Customer Reviews

Professional Children's Portrait Photography: Techniques and Images from Master Photographers (Pro Photo Workshop)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book because one of the photographers is a favorite of mine, and I quickly found a couple others that I love. The book brings together different styles of photography, so there is something for most of us who work with infants/kids. Each chapter highlights a different photographer, so if you find you don't care for someones images, you can easily find someone you do like. They are all asked a series of the questions, but the answers vary. Some are pretty detailed where others are vague.

The images on the cover do not represent the photographers well enough. There are some AMAZING images in this book.

I gave this four stars because it's not at all technical. It does address what equipment everyone uses, with a brief discussion on lighting (some were more detailed in their answers than others,) but since the author is covering such a wide area, "Children's Portraiture", you find out a little about a lot of things. Some ideas on marketing, studio set up, working with infants/kids, etc...

Again, great overall book. Pointed me in the right direction and now I feel like I can push forward and learn more about what I found interesting and further my professional career. For that reason alone it deserves 5 stars, but since "techniques" is in the title, I think it fell a bit short. I really did love this book and would buy it again.

The subtitle of this book is a bit misleading: Techniques and Images from Master Protographers. There are a lot of interesting images in the book, but no discussion of how to achieve the look and feel of those images in your own studio. The book reads like a scripted interview of 15 different working pros on various topics: Their background, their studio, their equipment, whether they shoot digital or film, some useless naritive on lighting, how they book sessions, etc. It makes the text read like an interview of Scott Baio in Teen Beat magazine. (I feel like the interviewer is next going to ask the photographer what their favorite color is). All of the responses are too broad, vague, and undeveloped to be of much value.

There also doesn't seem to be a lot of variety in the type of work the photographers that were selected do. They all see themselves as 'mid to high end' and seem to see themselves as 'fine art' or 'photojournalistic'.

When you get down to it, this book is mostly fluff. If you are looking for posing ideas, lighting ideas, concrete ideas on running or promoting your studio, you won't find them in this book. If you are looking for a general narrative on how children's photographers feel about being a photographer, I guess you might get something out of this book.

I was really looking forward to this book and bought it without reading the reviews first. I wish I had read all of them before making this purchase.

Well, another reviewer had it right: mostly fluff, little substance. I have to second that opinion of this book. The images are fantastic and there is some decent advice to photographers but the book doesn't promise what it implies in the title: Techniques. You get a few tiny tidbits here and there but nowhere near what I would have liked or would have expected considering the full title.

You can think of this book as basically a 14 chapter interview of 14 different photographers. That's all it is. A question is asked and answered in much the same fashion as a magazine article of a celebrity. The question is written out, which is then followed by the answer and not all the answers are as in depth as you might like.

It didn't meet my expectations to the point that I'm going to return the book and I got it only an hour ago!

Much more than just the ideas and experiences of one photographer, this book distills the wisdom of fifteen professionals in a way that conveys their passion for working with children of all ages. By asking each artist the same questions, the author has given the reader a broad spectrum of approaches to portraying children in winning ways. He backs up the informative text with a diversity of example photographs to illustrate the styles of his well chosen photographer-subjects. Especially recommended for someone interested in pursuing children's portraiture professionally, this book could also motivate and guide parents wanting to improve their own family photo-documentation efforts.

Clearly and convincingly written, I think this volume is a must for anyone who wants to hone their skills in capturing the best of children's personalities through a camera.

This text is an illustrated compendium of interviews with fifteen noted child photographers. Like the readers, they come with varying levels of photographic education both formal and experiential with one common goal. This intention being to capture those evanescent moments of childhood which constitute the narrative of our past.
Children's Portrait Photography is a smorgasbord of issues dealing with matters we all need to consider when undertaking children's portrait photography. These range from the artistic issues of lighting, posing, location, props, parent participation, workflow in the studio, on location, and post production to the business aspects of survival.
I recommend this book as a source for seeing how others think and for ideas which you may have not yet considered. The images are reproduced nicely and the flow of the chapters invites comparisons.
Gerald S. Sanders
[...]

As a photographer working with young children and babies I was in search of new ideas & techniques. I absolutely loved this book, the pictures were beautiful and so many of them and the photographers in the book share some ideas on what works for them. Definately reccomend!!!

This product is a Question and Answer style book where photographer will give there insights, methods, techniques and equipments used in shooting children/baby portrait. Nice book :)

If you want to be inspired then you need this book. The photographers stories are great!! It's one that I will read over and over for the Techniques.

After reading several books on children photography this last year, THIS is the one that I was most satisfied with.

I bought this book as a guide for my new photography business and it has proven to be a superb resource for me. The interviews from the experts in the field offer great tips on everything from lenses to marketing. Also, the photos inside the book provide great inspiration for portraits you can try out yourself. I can't recommend this book enough! I find myself reading it over and over again.