- ISBN13: 9780470147856
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
The secret to taking great “people pictures” is to observe your subjects, connect with them, and use your camera to its best advantage. Here’s how to work with lighting, location, angle, composition, physical characteristics, environment, and countless other variables, including the unique challenges of photographing babies, group activities, and action. Learn to capture facial expressions, tell a story with a series of candids, add interest to large-group sho… More >>
Portrait and Candid Photography: Photo Workshop
#1 by Lurch on June 2, 2010 - 6:51 am
Being an experienced nature photographer who wanted to learn to photograph people, this is the first book I tried. It didn’t take long before I realised that I am not the target audience. This book is aimed towards the beginner photographer, and especially non-technical people. It is written in a “chatty” style with a low ratio of information to content (she is very repetitive). It took a lot of reading before I picked up some (a small amount of) useful information that I was able to benefit from.
The book does a fine job of explaining issues like backgrounds, simplicity, composition, shadows, and how to work with people you are photographing. The author does an especially good job with the last issue: in all of her photographs, the people look to be in a natural, comfortable pose (not the standard “smile and say cheese” photograph). This is without a doubt the author’s strength.
Now the down side. When you pick up a book on photography, you expect to see pictures that impress you. Sorry, this book does not have it. There are many mediocre and good pictures, but no great pictures. The truth is, if you want a great picture, then you have to move to off-camera-flash and the use of light diffusers — which I learned recently when I took an off camera class workshop. She mentions other lighting options, but she doesn’t tend to use them (judging by her photos) nor does she convey the advantages of those techniques.
In general, this book is lacking in teaching photographers about how to think about the way a camera works in order to improve or get the image the photographer desires for a particular situation. Thinking does not mean memorizing a handful of tricks. Instead, it is understanding concepts like the relation between aperture and exposure length (which she does not explain), the consequences of the ISO for various lighting situations, what dynamic range really means and how it will effect various photographic situations, etc…. Although she does mention many of the terms, she does not convey the practical benefits one can gain from a thorough understanding of these concepts.
In summary, this book is good for a select group of people: non-technical beginner photographers who want to learn how to improve their people photography without thinking too much. People who are comfortable with a lot of chatting before getting to a little bit of useful knowledge will enjoy this book, but others will be disappointed.
Rating: 3 / 5
#2 by Judy M. English on June 2, 2010 - 7:43 am
I loved this book. Everything from color quality and layout through specific photography information was excellent. I especially liked the visual appeal of the book from the cover on, which is exactly as it should be for the topic… but often is not in photography books. The organization and chapter flow pulled me right along and made me want to run out and try Erin’s techniques. Several members of my family & friends will receive this book from Santa.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by JR on June 2, 2010 - 7:43 am
This book is AMAZING. It’s both easy and fun to read. The assignments at the end of each chapter are brilliant!
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Ana_y_lat on June 2, 2010 - 9:47 am
This is not a bad book for an amateur who’s only getting interested in candid portrait photography and wants some tips and ideas in one place. While I consider myself an amateur as well, I’ve been interested in candid photography for a good 2 years now, so I’ve been reading tips and advice on a ton of different photography sites, and I feel like this book did not offer me much of what I haven’t already read elsewhere or figured out on my own, by trial-and-error.
Plus, I already had a book on candid photography and was looking for something that would teach me a little more structure and posing, and I feel like this book failed at that. It did cover some posing tips, but “tips” are helpful for fine-tuning, not for learning something you’re completely unfamiliar with. And I felt like these tips were not always well illustrated.
I’ve since looked through Mark Cleghorn’s book Portrait Photography: Secrets of Posing & Lighting (A Lark Photography Book) and it seemed a lot more along the lines of what I was hoping for, although I did not *read* the book thoroughly to really recommend it. I do, however, wish I’d gotten this book instead of Erin Manning’s.
My final but big complaint about this book is the quality of photos. The cover picture aside, they are AWFUL! I find that inexcusable in a photography book. They look like snapshots from a cheap compact camera, not like photos from a dSLR done by a pro. Some of them are so soft – they look out of focus. While it does not always hurt in the learning process, I do feel like part of the pleasure of learning about photography is viewing shots that take your breath away and make you want to accomplish something similar in the future. This book made me feel like I was already there (when I’m certainly not!).
Rating: 3 / 5
#5 by Antonia Graphos on June 2, 2010 - 10:14 am
Our teenage and adult kids all use digital cameras, posting photos of their own kids, pets, activities and school events on various websites like Face Book and Snapfish. I was looking for a book to enhance their photography skills and I found it in Erin Manning’s book. It’s going to be my Christmas gift to them as well as friends and colleagues…after all, how many miserable digital shots of OPK’s must we really endure, right? The book is a great balance of techno and developing your “eye”. Thanks Erin, you’ve eased my shopping burden and hopefully I will be viewing better family photo chronicles!
Rating: 5 / 5