Picture Perfect Practice: A Self-Training Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Taking World-Class Photographs (Voices That Matter)

The rating I came up with is based on my recent reading of a collection of other photography books. I also factored in my personal guidelines: below three stars I regret the purchase; at three I am more or less satisfied, at four this is a good value for the money.The hardest side of photography for me is not camera handling. So when I found this book with such raving reviews I jumped on it. It focuses on composition, poses and some lighting. It does not address the technical aspects of camera handling, file management etc. What it does is propose a method to approach photography, supposedly all photography although it is pretty much centered on wedding photography.As an engineer I tend to like systems and theories to apply to the problem at hand. Lighting, posing, composition etc. are complex issues requiring lots of attention to detail and to some extent I did benefit from the organized approach. Unfortunately one of the major points the author ends up demonstrating is how artistic matters cannot be shoehorned in theories. They mostly belong to the right brain, not the left one.Although there are some very good suggestions and Roberto seems to be a talented professional wedding photographer, applying mere recipes just does not cut it. In too many cases an average photo is presented as the result of an elaborated thought process with remarks making sure you understand this is how great professionals do it (see pictures17.38, 18.2...). All too often it looks like at best a happy accident presented as the desired result thought through from the start. Some cases are interesting yet they seem to violate the same "principles" presented by the author - It looks like the really good pictures are the product of the author's talent, not his rules.In other cases the resulting picture is really interesting, however I am not sure I would try and sell them to a couple as they seem to show indifference or even coolness between them (17.46, 17.49, 17.52, 17.63, even 17.74)So why this rating?I initially gave it three stars, probably as a reaction to the five stars average that had raised my expectations. However the book proposes lists of items to pay attention to when shooting, which although naturally not complete present quite a good starting point. The remarks about posing the arms and hands are pretty good as well as the chapters about silhouettes.It unfortunately presents as rules what are admittedly good recipes, probably applicable to similar situations but certainly not cast-in-stone rules.It also suggests a collection of composition exercises that I started to do seriously as a way to try and get the best from the book. Then pretty soon (two hours in three sessions) I stopped and wondered what they were bringing to me. I can now recognize a square when I see one. Cool.Theory **Photos ***Explanations of why some pictures work and not others ***What makes this book still interesting is a solid collection of points to check when selecting a location for a shoot and when posing people. Past the first chapters, almost all examples are in a wedding context but many posing techniques can be used in the studio or in other contexts as well.If you are looking for a good overview including all other aspects of wedding photography, you will be better off with Glen Johnson's  Digital Wedding Photography  that covers all the business and technical aspects as well. If what you look for is mostly wedding pictures and don't care too much for the text, check out  The Best of Wedding Photography .For those of you who are looking for books about composition and lighting, there are a wealth of great books such as  Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers , Direction & Quality of Light , See It: Photographic Composition Using Visual Intensity  or  Extraordinary Everyday Photography  which focus more on giving you ideas without trying to teach you "my posing system" (p172 in this one).I hope this helps. Don't hesitate to ask me questions in comments.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. It teaches you plenty of stuff; but, more importantly, it teaches you methods for engaging in photography and for practicing photography so that you can keep on improving and learning on your own. As such, it's invaluable.It starts off a bit slow. I have to admit, it took me a couple of months to get through the first part. It begins with a discussion of the elements of photography, such as geometry, balance, symmetry, patterns, etc. I've read a lot about those before, so it was a bit tough to get through. Even so, it was laying the foundation for what was to come. But, if you haven't read a lot about such topics, then you may not have the problem I had.Part 2 starts getting better. It discusses posing in great detail, and does so extremely well. It covers both broad concepts (such as natural posing) and specific details (such as what to do with hands). And it covers a slew of posing archetypes that can be adapted to different situations.Parts 3 and 4 are a bit short, but they use everything you've learned so far to teach you how to improve generally. Part 3 is about execution, or how to put it all together in the field. And Part 4 is about deliberate practice: he recommends some personal R&D on situations you're likely to encounter so that you'll be able to adapt when you do. What makes this part so great is that he not only gives you a method, but also offers some concrete examples of how practice paid off in a specific way. These two parts are what make the book so incredible for me. They're short, but they don't stand alone: they build on everything you've learned in the first two parts.The author is clearly a master photographer. But he's also an excellent teacher. His book is very accessible, but also incredibly deep. I'm ashamed that it took me so long to realize how great the book really is!Although the book is technically about wedding photography, and plenty of the "detailed stuff" is suited to that type of photography, the broader concepts and methods he teaches can be of great benefit to any type of photographer.I would say that I don't think this book is for beginners. It assumes you have basic technical skills, and doesn't teach them. It's about creativity and execution. You don't have to be a professional to get a lot out of the book -- I'm not! -- but you should be fairly advanced. If you're not yet there, put this book on your wish list for the future and don't forget to come back for it.

This book has a lot of positive ratings ! However I found this book very hard going and a bit patronising.I didn't find it that helpful, I think if you haven't read anything on photography and your into wedding photography it might be of use, I found the lack of any other type photographs a bit disappointing.I can't recommend this book and I certainly would not pay full price for it. My copy will be going on e-bay.Note:- This book could be found in the Public libraries! However it wasn't in mine! which should have given me an idea of its worth!

Although most of the pictures in this book are from weddings, this isn't a wedding photography book. In fact, it's a super book that helps you see better. The author encourages you to look for "gifts" in the location that you can use in your photographs, such as geometry, balance, parallel lines, symmetry, colour elements, depth, shadows, silhouettes, reflections, patterns/repetitions, frames, paintings and artwork, contrasts, lens flare, and walls.I've taken notes for each of these 'gifts' that I continually refer to. For example, is there a reflective surface in the environment (such as a mirror, bevelled glass, chrome, dark panel, polished table)? Can you use it to capture two sides of one person, or two people (one normal, one reflected)? Remember you don't aways need to show the whole subject in the reflection -- you can reflect just a part of the subject with a narrow reflection. If there are two mirrors, can you make them face each other and get an infinite series or use them to show multiple angles? Can you reflect the subject in water (such as a stream or a puddle)?The focus on helping you see better makes this an excellent text for any photographer.

Saying this book is great doesn't help unless I admit who's saying it: I'm extremely self critical and am certain I don't have "innate creativity" yet I live photography. this book addresses that by explaining how "creativity" is the result of hard work and practice, and helps to redirect self criticism into something constructive. It also has the guts to show photos that failed and explain why.I'm getting the rest of the series.

This is one of the best books ihaveti read I genuinely learned more from this than all my books I love to read and Roberto days at the beginning about his confidence of making you a better photographer at the end of the book it's 100% true you will view the world and your work with different eyes. My only complaint was it ended I loved this book really worth buying

A great book for learning about posing and composition and in no way limited to the wedding context that most of the examples are from. I already owned this book and recently spilled a drink all over it so I guess that buying it again proves how good I think it is. The thing I love about this book is the methodical way everything is presented, with exercises for you to do on your own (if you so wish)