The Perfect Portrait Guide – How to Photograph People – Book Review

I recently went on a buying frenzy of photography books over at Amazon.

One of the books that I purchased was The Perfect Portrait Guide: How to Photograph People by Michael Busselle and David Wilson.

Portrait photography has always been the main focus of my own photography and so I was keen to read this book (recommended by a reader of this site).

I’ve spent the last few days reviewing the book and have really enjoyed doing so.

I should say up front – this is not just a digital photography book. Most of the techniques in the book are applicable to digital photographers and film photographers alike but it is not specifically targeted at digital photography.

While there are a lot of photography books out there with a very technical approach – The Perfect Portrait Guide is much more practical in it’s approach and uses A LOT of case studies as the basis for it’s teaching on portrait photography – this in my mind makes it a very useful book.

The structure of the book is fairly simple – there are four sections:

1. Informal Portraits
2. Formal Portraits
3. Lighting
4. Cameras and Equipment

Sections 1 to 3 are largely case studies. Each page covers a different aspect of the section’s topic and has at least one photograph taken by a Pro Photographer. The photograph is then talked about in the sections of:

• Seeing: the story behind the image
• Thinking: the challenge of the photographer – what they wanted to do
• Acting: how the photo was taken
• Technical Details: the gear used
• Rule of Thumb: (not on every page) – a technique or rule that photographers can learn from the case study.

Section 4 tackles the topics of Choosing a Camera, Choosing Lenses, Camera Accessories, Lighting Equipment, Apertures and Shutter Speeds, Understanding Exposure, Choosing Film and Finishing and Presentation. Once again – this is not specifically focussed upon digital photography.

My Opinion

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