Portrait Photography: Secrets of Posing & Lighting

by Mark Cleghorn

Book Overview

All great portraits, whether they are taken on film or digitally, depend on the photographer's ability to use light and pose the subject. Learn the essential techniques of these two important elements... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 157990548X
• ISBN13: 9781579905484
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Lark Books (NC)
• Length: 127 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.9" x 11.5"

Customer Reviews

Want to be a portrait photographer? Here's the starting line.

If you have the desire to shoot portrait photography, then you want to own this book. Its not the end all of every book on photography, but when you want to know how to do short lighting, or your a professional wanting to brush up on the basics, this book will be your go to book. Well written, lots of samples, and practical, useable advice. It is an excellent book on setting up and using strobes to create portraits that will wow your subjects.

My Favorite...

I own many books on posing and lighting, and this book is by far my favorite. It spends time on both posing and lighting. It starts with the basics of light and modifiers, and then builds up to setups, looks, poses, etc. Lots of nice full color pictures that do an excellent job of demonstrating what they are trying to teach. This book was a major help to me as I tried to improve my portrait photography. If you feel lost in the world of lighting and portraits, this book is a must have. It is by far the best in its class.

Very good start for a beginner.

I have been looking for a book that would help me to understand equipment and the usage before going and buying any. This book was very instrumental in deciding what I need to get without wasting a lot of money. I recommend this book for someone that is beginning and has a lot of questions without a mentor to help them. Worth buying if you want to start a studio.

You gotta see this!

As a professional photographer I am always looking at the numerous books that are published on photographic lighting, particularly portrait lighting. This book is the best book that I have found on this subject. It won't tell you anything more than you would get from reading a vast collection of books and figuring it out for yourself after going to numerous seminars and convenstions but this is the only book that I have found where someone has put what really is a collection of simple material all together for you.

UP TO DATE

I spent many hours hunting for a book dedicated to studio portraiture (with a focus on strobes), but this was the only one I found. All other books used hot lights and were examples from the 70's. Yuk. This book is awesome! Mark begins by covering the different equipment used in the studio and on location including different types of strobes, flashes and attachments for focusing or diffusing light. He writes about posing people and gives tips for every part of the body from head to toe with photo examples. He offers flattering poses and light set-ups to camoflauge undesireable body flaws. He covers different types of lighting setups and describes how to acheive them. I would have liked more detail in this area, and possibly some diagrams of the setups used. He covers posing children, adults and families. He explains how to use existing lighting indoors and out on location. The majority of the book is for indoor studios with strobe lighting. It was exactly what I was looking for and I am very pleased.