Book Review - Face to Face: Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Photographing People by Rick Sammon
Category Book Review Rick Sammon Face to Face: Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Photographing People
I'm about to graduate from a digital point-and-shoot to an entry level DSLR camera. In order to create all those images that will wow my friends, I read through the book Face to Face: Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Photographing People by Rick Sammon. If you're looking to focus on people and faces, this book puts you in the proper mindset on how best to shoot in a way that captures more than just an image.
Contents:
Introduction - The Camera Looks Both Ways
Part 1 - Cameras Don't Take Pictures, People Do: A Quick Look at Gear
Part 2 - Photo Philosophies: Making Pictures Versus Taking Pictures; From Head to Toe; Creating a Sense of Place; Dead Center Is Deadly; Horizontal and/or Vertical; Silence Is Deadly; Being There and Being Aware; Portraits Versus Environmental Portraits; The All-Important Background; Paying People; Dress for Success; Body Language and Hands; Seeing Eye to Eye; Choose a Location; Adding Props; Seeing Pictures Within a Picture; Adding a Person Adds Scale to a Picture; Thinking Creatively; Taking Fun Shots
Part 3 - Capturing Action; Using Reflectors; The Beauty of Using Diffusers; Garage Glamour; Daylight Fill-in Flash; The Disequilibrium Technique; The Key to a Good Profile; Photographing People in Low Light and at Night; Group Photography; Take Advantage of Backlight; Photographing Festivals; Creating a Sense of Depth
Part 4 - Indoor Photography: Rembrandt Lighting; Shooting Silhouettes; Basic Flash Techniques; Using Lighting Kits; Working with Mirrors; Photographing a Stage Show
Part 5 - Enhancing Your Pictures in Photoshop: Create a Beautiful Black-and-White Image; The Renaissance Painter Effect; Color and Black-and-White in the Same Image; From Snapshot to Artistic Image; Create the Disequilibrium Effect; Change the Shutter Speed and F-Stop; Remove Distracting Elements in a Scene; Brighten a Subject's Eyes and Smile; Basic Skin Coloring; Hand-Color a Picture; Playin' with Plug-ins
Epilog: Your Assignment - On-Location Portraiture
Index
This seems to differ somewhat from other photography books I've read in that he spends more time talking about composition and lighting rather than the technical details of exposure, f-stops, and other nitty-gritty elements. It's not that he ignores those details, but he's more concerned about issues like framing, background, subject interaction, and telling a story. As such, I could implement many of these techniques regardless of what camera I'm using. Yes, there is a limitation when you can't fully control lens selection and such, but you can still using lighting and composition to get memorable pictures. As the title indicates, Sammon is focusing (no pun intended) on the techniques involved in shooting people rather than scenery or special effects. While I don't expect to be an expert a day after the new camera arrives, I now realize that shooting people is something that says as much about you the photographer as it does about the person being shot. I'm looking forward to working through the "lessons", which is how each chapter is laid out. I also got a much better appreciation for the role of Photoshop in getting that image that looks professional. I have so much to learn...
About the only thing I didn't care for in the book is that a significant number of pictures in the book are from a select few photo shoots that he did. For instance, Silence is Deadly introduces an attractive woman with different facial expressions based on how the photographer was talking with her. But she then shows up repeatedly in staged old-time Western shots, and you learn that she's a model. In that case, the photographer definitely has a subject who can provide more than a spur-of-the-moment series of images. The other western shots carried the old-time saloon theme, and they looked more staged than I would have expected. On the other hand, his African tribe shots are very real. I just don't think I would have used them as much or as often as they were used to illustrate the different points.
Even with that minor nit, there's a lot to learn from this book for people like myself who are trying to kick up their skills to a new level.
I'm about to graduate from a digital point-and-shoot to an entry level DSLR camera. In order to create all those images that will wow my friends, I read through the book Face to Face: Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Photographing People by Rick Sammon. If you're looking to focus on people and faces, this book puts you in the proper mindset on how best to shoot in a way that captures more than just an image.
Contents:
Introduction - The Camera Looks Both Ways
Part 1 - Cameras Don't Take Pictures, People Do: A Quick Look at Gear
Part 2 - Photo Philosophies: Making Pictures Versus Taking Pictures; From Head to Toe; Creating a Sense of Place; Dead Center Is Deadly; Horizontal and/or Vertical; Silence Is Deadly; Being There and Being Aware; Portraits Versus Environmental Portraits; The All-Important Background; Paying People; Dress for Success; Body Language and Hands; Seeing Eye to Eye; Choose a Location; Adding Props; Seeing Pictures Within a Picture; Adding a Person Adds Scale to a Picture; Thinking Creatively; Taking Fun Shots
Part 3 - Capturing Action; Using Reflectors; The Beauty of Using Diffusers; Garage Glamour; Daylight Fill-in Flash; The Disequilibrium Technique; The Key to a Good Profile; Photographing People in Low Light and at Night; Group Photography; Take Advantage of Backlight; Photographing Festivals; Creating a Sense of Depth
Part 4 - Indoor Photography: Rembrandt Lighting; Shooting Silhouettes; Basic Flash Techniques; Using Lighting Kits; Working with Mirrors; Photographing a Stage Show
Part 5 - Enhancing Your Pictures in Photoshop: Create a Beautiful Black-and-White Image; The Renaissance Painter Effect; Color and Black-and-White in the Same Image; From Snapshot to Artistic Image; Create the Disequilibrium Effect; Change the Shutter Speed and F-Stop; Remove Distracting Elements in a Scene; Brighten a Subject's Eyes and Smile; Basic Skin Coloring; Hand-Color a Picture; Playin' with Plug-ins
Epilog: Your Assignment - On-Location Portraiture
Index
This seems to differ somewhat from other photography books I've read in that he spends more time talking about composition and lighting rather than the technical details of exposure, f-stops, and other nitty-gritty elements. It's not that he ignores those details, but he's more concerned about issues like framing, background, subject interaction, and telling a story. As such, I could implement many of these techniques regardless of what camera I'm using. Yes, there is a limitation when you can't fully control lens selection and such, but you can still using lighting and composition to get memorable pictures. As the title indicates, Sammon is focusing (no pun intended) on the techniques involved in shooting people rather than scenery or special effects. While I don't expect to be an expert a day after the new camera arrives, I now realize that shooting people is something that says as much about you the photographer as it does about the person being shot. I'm looking forward to working through the "lessons", which is how each chapter is laid out. I also got a much better appreciation for the role of Photoshop in getting that image that looks professional. I have so much to learn...
About the only thing I didn't care for in the book is that a significant number of pictures in the book are from a select few photo shoots that he did. For instance, Silence is Deadly introduces an attractive woman with different facial expressions based on how the photographer was talking with her. But she then shows up repeatedly in staged old-time Western shots, and you learn that she's a model. In that case, the photographer definitely has a subject who can provide more than a spur-of-the-moment series of images. The other western shots carried the old-time saloon theme, and they looked more staged than I would have expected. On the other hand, his African tribe shots are very real. I just don't think I would have used them as much or as often as they were used to illustrate the different points.
Even with that minor nit, there's a lot to learn from this book for people like myself who are trying to kick up their skills to a new level.