Although there are many different books on portrait photography, most of them are organized in a similar format. For example, explanations of lighting ratios are immediately preceded by descriptions of the roles of main lights, fill lights, hair lights and so forth. “Faces: Photography and the Art of Portraiture” takes a different approach.
The book opens with a short portfolio of modern-day portrait photographers, including Joyce Tenneson and Dan Winters, and is followed by a portfolio of historic portraits. The main part of the book consists of a number of two-page spreads each of which includes a portrait, a lighting diagram for most, and a narrative that points out something about the technique and content of each image.
The images vary from those taken with elaborate indoor lighting set-ups to quick-catch street pictures, and use cameras from large format to point-and-shoot, and even “toy” cameras. The book ends with short essays on street shooting; preparation; modifying light; the art and craft of portraiture; and an appendix that talks about compositing a group picture, color versus black and white, histograms and lighting ratios. Many of the images have a grittiness to them that might please other viewers, but might not be to the subject’s liking.
The cover is pretty brilliant with smooth and rough textures creating greater dimension (subject #20 Mark on pg. 56). This book is an easy read with the text explained in casual writing (not like reading a dull college thesis or something), and is accompanied by full color pictures and drawing lighting diagrams. 33 out of the 48 subjects, that the author shot, include a lighting setup diagram; the rest were just available light.
This book assumes that you know how to use your camera and that you know how to operate your chosen photo-editing software. There’s very little technical discussion other that depth of field considerations. If you’re a beginning photographer, you should wait a while before opening this book.
All in all, it’s a very good book. The portraits–of all sorts of people–are intriguing all on their own. The information on lighting is very valuable. It’s the sort of how-to book that you wouldn’t mind leaving around for visitors to see.
Related Books:
- The Digital Photography Book, Volume 3 : Scott Kelby
- The Art of Children’s Portrait Photography : Tamara Lackey
- Classics of Western Philosophy : Steven M. Cahn
- The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos : Michael Freeman
- The Digital Photography Book : Scott Kelby
