Group Portrait Photography Handbook

✍ Scribed by Bill Hurter

• Publisher: Amherst Media, Inc.
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 129
• Edition: 2nd
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

I needed a book specifically about how to pose groups of single and multiple families. THis book contains two just chapters on that, so if that is what you are looking for, you may be disappointed. The book does contain a lot of good, general information about portrait photography - what to do with hands, using the rule of thirds, and photography under different lighting scenarios. It was mostly review for me, however, and will be review for anyone who has a few books on general portrait photography. Also, most of the photographs are pretty dated! There are only a handful that I would consider "timeless".

The two chapters on posing are pretty good, but definitely would have benefited from more examples, and perhaps photos of a large family group being built according to the Love technique described in the book.

Anyway, I give it 3.5 stars rounded to 4 because overall it is a good introductory book about all aspects of photographing groups. If you are looking for a book about how to pose groups, there is an EXCELLENT chapter in Doug Box's Guide to Posing for Portrait Photographers that was very valuable to me. That book is all about posing and I consider it to be indispensable.

✦ Table of Contents

Copyright
......Page 2
Table of Contents
......Page 3
The Photographers......Page 6
Introduction......Page 12
Film Cameras......Page 14
Black & White Film......Page 15
Image Sensors......Page 16
Removable Media......Page 18
File Types......Page 19
Color Space......Page 20
White Balance......Page 23
Shutter Lag Time......Page 24
Evaluating Digital Exposures......Page 25
Noise......Page 27
Burst Rate......Page 28
Clock Settings......Page 29
2. Technical Basics......Page 30
Focal Length......Page 31
Depth of Field......Page 34
Plane of Focus......Page 35
Shifting the Field of Focus......Page 36
Incident Flashmeters......Page 37
Shutter Speeds......Page 38
Subject Positioning......Page 41
Profiles......Page 42
Head Levels and Placement in Groups......Page 43
Chin Height......Page 44
Eyes......Page 45
Mouths......Page 46
Camera Height and Perspective......Page 47
Posing Hands......Page 48
Using 3/4- and Full-Length Poses......Page 51
The Rule of Thirds......Page 53
The Golden Mean......Page 55
Shapes......Page 56
Pleasing Compositional Forms......Page 57
Subject Tone......Page 58
Tension and Balance......Page 60
Posing Hierarchy......Page 63
Perimeter Check......Page 65
Coordinating Apparel......Page 66
Photographer’s Favorites......Page 67
Seating......Page 68
Add a Third......Page 73
Five on Up......Page 75
Obvious Things to Avoid......Page 80
Naturalness Counts......Page 82
Posing Levels......Page 83
Level 4, Sitting......Page 85
Level 5, Lying Down......Page 86
Linking Shapes......Page 87
The Really Big Group......Page 89
Roundness......Page 90
Lighting Ratios......Page 91
Determining Lighting Ratios......Page 93
Lighting Ratios and Their Unique Personalities......Page 94
Finding Good Light......Page 95
The Best Light......Page 96
Reflectors......Page 97
Fill-in Flash......Page 98
Using Flash Fill, Metering, and Exposure......Page 99
Background Control......Page 100
Direct Sunlight......Page 102
Problems Outdoors......Page 103
Feathering......Page 107
Lighting the Large Room or Dance Floor......Page 108
Focusing Umbrellas......Page 109
Window Light......Page 110
Exposure......Page 111
Fill-in Illumination......Page 112
Lighting Large Groups with Bounce Flash......Page 113
Umbrellas and Softboxes......Page 114
The Making of the Ultimate Group Shot......Page 115
Glossary......Page 117
Index......Page 122
Other Books from Amherst Media
......Page 125