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Title: Professional Secrets of Natural Light Portrait Photography by Douglas Allen Box ISBN: 1-58428-045-X Publisher: Amherst Media Pub. Date: March, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.21 (14 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Nice book, but
Comment: This is a very good book for a beginner photographer, however there are some things I would recommend to add and/or improve. Throughout all the book there are very interesting details describing the light sources, shading, and other aspects of natural light photography. However, author keeps repeating the same staff on every page... I.e. posing scheme, lens details, techniques, etc....
I wish to turn 100 or something pages and find something new on each page... Otherwise after you read couple of chapters you meet lots of repetitions... Same thing is told twice or more.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great book ... but, wish there was more!
Comment: This is an excellent book on portrait photography for the amateur and beginning photographer, but not for the reasons most people may think. The author does not delve into the the basic of photography and presupposes some working knowledge of composition, technique, and camera operation; however, most beginning photographers and amateurs are de facto natural light photographers. What beginning photographer can afford a complete studio set up or assistant to set up and carry equipment for outdoor photography?
So, instead of taking poor natural light photographers and praying for the day you can afford "real equipment", read this book and become a master at taking photographers in natural light that are truly amazing.
This is an excellent resource and a wonderful book ... much more useful and practical than other books on portrait and glamour photography I have read.
Why only 4 stars? This was such a great book I didn't want it to end and I would have liked a little more depth in the coverage of topics.
Rating: 1
Summary: Pretty cover but that's all. Content is fluff.
Comment: I buy a lot of books and this is the first that has ever so drastically underwhelmed me. As someone who has made a fairly good income in photography on the side, I wanted to learn more about informal outdoor portraiture (not weddings) in natural light and settings. The cover photograph is quite nice, but unfortunately is the best in the book. The rest are barely mediocre, especially for a photographer who reminds us throughout he text that he's endorsed by Hasselblad University.
In the beginning of this book, he claims it is for both the professional and for the mom who want to take better photos. It is for neither since it doesn't have enough of the basics for the uninitiated, and only talks about medium format focal lengths which the "mom" typically wouldn't be using nor understand the comparison to her 35mm lens focal lengths. (He could have added in parenthesis the equivalent length for 35mm camera), and neither does it cater to the pros desire for technical information by not publishing much data about each shot.
The nitty gritty of why this book is fluff: Photographer Douglas Allen Box continually glosses over pertinent technical information so vaguely that you wonder if you missed a paragraph or a page, while he goes on in depth about posing and clothing choices for your subject. At first thumbing through the pages, you'll see all sorts of 2 dimensional sketches next to some photos - that seems promising - until you actually try to match what is going on in the sketch to what is going on in the photo. They are often turned at odd angles to eachother - and often are actually wrong when you decipher the elements. Not helpful.
He describes a few tools and their use so inadequately he shouldn't bother mentioning them at all. Take these four examples: (1) A translucent light modifier has a page dedicated to it, yet there is no photo of one, nor is there a diagram showing how he placed it, nor a before picture to see what happens if one does not use it. (2) He complains that in one photograph he would have made a better photo with a longer lens that he did not own at the time of that portrait sitting. Well, set up a new one for this book and show us the difference - one with the shorter focal length and one longer - give us a diagram showing the difference in placement and the resultant photo. (3) His LIght Finder cube - in one passage he keeps refering to "the other two sides" but does not explain whether these are the dark sides, or light sides. A full page-and-a-half of vague description that leave one scratching one's head about a tool you really do not need in the first place. (4) He talks about blocking the overhead light when it is not naturally blocked, but never actually shows a diagram of how one might arrange such a set up, what tools and placement etc.
Lastly, when Box talks about adding flash he really ought to add a page or two for the uninitiated that explains why he's simply setting his flash at f8.5 and receiving different results. The accompanying text is exceptionally vague - yet he displays resulting photographs all extremely different from one another. I guess he leaves it up to us to buy another book that explains flash in a more satisfactory manner and then reapply it to his posing techniques of like-dressed people.
All in all, a complete flop unless you are very interested in learning how to pose and dress your subject. I'll be returning this one to Amazon quickly. Don't waste your money and time.
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Title: Master Posing Guide for Portrait Photographers by J. D. Wacker ISBN: 1584280573 Publisher: Amherst Media Pub. Date: 27 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Outdoor and Location Portrait Photography by Jeff Smith ISBN: 1584280700 Publisher: Amherst Media Pub. Date: February, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Professional Secrets for Photographing Children by Douglas Allen Box ISBN: 1584280638 Publisher: Amherst Media Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Posing and Lighting Techniques for Studio Portrait Photography by J. J. Allen ISBN: 158428031X Publisher: Amherst Media Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Art of Wedding Photography: Professional Techniques with Style by Bambi Cantrell, Skip Cohen, Denis Reggie ISBN: 0817433252 Publisher: Watson-Guptill Pubns Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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