Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Picture Perfect Posing: Practicing the Art of Posing for Photographers and Models (Voices That Matter)

Top positive review

Very nice book

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2024

This book is very well written with quality professional pictures and diagrams. The book is very thick and offers many suggestions that are useful and a good resource for photography. It is a great help to show less experienced models and photographers various posing techniques. Makes a great coffee table book in the green room.

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N. McCall

Nauseating, irritating, self-absorbed focus on wedding photography

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2021

Though not clearly stated until near the end, the focus of this book is on Valenzuela's idea of staging "unstaged" intimate moments. At the beginning, I could go along with him, but halfway through, the endless stream of bougie landscape wedding photos was too much, and every photo screamed, "fake!"

Photo selection was a huge problem for me. Nearly every photo is from wedding gigs for people with money to burn. A fair amount were boudoir. Almost no editorial, fashion, commercial, etc. With every page turn and every new (or worse, repeated!) wedding photo, I let out a sound of disgust and spent more and more time thinking about how much I now detest this style of wedding photography. Valenzuela took some new photos for the book, of family members, but they are shockingly below the quality of his wedding catalog.

There are almost no photos of men that aren't accompanied by a woman. There are two or three non-wedding photos of men, but the style is completely different from anything else in the book. Valenzuela says his ideas are applicable to men, but when every photo features women as the focus, it's hard for me to believe him.

At one point in the book, Valenzuela describes his own photo as "iconic."* Another, he takes time to talk about fiddling with his Hasselblah camera. He frequently name-drops.

Words and phrases that kept coming to mind: male gaze, heteronormative, sexism, repetitive, classism, fakey. Much of the information is good, but once you notice this book's shortcomings, it gets buried in an avalanche of irritation.

*Rich, considering the photo in question is an obvious take on Edward Steichen's portrait of Gloria Swanson.

6 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Robert Wright

Very nice book

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2024

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Wild Rose

I don't love everything about this book but since I devoured it ...

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2014

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I don't love everything about this book but since I devoured it and then reread it twice I figured it should get 5 stars. I'm finding myself noticing when poses "violate the rules" that he lays out in this book. I do wish that he included even more suggestions for helping people feel relaxed. He gives a couple of wonderful examples of tasks that he gives people to do which takes their mind off of being photographed. I would have enjoyed having even more of those suggestions. I don't care for the cover image ("medusa") and was afraid that everything would be that strange and kind of stiff looking, but never fear, what's inside the book is much more naturalistic. I have just a few complaints. One is the gender bias that runs through the book. The pictures of women outnumber men by about 7 to 1. Posing men can be tricky and I wanted a lot more examples. I also grew tired of the "boudoir" look that kept cropping up. One or two is fine if they're balanced by similar pictures of men, but as a woman I grew tired of the too frequent "lusty, come hither" photos. It felt a teensy bit sexist to me and at times just plain unnecessary for the point being made. I would also have really appreciated some poses for same sex couples. This comes up more and more frequently as marriage equality becomes more widespread (yay). I also would have like to have seen photos of people who aren't your typical model. Where are the heavy people??? Or disabled??? or elderly (there are a few in wedding groups but that's it), or the couple where the man is 6'5" and woman is 4'11" (or vice versa). By largely showcasing people who are professional models it takes it out of the real world with its real world challenges. I also would have liked even more tips on posing groups, not just examples of good group photos but more on how they were actually assembled into that grouping. I'd like more on what was said to them to get them to pose the way that they did. I think finding the right words to say is one of the trickiest things photographers do. You definitely can't just tell someone to "act natural" [sic} and expect it to happen. More on the verbal exchange would be nice. He definitely gives some of that, I just would have liked even more. My critique sounds heavy on the criticism but it really is a wonderful book and a great addition to any photographer's library. You will not look at photos in the same way after reading this book. I strongly recommend it.

13 people found this helpful

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H. Kajita

Fantastic foundation for posing

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2019

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I really enjoyed Roberto’s care describing the the skill of posing. His instructions are comprehensive yet succinct. The book will be like my guidebook that I will reference well into the future. There are a ton of tips I never thought of that I can immediately employ.

If I were to make a couple criticisms:

1) His creation and use of abbreviations (e.g., “P3S”). It seems a bit forced and it doesn’t make the lessons easier to remember. I think using plain English in this case would have been a better option. That said, I think, like posing, his abbreviations can be learned and remembered if the book is to be used as a reference guide.

2) At the end of each chapter, he provides sample images without any captions for the reader to review on his/her own. While I understood the rationale behind this (to test the reader’s knowledge), some of the examples were a little hard to figure out exactly what was happening. He proves in the book that posing is about the details and without him explaining some of the nuanced details, it left me wondering more than understanding. I think giving an explanation of what’s happening in the each of the “test” photos would have been more helpful.

Besides those small nits, this book is easily one of the best photography books I’ve read. I plan to read his other books. He really speaks to you in a genuine and passionate manner, never condescending or reminding the reader he is superior. In fact, he uses his past mistakes as one of the backbones of the book, which I really appreciated. He’s honest and inspiring.

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Naz

Very good book- one of the best

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2014

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Only giving the book 4 stars, as I was hoping it was geared more towards posing singles or couples, but it gets into posing groups quite a bit- which is fine advice for these sorts of shots, but which I personally think should be a separate book altogether, as it kind of distracts from the separate category of portrait and couple photo sessions kind of- in my opinion- I found myself learning a step for single portrait, then getting off track learning about a group shot, which I don't do much of- but for those who do both, this book will be fine-

This book does have a ton of helpful insights into what works and what doesn't though, and the writer really does his homework, which is extensive, and time consuming, to bring the tips to us the reader so that we don't have to go through all the trial and error that he had to discover what works and what doesn't- as well, he seems to really know the 'rules' and how to apply them for the most p leasing looks- how close to edge of frame things should or shouldn't be, what angle to shoot certain shots at- things like this which will save the readers tons of time and frustration. Roberto is one of the best teachers you will find anywhere really- he just has a way of writing out 'steps' that make you go "Hmmm- Yup- that's perfectly clear why he would say that," and "Doh! Why didn't I see that before- that makes perfect sense"- One of the best books on teaching that I've run across. He lays out a checklist for things to watch out for whenever you go on a photo shoot- things which are really important, and which I certainly would have never known to look for on my own- He's got a keen eye- and his experience is invaluable- Well worth the price

4 people found this helpful

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Shyam

This is all you need!

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2014

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Let me start my review by saying that I have never written a review on any book or on any product before. But this book is the best photography book I've ever read together with his first book, Picture Perfect Practice, and I couldn't help but have to write a review.

Do you struggle with posing? I did. Something about the pose tells me it's not working but I didn't know what was wrong and how I could correct that. Does it sound familiar to you? If it does, think no further and get this book. And thank me later :)

Roberto have broken down the art of posing into it's fundamentals in this book. You will clearly understand how each part of the body affect a pose and how to structure your pose depending on what you are trying to convey from it. Gone will be the days where you didn't know where to start with a pose or posing by remembering few poses you have seen before and forcing your clients to pose in exact same way without knowing what's the pose for.

If you have read his first book Picture Perfect Practice, you already know that he is a great teacher. And this book is also very well written and it's an easy read. I am currently reading through the book second time but this time I'm doing it slowly and after reading each chapter, I go through all of his example photos as well as my own photos and consider about ways how it could be improved based on what is wrong about the pose.

Perhaps I was eager to read through the entire book in a short time, I feel I didn't learn much about posing the eyes and creating expressions from my first read. I hope when I read through chapter 15 again after slowly going through all previous chapters, I will pick up some points I've missed in my first read. I understand that each of us have our unique way of directing people and bringing out their expressions. Now, posing the body seems a lot easier for me but I'll need a lot of deliberate practice, experience and experimenting to master posing the eyes and having the expressions.

In a nutshell, this book is all you need for learning what works in a pose and what doesn't. But to master and become second nature at it, you will need deliberate practice and experience. I will also strongly recommend to read his first book to get the idea of how to practice to become better at photography.

5 people found this helpful

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Brent A. Thale

A truly useful photography book!

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2015

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"Picture Perfect Posing" is the most practically useful photography book I have ever read. So many books of this type are so non-specific, speaking in generalities so that very little actionable information is given to the reader. This book is very, very specific, pointing out posing problems and presenting the reader with a defined system for fixing them.

The author uses his own photos as both good and bad examples of posing, which is very encouraging since it shows the reader that it is possible to get significantly better at posing subjects through practice. While reading about the bad examples, I could directly relate to the author and how he dealt with posing when he started out, which was trying to memorize thousands of poses, then forgetting all of them during a shoot and just shouting out random posing commands, hoping for something that works. I have been there.

If you come to photography from an engineering background or you just have a logical mind, Picture Perfect Posing will be a very helpful tool because it is a specific system that addresses common posing problems you will likely encounter, with specific solutions for fixing them. This is so helpful because it can be very difficult to look at a pose and figure out exactly why it doesn't work without this sort of information. For example, the author covers finger positioning, where and how hands should be placed, how noses should be pointed... all very helpful to give photographers a base to work from instead of just trying to create awesomeness from nothing.

The author even touches on facial expression, although that isn't the primary focus of the book. I found this interesting because the method suggested to get good performances is similar to a famous actor direction technique: Give the person a task to concentrate on, like counting fenceposts or trying to spot exactly when the camera's shutter closes behind the lens, etc. This can make it easier for the subject to produce an engaged expression that takes the photo to the next level of professionalism, I would love to see a whole book about direction for still photography.

One nitpick for future editions: On page 168 the text refers to a blue line indicating the "overlap point" of two bodies in a couple's pose. It looks like the publisher changed the blue line to a red circle without updating the text, since I do not see a blue line in the example photos.

I highly recommend "Picture Perfect Posing" to photographers who need a strong base to build poses from, especially for wedding and engagement photography.

44 people found this helpful

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Robert Pear

Well, I have read this book cover to cover ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2016

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Well, I have read this book cover to cover and I am not done with it yet. It is so detailed that as I read it I highlighted certain things (amounting to about half or two thirds of the total text).

It is so informative that I will say that if you are serious about model photography you certainly need to purchase this. Other than the passage of time , I can not imagine the author needs to write another book on modeling techniques or that the buyer needs to buy another one.

This to me was a difficult study. No - I do not mean that it's hard to understand the book. What I mean is that it's so detailed that to fully appreciate it and get the most out of it you should study every detail he describes of a specific pose (for "every pose" illustrated in the book - one by one). If you take the time to do this and apply everything he suggest before shooting your next model - your will look very professional.

There are few authors who cover so many things as this author has. I can't imagine how anyone can read this book cover to cover in a few days and expect to remember even a small fraction of it.

This author has written the "Crown Jewel" of books on how to pose models. His descriptions go way beyond "standard cliches".

Buy it, read slowly, highlite the descriptions of the poses you are interested in (for me that was just about everything), then go back later and formulate your next shoot - based on all the knowledge you have gained from the book - and don't worry if you have made so many notes that you can not possibly trade it in for a discount on your next purchase - because if you have taken the time to study these poses in detail you surely won't have any desire to trade it in.

Finally - for your information - studying this book is not about ( what so many critics think is) imitation. It's about learning techniques and avoiding common (and and not so common) mistakes - then using this knowledge to formulate your own ideas. - Robert Pear

23 people found this helpful

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DJE87

Posing Fundamentals Galore

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2019

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If you’re a newer photographer like I was when I purchased this, posing can be extremely intimidating. The author of this book supplies you with great fundamentals for posing. I have for the most part had extremely happy customers as a result of some of the skills I learned in this book. I tend to avoid more candid shots because I feel photography should have more serious posing. This is great for learning posing for weddings and boudoir as well. All the fundamentals in this book are applicable to all types of portrait photography. Yother actually gets into making sure I tend to avoid more candid shots because I feel photography should have more serious posing. This is great for learning posing for weddings and boudoir as well. All the fundamentals in this book are applicable to all types of portrait photography. The author actually gets into making sure take the most flattering images possible by using proper angles.

2 people found this helpful

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N. McCall

Nauseating, irritating, self-absorbed focus on wedding photography

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2021

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6 people found this helpful

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Ryan VDH

You don't know what your doing wrong till you read this book!

Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2015

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Picture perfect practice took me from being an average photographer to a good photographer, one of the better ones in my city. This new posing book if I put the work into it that it requires I can see taking me anywhere I want to go. This book is a bit harder to grasp than the first book but it pays off 10 fold. This guide let's you see what you have been doing wrong (which is at first horrifying) and then as you work and practise the concepts it get's you to fix those things.

This book is a must for anyone who ever struggles to pose people. But to be honest that wasn't me, this book is even more important for everyone who thought they were doing it right or at least okay to take there posing from a 4 or a 5 to 11. I feel like with my posing I thought I was speaking english but I had not punctuation, and maybe not adjectives. I am truly excited to see what the next year or so of working on this book will do for me.

Lastly I must mention that I recently took Roberto's workshop based around this book. While the book is extremely well worth the money, for anyone who wants to push the gas pedal on their career and go to 11 in the shortest time possible the two in tandem will take you there and give you the energy to push your practice to new heights.

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