» Outdoor and Location Portrait Photography

Outdoor and Location Portrait Photography Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: For Professionals looking to improve their location sessions! Not a "how-to" book though.
Comment: I can see how this book wouldn't be appreciated by non-professionals. So it just proves one book doesn't work for everyone. But if you are on the professional level, you will probably appreciate this book if you are looking to improve your location sessions or review the basics you've stopped thinking about.

I just finished reading through this book, and found the discussion of natural light to be pretty helpful for me. I enjoyed reading this book because it gave a lot of helpful pointers on location photography (and has many pictures for examples -- although I admit I wasn't a fan of some of his images). A lot of the topics in the book I am already familiar with, but re-reading them helped remind me that yes, you can hold sessions anytime during the day (or night, I suppose).

There are 2 chapters on the business side of photography (making a profit and marketing), which are mainly overviews reminding you that your business's sole function is to make a profit and that you need to have a planned strategy for your advertising and marketing techniques.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Already outdated, impractical, hardly worth it
Comment: The author lets you know right away how much he hates digital and loves film. So for those of us who shoot digital there is nothing in this book to help us exploit its powers and advantages over film. (Maybe it's because this book is copyright 2002 and digital "back then" wasn't nearly as good and as cost-effective as it is now.) He also brings a truckload of big equipment with him INCLUDING A GENERATOR to power it all, when he does an on-location shoot. For me, that would mean a truck and a crew and hours of set-up. Maybe if I can charge $1500 and spend all day doing one senior photo session, but otherwise a lot of his suggestions are impractical.
His photographs in the book are 100% female, teens-thru-30's. (I guess males and children don't have outdoor portraits taken.) What is worse, I really don't like much of the photos in the book! The lighting is so artificial and unnatural looking that I find it almost distracting in many of his images. Some almost look like they were shot against a green screen with the background dropped in later. (I know they weren't, but the lighting and the shadows don't match the background...so to me they're so contrived that they almost look fake.)
So many Amherst publications are packed with terrific images that I can't wait to try to imitate in my own work. I was so disappointed that I could find only 2 or 3 images in this entire book I'd even want to try to emulate.
The only saving grace is that these Amherst books are so inexpensive. For 20 bucks I found a few tips that I can use making it probably worth it. But great it ain't. Overall, I was very, very disappointed. Jeff needs to embrace digital, give up on film, get rid of that generator and make his outdoor workflow more practical and his images more natural looking. These are my recommendations for a 3rd edition.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: This book sucks unless you're a senior portrait professional
Comment: This book sucks unless your a professional senior portrait photographer that likes cheesy barnyard senior portraits. I'm not kidding! If you're a serious amateur and want to learn the techniques of natural light portraiture follow the recommendations of others and buy "Professional Secrets of Natural Light Portrait Photography" by Douglas Allen Box like I did. You won't regret it.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: This book is not for all
Comment: I bought the book with lots of excitement to learn something new in portrait photography. Now, I have finished about half of this book and got bored because I didn't get much from it. In the following paragraphs, I will get into what I like and not so far. Someone may suggest finishing the book first before rate it. Well, half of book and learned not much is why I give it only 2 stars.

What I like (or not so dislike):
1/ Pictures to explain how the scene is set up before photo shoots.
2/ Somewhat the author is quite practical about time of the day to take pictures, equipments and so on rather than talking about ideal environments or theories that most of us cannot get or experience.

What I don't like:
1/ Author spends too much time criticizing other photographers, pro or not. I question his personalities and get tired of reading about it. It's irrelevant to what I want to learn. It would be much better if he uses the space writing more about the pitfalls themselves.
2/ Too much on business side. This book is about portrait photography, as it suggested, not about making money on portrait photography. I was looking for techniques, ideas, instructions, labs... and it's okay if the author may include here and there his own business world or personal life, but not every single page. Waste of my time...
3/ Too little on techniques, ideas... Again, as I said in previous paragraphs, he spends too much on writing about something else. I rather see more explaination of why and how each picture was taken.
4/ I think the author didn't go too far from his barn studio. What about on the beach, in the wood, in downtown, etc. where most of us like to take pictures.
5/ With #4, I am not happy that this book is all about for Pro. making money on Portrait photography and not suggest a word so. As an serious amateur, I don't get much. I guess it's only for a small group of readers who share the same background with the author; otherwise, it's not that helpful.

Finally, I suggest you understand yourself and what you're looking for before buying it. If it's for amateur learning, forget about it. Find another one. I hope nobody repeats my mistakes. But if you're on the way having a new studio, I think it's quite useful, maybe, in some way.

Good luck.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Pro's Pro for Outdoor Portraiture
Comment: This is really a good book for anyone who wants to elevate their outdoor protraiture to a professional level. Smith is certainly one of the best in the business, and isn't afraid to tell you how he does it.

If your a hobbyist, look more towards Douglas Allen Box's book. But if you really want to know how to take great looking portraits anytime during the day, here's your bible.

This guy is just flat good. He goes in depth into natural refelctors, and outdoor flash photography. He even talks about trick shots like "dragging the shutter", and how to make the background go dark in the middle of the day.

He's such a perfectionist that he says he really doesn't ever find any shot that he doesn't see room for improvement in the lighting, and then goes ahead and makes those improvements. He really smashes the idea that outdoor photography is about using existing light. He's always adding and removing. The pro's pro.

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