Professional Portraiture [Paperback]

Annabel Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2001

Take the snapshot one step further--give it the professional touch. Award-winning portrait photographer Annabel Williams shares her secrets for capturing a moment in time in a way that's flattering to the subject but still totally natural. Her simple, effective techniques for developing your eye, shooting on location, indoor and outdoor lighting, and especially working with children are invaluable to amateur and professional alike. Discover how to approach a photo session--set up backgrounds, employ props, pick the right look for your subjects, and put them at ease in front of the camera--and how to edit the results. Packed with practical tips, inspirational advice, and hundreds of dazzling color and black-and-white portraits, this "shooting course" will help you make everyone you photograph look and feel like a model.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Saunders/Silver Pixel (June 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883403804
• ISBN-13: 978-1883403805
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,116,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dripping With Personality and Style, April 7, 2002

By 

Maxfilm (MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Professional Portraiture (Paperback)

I was truly surprised and impressed when I picked up this book, not expecting much initially with so many guides to portraiture available in book and magazine form, let alone all the free resources on the Internet. But the portraits here are very strong, though it should be noted that the focus is on Caucasian families, couples and small children. There is a sense of dynamism to all the images and the lighting is especially dramatic for some of the outdoor shots, yet the subjects and equipment used are not exotic at all...the author takes pains to make the reader believe they can take these shots effectively as well.

The style is conversational: Williams introduces a few basic concepts, but this is not structured as a how-to, but more in the style of "think about these things, and here are some ideas". There is structure to the discussion, as Williams talks about makeup, hairstyles, backgrounds, features, equipment, preparing the client etc. But it all feels like you can adapt any or all of her tips to produce similarly dynamic photographs...the author's tips and approaches do not feel constraining or rigid at all.

The book is light on detailed descriptions of technique and lighting, but like the best speakers and authors on the subject, Williams manages to make the reader understand and believe that technique and equipment are secondary to a creative approach and a strong rapport with the client. For each picture, there are details of the camera, lens, and film used, along with exposure information. There are also a few scattered lighting diagrams, but these are minimal.

Going from cover to cover, William's pet approaches become very clear: 35mm and Neopan 1600 for the B&W portraits, medium format (either a Mamiya or Hasselblad) and Provia 400 cross processed for the color. There is a pronounced tilt to the majority of the images, to provide a sense of motion and dynamism. Because of these choices, there are definite elements of style that may not suit everyone, notably high contrast and saturation, full body or three-quarters style portraits (rather than standard head and shoulders stuff), and a (slight) tendency toward high key images. As I favor this look personally, I have no issues, and in fact am delighted with most of what she's done in this book.

Others have commented on the lack of detail around her techniques (particularly the cross-processing, though there's a brief description of why she does it in small print on page 21 that's easy to miss), but the sense she provides is that the technical issues can be effectively managed by a good lab; however, those who want more detail will be disappointed.

Unlike many other portraiture books, there is little formal studio photography here...the emphasis is on outdoor and environmental portraiture. Even the studio settings feature mildly tricked up backgrounds for greater interest, though little in the way of foreground objects (as these would probably mess up the perspective created by her tilted compositions). The result, to my eye, is images that pop out of the book as fresh and contemporary. But the flip side is that those looking to learn more about how to do more traditionally-styled portraits with a low-key, serious approach won't be well served by this book.

I gave this book the maximum rating, because it's rare that a book inspires with a fresh approach and compels the reader to go out and try to do things the author's way, or even pay the author for their services. But this book works that way...perhaps not for everyone, but I'm highly impressed.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, February 5, 2001

By 

Ben Miller (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Professional Portraiture (Paperback)

Of course, like so many other books on photography, I bought this one because I liked the photographs in it. I was pleased with the way Williams explained the way she approaches her business. While she didn't go into great detail, you get the idea behind what she does and can use the information to make it fit into your own needs. The emphasis isn't on equipment or photographic techniques, like so many of the other books and magazine articles out there. Instead, she focuses on the style and approach behind being a successful portrait photographer. Truely a unique book, full of beautiful images and wonderful ideas!! Definately a must for those tired of the standard photography books!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There is good info here, but buy her other book., September 23, 2004

By 

Dawn M. Mikulich "photographer" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Professional Portraiture (Paperback)

This book is the exact same as the first half of Annabel's other book Portrait and Wedding photography. That book is hardcover, (this one is not), it's much cheaper here on amazon and it also covers wedding photography as well. It is like two books in one. I think it's fair to argue that Annabel gives many tips in the wedding section that would be helpful to a portrait photographer who has no intention of covering weddings.

Otherwise this is a good book. Lots of helpful tips, but not overly technical. For those who like the technicalities, each image presented in the book is captioned with the technical details of the image (Camera, film type, lens, shutter speed & aperature).

Even so, it is a better deal to buy the hardcover combo portrait & weddings book by Annabel.