Creative Portraits: Digital Photography Tips and Techniques Paperback – August 16, 2010

This book is both informative and gives photographers tips and ideas along with techniques you might not think of it is also beautifully illistrated a nice addition to a photographic reference library

I would consider myself nothing more than a keen amateur photographer, yet I learned nothing new from this book. These really are the absolute basics when it comes to portrait photography, and if you know anything at all about this subject then you don't need to buy this book. I also found the images in the book to be of very low quality, both in terms of printing and photography. The majority of the studio model shots look like cheesy glamour shots from the 80's, and many of the other photos are of his children and look like nothing more than your average family snap. I was extremely disappointed with this book. The only silver lining is that after reading the book, I felt that I was a much better photographer than I did before I read it.......... but probably not in the way the author intended.

Harold Davis covers portrait photography in this book and his efforts to explain it are balanced. He explains the many portrait photography issues such as: the psychology of portraiture, emotions, street photography, composing, etc.I liked the fact that the book is full of different photographies and they all have the information about the camera settings and how they were taken.The only drawback (to me) is that sometimes I felt I was reading a university book; I mean, sometimes the information looked a little boring to me; I expected more "how-to-do" information in the entire book and not only in the pictures showed there. But, this really is a personal view; probably, you will find it more interesting. Have a look at it before buying it.

Harold Davis writes in a clear easy to understand way...from the first book to the last..he is a professional and it shows. Clear and easy..a must have in your photography library.

I found "Create Portraits - Digital Photography Tips & Techniques" to be a book that was well organized, beautifully illustrated and published, with a casual voice that drew me into thought and will have me referring to this book frequently in the future.It is not formulaic or a cookbook approach to creating portraits. Instead Davis went into a comprehensive overview of most facets facing a portrait photographer in an approachable style, and I believe the book has many tips and techniques to make it a highly recommended purchase for a novice or experienced photographer wanting to strengthen their portrait making skills.Example photosHarold follows the adage that much can be learned by studying other photographers' images, and where this book really shines is his text acompanying the photos. He provides ample EXIF data (shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and lens focal length), which many users want (I'm ambivalent on the presentation of settings). What I found most useful were his notes on what he was trying to acheive and what went into his thought process.Many of the portraits presented in the book are stunningly beautiful, and even those that didn't "grab me" personally were technically excellent and show Davis's professional aesthetics.TopicsDavis begins his examination of portrait photography by discussing elemental topics that will benefit any photographer that doesn't realize (or maybe has forgotten) that preparing for a portrait session requires some forethought and deciding on one's intentions and goals prior to the session.Some of the early topics he covers includes: the kinds of portraits; why people sit for a portrait; the psychology of portraiture; understanding people; and capturing emotion. I didn't connect on a few of the topics Davis covers (e.g., Character is Destiny and Telling the Truth about Someone), yet even these topics provide "food for thought" getting the reader thinking about fundamental aspects of portraiture that goes beyond F-stops, shutter speeds, and lighting ratios.I appreciated his covering of these considerations since so much of what other authors are writing about photography is equipment and technique focused to the exclusion of the focusing on what the photographer or her subject wants from the portrait.I particularly appreciated Harold's thoughts on People: interactions between the photographer and his subject; approaching people, model releases, interpersonal skills and putting the subject at ease. Great insights and practical advice for the budding portrait photographer.Davis also touches on: Street photography, Environmental Portraiture, Working with Models, Props, Clothing, Hair and Make-Up.Under Portrait Techniques, Davis explores: Posing, Camera Positioning, Movement, Depth of Field, Choosing the Right Lens, and Making Camera-to-Eye Contact.The twenty-plus page section on Lighting Techniques is great! Written in an easy-to-understand manner with a handful of diagrams illustrating his positioning of lights in relation to the subject, and photographs showing the end result of his work and clear explanations of what he acheived and how.In a chapter on shooting Kids and Families, Davis shares his thoughts and insights on photographing children and the accompanying example photos in this section were a real treat in my opinion. It's pretty obvious Harold can relate to kids and build a rapport with them (maybe he mugs for them in a manner similar to some self-portrait photos shown on pages 54-55), but in all seriousness, I wish I knew how to get the wonderful results seen here.The final section/chapter is 35+ pages covering Portraits in the Digital Darkroom. In reading his text here, it is apparent Davis is as comfortable in front of Photoshop as he is behind the camera. Topics such as: Fixing Flaws, Working with Skin, Enhancing Eyes, and Selective Sharpening easily make this book a worthwhile addition to any beginning to intermediate photographer's library.I highly recommend this book to anyone interested the topic of portraiture.

I found this book quite disappointing. The text was mostly regurgitated old knowledge. But the worst were the large number of images that were of a quality that uncle Joe could do with his point and click. Don't get me wrong, there were some very fine images in the book, but for the price I expect high quality all through - and not images published that I would be ashamed to give to a client.Also what is with all the photos of the author's family? I don't want to buy a familiy album.Definitely do NOT recommend to spend money on this.

Photo on the front cover is nice and some inside are also good but not that brilliant really as I have seen others better than what this book have. Too wordy. I bought this book for a friend of mine for her birthday. She is a serious amateur portrait photographer. After a week of having it,she gave it back to me with the reason that I must want to read it. That it is a great book. I suspect she did not read it and just being very nice about it. Before I gave it to her, I tried to read it but it lacks that illustration that I want to be able to do on my own. I had since bought another portrait book Doug Box's Guide to Posing which I like very much...

great table book