I am an advanced amateur who is trying to learn how to take photographs in a studio setting. I've always preferred photographing people in a candid way and using natural settings. But I was blessed with a new daughter and I wanted to start taking pictures of her in a studio setting. I do know a lot about my camera and my lenses and have recently learned about skillfully using an on-camera flash. But I knew nothing about how to set up a studio so I wanted to buy a book that will teach me how to do this from ground up. Since my main subject will be my baby, I decided to get a book about studio portrait photography of children and babies (this book).
While it took me 3 months to read and master the last book that I read on photography, it only took me an afternoon to read through this book. The material was just so basic! While she did give helpful hints about conducting a pre-session interview and also about age-appropriate props, she only did so in a very brief manner. I read through that part so fast because most of the things she said were self-evident and I felt that I wasn't really learning anything new.
However, the part that I really was interested in is the studio set-up. While she did spend 2 chapters on this, I was left more confused and just wanting to either surf the web for the basics of a studio set-up or buy another book specifically for this. From the level of writing in the first part of her book (about the subjects--children), I was thinking she maybe is writing for beginners. But then she really did not explain the studio set-up as if she was writing for a beginner. For example, in Chapter 6, her first paragraph was "The simplest studio lighting setup involves only three lights: a main light, fill light, and a background light. The main light might be set at f/8.0. The background could be a full stop more than the main light, making it f/11.0. The fill light would either be f/4.0 or f/5.6, depending on how much fill you desire for your portrait." That got me totally confused. She was talking about f-stops for lighting! F-stops for lighting? But then she didn't explain what those were.
This part is probably what got me disappointed about the entire book. I was hoping to get a single book that would explain to me (1) how to do a studio set up from scratch and (2) explain all there is to know about the studio set-up. This book did not do this. Now, I will have to either scour the web for this information or buy another book specifically for this.
I feel bad for giving this book only two stars. Maybe it is just not the right book for me but maybe it is perfect for a lot of other people.
Author(s): Marilyn Sholin
Edition: 2
Publisher: Amherst Media
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 129