Portrait and Candid Photography: Photo Workshop

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 272 pages
• Published by: Wiley October 8, 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0470147857
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0470147856
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.7 inches
• Weighs: 1.6 pounds

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 shots, and more. Apply these techniques and watch your subjects come to life.

Back Cover Copy
LEARN TO CAPTURE PERSONALITIES WITH YOUR LENS

Taking great "people pictures" isn't a matter of luck. The secret is in observing your subjects and connecting with them, and then using your camera to its best advantage. Here's how to work with lighting, location, angle, composition, physical characteristics, environment, and a host of other variables, including the unique challenges of photographing babies, group activities, and action. Apply these techniques and watch your subjects come to life; then test your newfound skills by completing the assignments at the end of each chapter and collecting feedback on your work at pwsbooks.com.

• Study your subjects in their natural habitat—observe how they react and interact
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  Discover simple techniques for improving photographs of babies and children
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  Learn to capture facial expressions
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  Tell a story with a series of candid photographs
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  Add interest to large-group shots

Reader Reviews
This book is part of a new "Photo Workshop" series aimed at beginning photographers. The book is easy reading and accessible. It starts out with some general observations about portrait photography, including equipment, the nature of light and composition. It then goes on to cover particular types of portraits including groups, kids, babies and action shots. A final chapter discusses what to do with your pictures, including basic image adjustment and sharing your pictures. One of the issues that always arises about instructional manuals is how much information is provided to the reader. That in turn depends on the audience. For the beginner there should be no information overload, and that certainly is not a problem here. Most of the chapters concentrate on questions like where to position yourself and what to look for in the subjects. On the other hand I think that any book that introduces more complex subjects should deal with fundamentals related to the subject. For example, the author mentions using not only point and shoot cameras, but also digital single lens reflex cameras, and talks about lens selection for such cameras. If one is going to suggest the book is aimed at such camera owners, one must discuss not just the effect of different focal length lenses, but also, for example, the elements of exposure. Unfortunately there is no discussion of exposure here. There is also a section of the book devoted to the use of Photoshop Elements, which is software for processing digital images. The discussion here is quite abridged, and while applicable to portraits, no one should think that this is comprehensive instruction. So at whom is this book aimed? The owner of a point and shoot camera who wants to take better portraits will find this book useful. The owners of digital single lens reflex cameras who want to improve their portrait taking will probably want something more than this book. The workshop portion of the book is provided by a website to which a photographer may post pictures and where others mayon such pictures. When I examined the web site I found the place to upload portraits was not yet in service. However, based upon my examination of photos that had been posted relating to other books in this same series, I found not many pictures had been posted and even fewer critiques offered. I would not rely on this site to provide me with much help in my photography.