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Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories |  | Author: Johnson, Glen
Publisher: Wiley
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  110 reviews
Sales Rank: 27134
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 310
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 778.993925
ASIN: B00193HIWA
Publication Date: August 7, 2006
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Product Description
Capture unforgettable moments of that special day
Professional wedding photographer Glen Johnson knows there's a huge difference between being able to take good pictures and being a good wedding photographer. In this exquisite, full-color book, Glen dispenses sage advice and solutions for taking impressive digital wedding images -- posed or candid, in any weather, in any setting, at any locale. You will also learn the secrets of creating a successful digital wedding photography business, and much more. Whether you're an aspiring professional or an amateur who wants to improve your skills at digital wedding photography, this book will help you succeed.
Discover what makes wedding photography a unique specialty
* Find out how to make people feel relaxed and comfortable while you're shooting
* Explore ways to capture the emotion as well as the moment
* Understand different photographic styles and adapt to your client's wishes
* Prepare for all types of lighting situations
* Learn appropriate etiquette for shooting in dressing rooms and during the ceremony
* Know what to take when traveling abroad
* Set up the perfect digital studio to process your images
* Find out how to price your work realistically
* See why your business skills may be more important than your photographic talent
Beautifully illustrated with full-color photographs, each showingthe camera settings and other details used to create the image
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 110
 The best reference for wedding photographers. April 27, 2010
Shane W. Thompson (Corona Ca, USA)
I have read many, many books on wedding photography, and this is by far the best and most comprehensive book on wedding photography ever written. It takes into account that you already know how to operate your camera, and are a skilled photographer already, it then takes that skill and shows you how to apply it to this specific profession. It looks at all styles, and methods. If you are looking to become a professional wedding photographer, this is a must have reference.
I really really am glad I have it April 22, 2010
Ms211 (Los Angeles, CA United States)
I got this book because I wanted to learn more about transitioning into wedding photography from the professional photography that I already offer. I first saw the book and read pages of it at a bookstore. I didn't have my wallet on me to get the book then but I did put it on my birthday wish on amazon and someone purchased it for me.... great book. He gives great pointers as someone would who is walking you through the directions of what to do. I recommend it.
BTW, he also gives a list of equipment he suggest you use and reasons as to why.
 very basic, not what i expected April 19, 2010
Christy L. Akemon (cincinnati, oh)
along with many others i purchased this book based on reviews, and did not get what i expected. the author claims in the beginning that this book is not intended for a beginning photographer, but yet if that was the case why does he go over so many basics in this book? while there was some helpful information in this book, i was expecting sooooo much more and was very disappointed.
quantity over quality February 8, 2010
Michael Winters
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
Dismayed by yet another book purporting to be a guide to digital wedding photography. The topic is really too big to cover well in a single book, nonetheless Glen Johnson, like many dozens of other photographers charges ahead and tries to do so. As a result there is inaccurate and incomplete information on the digital camera equipment needed to photography weddings for pay without disappointing poor brides who are likely to regret for the rest of their lives the novice that they hired to photograph their wedding, using their Canon Rebel and a single zoom lens with a solitary flash unit and little technical skill or knowledge of composition or posing or even of their camera and flash.
This book is bound to appeal to the complete novice who wants to be told that it is easy to break into wedding photography and no big investment of time, money, and apprenticeship is needed. Easy to read the book and thick that everything is covered and all you really need as Glen mentions is a camera and a 35-135mm zoom lens. Easy to put up a posting on Craigslist and pay for that new camera or lens you have wanted but could not justify to the spouse or afford to buy.
Anyone entering the very crowded field of wedding photography thinks that it as easy as it looks and Glen does nothing to dispel this notion and in fact encourages it. Anyone interested in getting into wedding photography should direct their learning into group posing, composition, lighting, and spend time working with a pro principal photograph instead of learning at the expense of actual couples and their families. Glen encourages people to get a camera and a 35-135mm lens and go for it. What happens when the light level is low as with most churches and receptions or when the single camera fails or key shots are missed while the photographer is checking the LCD display and trying to determine the correct camera and flash settings to use or changing between their two lenses or the flash stops working midway through the day.
I have had the opportunity to review thousands of images taken by people wanting to be second photographers and more than 80% of the time I have to wonder about why they took a particular shot where nothing was happening and people's faces are devoid of expression much less the type of emotion that is much present at weddings, and often the photographers have no concept of DOF, how their camera's AF settings impact performance, how to do mixed light exposures with flash and the camera in manual mode, and they figure they can fix it all later in Photoshop - how wrong they are. If it was just their pictures of a wedding for themselves well no big deal and no harm done unless they get in the way of the photographer hired to photograph the wedding.
Areas like composition are given only the most rudimentary treatment and might as well been left out of the book altogether. No comparisons of bad and good shots and explanation of why one shot failed and how it should have been shot with the single exception of a group picture taken by green plants and grass. No mention of the problems likely to occur from the green light reflected off green plants and onto peoples skin. The many bad wedding photographers out doing shoot and burn weddings are not going to improve their abilities with this book and worse it encourages people with no experience to give it a try with no understanding of what is needed in the way of camera equipment and skill and knowledge of photographing people and the particulars of wedding photography.
There are hundreds of books, many quite good, that deal with photography, camera usage, composition, posing, flash lighting, Photoshop and post processing, DAM, and other areas that deserve to be covered in depth and studied by budding photographers. Many excellent website as well as forums where one can see the work of others and explore what works and what does not and also read about other people entering the field of wedding photography and of their trials and tribulations and try to learn from their mistakes as much as possible. In this area Glen makes no comment much less recommendations for the reader.
Digital cameras have led many people to believe that producing a few properly exposed and in focus pictures is all that it takes. And if they can do it at a friend's birthday party or company picnic then they are ready to photograph a friend's wedding or even charge for their services. These people have never had to take 2000 pictures over a 8-12 hour period indoors and out and with people moving around in dimly lit churches and hotel banquet halls or used their flash for hundreds of pictures with all of the pics correctly exposed, color balanced, and focused, while capturing the essence of the key moments of the day. Books like this one by Glen provide just enough rope for beginning wedding photographers to hang themselves and their brides.
Amazingly bad pictures used in the book. Someone should have looked at the proofs and realized that almost all the pictures were much too dark and hardly professional. I expect that Glen gives his brides and his families pictures that are quite different from what appear in the book and this may be the fault of the publisher. Regardless one would do much better to review images online at wedding photographers' websites and at online wedding photography forums like the digital wedding forum.
With the flood of digital wedding books by photographers eager to earn extra income and gain a little more visibility in the industry it is difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff, especially with the universally glowing Amazon reviews by novice photographers. One book that is really worthy of praise is the book by the Australian wedding photographer, Marcus Bell. What Bell covers he covers well.
Master's Guide to Wedding Photography: Capturing Unforgettable Moments and Lasting Impressions
For getting started with learning posing techniques for weddings there is the very good book by Norman Phillips
Professional Posing Techniques for Wedding and Portrait Photographers
Point is that you cannot get all the information needed from any one book or for that matter any collection of books. A lot needs to be learned by doing and this does not mean at the expense of a bride and groom and parents and friends. Too many people photographing weddings do not even have a basic understanding of how THEIR camera and lenses and flash work. Recommendations like those made by Glen, to the effect that in these situations I have the camera on auto white balance and the flash at -1EV may be perfect for his Canon 5D and 580EX flash but this is not going to work with another camera, even a Canon camera, or a different flash, even a Canon flash, much less most of the equipment the new photographer will take to their first wedding. This is where the information provided on websites like the digitalweddingforum and others provide much better information that is useful and current.
Glen defends the shoot and burn photographers and uses the justification of the money they can earn for the little effort put forth but this really begs the question as to whether it is good for the wedding photography industry and whether it really is fair to the bride and groom and their families that are likely a year later to have only prints from Costco and no album. Hard to imagine a video camera person giving a couple all the recorded tapes from the wedding and expecting the couple to go off and edit them into something for viewing. It is great for the photographer who can leave the wedding, burn the files to a DVD and put it into the mail on Monday morning on the way in to work at their real job.
Do not understand why Glen and others with their books try to glorify wedding photography without a balanced perspective of the cost of all the equipment, the need to stay current with their skills and knowledge of not just photographing weddings but on creating products like gallery prints, DVD's, storybook albums, and business regs for sales tax, insurance, licenses, and liability protection from disgruntled brides when the photographer's equipment fails or the CF cards are stolen and other unexpected events happen. Nor the amount of effort to be attentive and anticipate the events of the day and be in position (and on your feet) throughout the day from when the bride starts to get her hair done to the end of the reception with her departure with her husband. Wedding photography requires a greater investment in equipment and capital and greater technical skill and better people skills than any other single area of photography while requiring that the photographer be a virtually solo act operating without benefit of a safety net.
For reasons I cannot fathom the wedding photography book authors often encourage people to get into wedding photography when most would find it a lot easier and a lot cheaper and involve a lot less risk to start with portrait photography or corporate event photography or team sports photography but somehow wedding photography has taken on a certain glamor that has resulted in an enormous volume of mediocre photographs and doubtless many unhappy brides. I have met more than a few mothers of brides who would still feel the pain of the poor photography of their own wedding and not having the kinds of photographs that they wanted their daughter to be able to enjoy.
If someone spends the $29.99 for Glen Johnson's book and follows his recommendations and think that they have the bases covered to even photograph a friend's wedding for free, they are sadly mistaken. They do not know what they do not know and this book like many others provides an incomplete and at times very accurate overview of wedding photography and the the professional requirements to get the job done and have delighted instead of disappointed couples as the result of their efforts.
Great advice January 19, 2010
C. D. McKelroy (Lake Jackson, Texas United States)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Just finished reading the book. Was everything all the others said and more. Will re-read it before I start shooting my first wedding. If you are new to weddings and already know your equipment, get the book to learn the what, when, where, and how for doing weddings.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 110
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