Portrait Posing & Interacting Book Recommendations Wanted

drdane

I've been mostly drawn to nature photog my whole adult life. Now I'm feeling this desire to learn artistic portraiture, and probably combine the two as well.

I feel basically clueless about posing people :scratch and how to bring out their inner expression, and would appreciate suggestions for your favorite books on these aspects of portrait work. (Most of what I've seen so far is just about lighting).

Also your favorite creative portrait photographers if they have books out.

BTW, I just saw a PBS special on Annie Leibowitz, which was really inspiring!

Many Thanks for your input!
Dane

urbanaries

on another dgrin thread someone recommended this book , ironically I ordered it yesterday from Amazon, looking fwd to checking it out myself!

hope this helps, I'm sure others have suggestions!

Seneca

drdane,
Please let us know how you like it.

Elaine

I'm currently reading "Beyond Portraiture" by Bryan Peterson...enjoying it so far. It seems different/unique compared to most books I've seen on the subject, but I've not done much reading on this particular subject either. I enjoyed "Understanding Exposure" (Bryan Peterson) so much, and his portraiture book came out in 2006 and was given to me for Christmas.

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Portraiture-Creative-People-Photography/dp/0817453911


Elaine

frg

Haven't actually read this one
http://www.billhurter.com/portrait-photographers-guide-to-posing.html
, but I have a copy of one of his other books (Digital Quick Guide - Digital Portrait Photography 101) and found it very helpfull and easy to read... there are excerps from his books on his web page so may be worth a look.

http://www.billhurter.com/books.html

drdane

Elaine wrote:

I'm currently reading "Beyond Portraiture" by Bryan Peterson...enjoying it so far. It seems different/unique compared to most books I've seen on the subject, but I've not done much reading on this particular subject either. I enjoyed "Understanding Exposure" (Bryan Peterson) so much, and his portraiture book came out in 2006 and was given to me for Christmas.

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Portraiture-Creative-People-Photography/dp/0817453911


Elaine

Thanks, Elaine
I discovered from an eBay reviewer that "Beyond Portraiture" was actually almost word-for-word (including typos) from an 1993 book entitled "People in Focus," with an additional chapter on Photoshop and a couple other things. I was able to reserve this one at my local library, so I'll see in a couple of weeks. thanks for the suggestions!

drdane

urbanaries wrote:

on another dgrin thread someone recommended this book , ironically I ordered it yesterday from Amazon, looking fwd to checking it out myself!

hope this helps, I'm sure others have suggestions!

Coumpound "coincidences" - I had this one (Digital Portrait Photography and Lighting: Take Memorable Shots Every Time - Catherine Jamieson)
already in my shopping cart!

I looked inside and found it attractive and will be ordering it soon. Thanks for the "confirmation."

drdane

frg wrote:

Haven't actually read this one
http://www.billhurter.com/portrait-photographers-guide-to-posing.html
, but I have a copy of one of his other books (Digital Quick Guide - Digital Portrait Photography 101) and found it very helpfull and easy to read... there are excerps from his books on his web page so may be worth a look.

http://www.billhurter.com/books.html

The guide to posing looked good in the table of contents, but I wasn't drawn into the parts I looked at online. It also had a couple of bad reviews. I'll wait until I've read a couple of others, then return to look at this one again. Thanks for the links!

Seneca

Well earlier tonight I started reading a book that I bought today titled:
Group Portrait Photography Handbook - 2nd Ed / Bill Hurter. It turned out to be very interesting that I couldn't put the book down. Also, in the back of the book, was a listing of more books, one especially caught my eye, which I am thinking of buying, it's titled:

Digital Photography For Children's and Family Portraiture by Kathleen Hawkins
...another one is

Posing for Portrait Photography / A Head to Toe Guild by Jeff Smith

Thought it might be something you would be interested in, or at least Google and see if you can find a book store in your home town and go and check it out.

Good Luck!

urbanaries

urbanaries wrote:

on another dgrin thread someone recommended this book , ironically I ordered it yesterday from Amazon, looking fwd to checking it out myself!

hope this helps, I'm sure others have suggestions!

update:
Got both Understanding Exposure (Peterson) and the Digital Portrait Photog/Lighting book in the mail today. the DPPL book's table of contents is like six pages long alone. And every image is smallish, and seems to be shotwith a ringflash? It reads like a textbook out of the eighties....I'll get thru it, but by contrast, I started reading Understanding Exposure and by thetime I put it down, I had finished the book and 2 hours had passed!

Now I wish I had Peterson's portrait book instead.

LiquidAir

I just finished my first pass through this book (I will keep re-reading it regularly):

http://www.amazon.com/Photographic-Portrait-techniques-strategies-portraits/dp/0715316524/sr=1-3/qid=1168066801/ref=sr_1_3/105-1710813-2730853?ie=UTF8&s=books

I found the discussions on interacting with the subject, composition and giving the portriat meaning very inspiring. What technical discussions there are in the book are mostly about medium format film (and mostly B&W), but that is not the heart of the book. His primary technical message is keep it simple and focus on content. The gem of the book is all the examples and the captions which discuss the thinking that went into each shot. If you are thinking of going beyond the basic headshot into artistic (as opposed to fashion) portraiture, this book is a gold mine.

ellepixels

LiquidAir wrote:

I just finished my first pass through this book (I will keep re-reading it regularly):

http://www.amazon.com/Photographic-Portrait-techniques-strategies-portraits/dp/0715316524/sr=1-3/qid=1168066801/ref=sr_1_3/105-1710813-2730853?ie=UTF8&s=books

I found the discussions on interacting with the subject, composition and giving the portriat meaning very inspiring. What technical discussions there are in the book are mostly about medium format film (and mostly B&W), but that is not the heart of the book. His primary technical message is keep it simple and focus on content. The gem of the book is all the examples and the captions which discuss the thinking that went into each shot. If you are thinking of going beyond the basic headshot into artistic (as opposed to fashion) portraiture, this book is a gold mine.

I am currently reading Master Posing Guide For Portrait Photographers
A complete guide to posing singles, couples and groups.
by J.D Wacker ( Amherst Media )