between a good photograph and a great one.
This is well written and well illustrated. Definetly worth the money
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