The Best of Family Portrait Photography: Professional Techniques and Images

The Best of Family Portrait Photography: Professional Techniques and Images
by Bill Hurter

The Best of Family Portrait Photography: Professional Techniques and Images
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Book Summary Information

Author: Bill Hurter
Brand: Amherst Media
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-11-01
ISBN: 1584281723
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Amherst Media, Inc.

Book Reviews of The Best of Family Portrait Photography: Professional Techniques and Images

Book Review: It is an OK book. The book needs tons more pictures to make it the book it was intended to be.
Summary: 3 Stars

"The Best of FAMILY PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY, PROFESSIONAL TECHNIQUES AND IMAGES", by Bill Hurter is sort of an OK book. It simply designed to give an insight into portrait photography for groups of people. There are several things that would have made this book into a great must-have book that is dog-eared for photographers to recreate that same shot. It lacks ton's and tons of photo's. Quite a number of photo's are dated.

This book is intended for film and digital photographers. This is the first mistake? Why? You are an idiot to be shooting film in a digital world. A CANON 5D can regularly hold as many as hundred's of photo's before a single card has to be exchanged. Who wants to spend hundreds of dollars on film? The most obvious answer of all is how did my picture come out? Well, with a digital camera you can look on the back of the LCD screen and see! D'oh! Film camera's use a 35mm full-frame format lens selection that is different from a full-frame digital sensor camera. Many digital camera's today come with what is called a 1.6X crop factor sensor. We need to know how that is going to affect our selection of lens.

Bill goes on to talk about AF technology. If you did not know that AF technology is great these days where have you been? I mean seriously a major hello here! Image stability is talked about here. Let's cut to the chase and talk about posing families, please! There is much discussion about film choice. OK we have already established that no one seriously uses film anymore right? But, what if you do still use film? Well your local library and college(s) have books that date back fifty years. It's all there.

Focal length is talked about as well. Please give me details concerning digital only, please! Digital ISO settings again same thing as on a film camera. Here we dive into RAW vs. JPEG. Please Bill, Please! If you are still shooting in JPEG why in earth are you buying this book? Reformat your cards? Why would that be important? White Balance? Hey I like crazy colorz that screw up everything! Bill goes on to talk about exp-disc's. Let me say one thing about expo-disc's. In a word expo-disc's are great!

Expo-disc's are great because all you have to do is hit your white-balance button and hit custom and shoot. The great thing is all you have to do is purchase an expo-disc for all of your portrait/wedding lens. Then every time you walk into a different room, use a different lens or the lighting changes just use your expo-disc's?

Here's a better idea than blowing $500+ on expo-disc's. Just buy a lally cap and set your white balance two-three times a day and presto you are done baby. How much does a lally cap cost? Thirty measly buckaroo's. Lally caps can be purchased by visiting amazon.com or [...].

Posing, ah the good stuff! Bill advertises setting one persons head at a different height than the rest to offer an interesting perspective difference. I had/have never thought to do this. Men have no idea where to place their hands.The placement of hands could have had it's own chapter. In order to get a 4 star rating from me, you'd need to. They want to look macho and joe-cool. And hey so do I. Don't take my pose unless I am doing something cool with my hands. Here's a classic tip, have the man who is being posed stick his left hand inside of the pocket of his pants, with the thumb sticking out. It's always a winner!

Pictures of what to do with feet especially should have been included. I would have thought this would have been one of the most important considerations. The S-shaped composition form along with L and Z are talked about but no examples? Man what is this all about? A picture is worth 10,000 words here.

There is several chapters on children. This is a book on photographing group portraits! Having said this the advice given on shooting children is absolutely great. I have had so much fun shooting my niece. The book then dives into the great stuff of photographing mom, dad, the kids, and their furry friends. Now this is what I bought the book for.

Now as for lighting the book goes on to say that "some photographers use a bare-bulb flash. Please, come on Bill photographers don't use bare-bulb flash units. Lumedyne strobes are the same as using a soft-box or a umbrella. Who on earth calls and alien bee's a lumedyne strobe? Then Bill goes on to talk about TTL flash, now you are talking to us Bill, thanks.

The book finishes up with studio lighting. Please pay attention to the section on window lighting. It is really great stuff. This concludes my review of this book. I hope it is informative and easy to read.



Summary of The Best of Family Portrait Photography: Professional Techniques and Images

Artwork from 30 of the industry's top photographers is used to highlight both clear-cut shooting strategies and colorful, cutting-edge approaches to family portraiture in this handbook intended for idea gathering and inspiration. Advice on focal length, perspective, and maximizing the potential of digital equipment highlights the technical aspects of family portraiture while group posing strategies demonstrate how best to flatter each subject and convey a sense of family unity. A lengthy discussion of lighting?the backbone of portraiture?and the manipulation of shadows and highlights instructs photographers on how to create mood and interest in a variety of lighting scenarios, both indoors and out. Specifics on adjusting body lines, colors, and shapes, working with young children, and creating a comfortable atmosphere ensure that the photographer captures the unique personality of each family with dynamic and attractive images.

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