Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait: The Art of Celebrity and Editorial Photography [Paperback]

Make no mistake about it. Michael Grecco is a brilliant portrait photographer and the pictures presented in this book are top-notch and edgy. Yet, as I read this book, I at first felt that this was another example of how-to-itis. That's the case where a publisher feels that a book will sell better if it's an instructional manual than if it's a portfolio.

I felt this even more strongly as I read the first few pages, where I encountered pictures that documented the use of equipment and techniques that I knew nothing about. Then as I read further, I found that the discussions of general principles followed the pictures rather than preceding them. I found this a strange editorial technique that left me mystified as I looked at pictures and then had me flipping back to them after the discussion. I was also glad I knew a little bit about portrait photography so that I could understand the skeletal descriptions of the technical aspects of what Grecco was doing

Grecco has sections on cameras, illumination, the medium, creativity and conceptualization, the subject/ photographer connection and case studies. In this last section he presents pictures grouped by subject matter and then explains how he came to pose the pictures and light them. Throughout, he used this show and then tell approach. Once I got used to it, I didn't find it so off-putting.

You may wonder who the audience for this book is. For example, when he describes the army of assistants involved in a shoot, including make-up artists, prop builders, location scouts and so forth, the average photographer will feel out of his league. One of the lights that Grecco uses may cost more than all of the equipment some serious photographers may own. The author does not teach fundamental lighting techniques, and in fact says that one of his guiding principles is to always break the rules of lighting. At first it might appear that Grecco is speaking just to the other members of the clique of celebrity photographers.

Most of us will never be able to get actor Jet Li to leap four or five feet into the air in an alley filled with smoke from a fog machine in front of a setup of five strong strobe lights. On the other hand, I thought that rather then photographing that young ballerina in a graceful plie, I could have gotten a more exciting picture if I had asked her to do jetes. And I was inspired to research the rental of a fog machine which turned out to be quite inexpensive. And even though I might never be able to get Martin Landau to pose in back of an iron weave railing in Café La Boheme, I could pose Uncle George behind the wrought-iron railing in Aunt Jane's place.

So, for the portrait photographer who feels that he or she has to push out of the box of conventional lighting and posing techniques, this book may be a source of ideas. For other photographers, it may be fascinating to find out how one big-time portrait photographer does it, and admire his work, even if we never apply any of his techniques.

This book is another artsy treatment of lighting that talks more about the art of lighting. He assumes you know how to do most of the technical lighting stuff.

While he does show a 'wire drawing' of some setups it does not go very deep into the technical at all. I was hoping for a bit more 'hands on' or 'how to set up' information. If you want to be inspired, maybe this is your book. If you are looking for instruction, look elsewhere. My copy will be up in the used book section.

Don't read it cover-to-cover. Just flip though this book and stop at the first picture that grabs you. Grecco is that rare photographer who can actually put into words the creative process behind his images. He is smart, honest, funny, and frank about what it takes to make the beautiful, unique, and skillfully executed portraits that lavishly illustrate this book. There is a wealth of detailed, specific information about how the photographs were created (lighting diagrams, actual cameras, lenses, and lights used, etc.), however, most valuable is his emphasis on WHY he made his various creative and technical decisions. This volume would be worthwhile for the pictures alone, or for the diagrams, the behind-the-scenes anecdotes, or just for the insights into the technical, practical, strategic, interpersonal, and financial components that contribute to the successful outcome of what is typically thought of as a simply artistic endeavor. Rather than regarding it as a book of recipes to be rigorously replicated, he suggests using it as a jumping-off point; as an opportunity to facilitate and fine-tune your own creative process.

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