IMAGINE THE ADVANTAGE YOU’D HAVE IF ONE OF THE WORLD’S TOP WEDDING SHOOTERS SHARED HIS SECRETS WITH YOU
World-renowned wedding photographer, and one of the most widely acclaimed instructors in the industry today, David Ziser brings his no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point teaching style to a book that totally rewrites the rules for how wedding photography is taught.
This groundbreaking new book is the first of its kind to focus on the exact areas that wedding photographers have been begging a top pro like David to cover, including how to create professional quality light and beautiful images in every situation, how to compose wedding images that sell, and how to create amazing images in the limited time and at the fast pace of a wedding.
But David doesn’t just stop there. He covers every aspect of what today’s brides and wedding couples want from a wedding photographer, including poses that work every time and can’t-miss lighting setups you can use again and again, and everything is laid out in a brilliant step-by-step method that makes learning these techniques so easy, you’ll be able to pull off these same looks yourself (without spending thousands on expensive equipment). Plus, the book is packed with David’s tricks of the trade that he’s picked up in a career shooting all over the world.
LEARN HOW THE PROS REALLY DO IT Each year David trains thousands of photographers on how to shoot weddings like a pro. He knows the problems and challenges today’s wedding photographers face, and that’s exactly what he covers in this book. You’ll learn everything on the list here and much Plus, the book includes the complete cover-to-cover layout from one of David’s wedding album designs to help spark your creative juices and give you ideas to take your own layouts to the next level.
The wedding photography industry has been waiting for a landmark book that would become “the book” that finally changes everything, and that’s exactly what you’ll be getting with the purchase of this book.
Had a TON of great information and tips, but it's definitely targeted at a certain type of wedding photographer: one who's established enough to be able to have one, if not two, assistants. Ziser's shooting method--around which all his tips and techniques in the book are based--includes having an assistant always holding the reflector or the studio strobe/speedlight on a light stand and always being where the photographer needs him/her. For someone just starting at wedding photography or who doesn't/can't have an assistant shadowing and anticipating the photographer's every move, the information in the book is less useful. It would be great if Ziser also gave tips on what to do if you're the sole shooter and/or don't have an assistant, but that type of information is mostly lacking.
One great chapter in the book is about Ziser's choices of lenses and when he uses them during the wedding events, which was very useful. The chapters on composition are also excellent.
All in all, it had a lot of good, useful information. Some of it wasn't useable advice for me simply because I don't have the resources that Ziser or other established, busy wedding photographers do. But as someone who was needing a crash-course book on what to do for the first wedding I ever photographed (for a friend, not a client), it was useful...and better, I imagine, than many other wedding photography books out there. Between Ziser's book and Scott Kelby's The Digital Photography Book, volumes 1 and 2, I got a good enough technical background and tips to feel comfortable with shooting my friends' wedding.
I actually remember reading this in a bookstore a year and a half ago, and getting overwhelmed by all the lighting talk, but coming back to it now that I have a lot more experience under my belt, I have to say, I didn't find this book incredibly useful. For a book published in the 2010, the style of photography is somewhat outdated and while I agree that portraiture is important and needs to continue to find a place in wedding photography, no matter how photojournalistic the trends move toward, the images he chooses to share seem.... more often than not, strangely unflattering.
This isn't to say the information he gives isn't right, and that, particularly, his information on creating good light isn't spot on, but he essentially has published a book that speaks to an audience that died out 10 years ago. Time to move forward, guys.
This book is more for beginners and has a ton of information in it. I love David Ziser and his works but much of this book is outdated and demonstrates techniques used in the 80's and 90's. However, the lighting diagrams and set-ups he uses are still useful for today's photography. He also gives some pretty good advice about wedding day timing, group posing, perspective, lens compression, lens selection etc...
Tons of examples on how to master studio-style wedding photography. Many useful tips and procedures to follow when working as a wedding photographer.
As other users have mentioned, book techniques imply at least one assistant and is focused on formal wedding photography. Bearing that in mind is an outstanding way to know the innards of that business.
It's taken me well over a year to finish this book but there is a ton of great ingformatin included. I learned a lot abut how to use my camera and flash to make even better portraits.