Assuming you’re a photographer that shoots pretty girls, JimmyD may be known to you as the guy that writes the Pretty Girl Shooter blog on blogspot (yes it is NSFW and needs a clickthrough to get there). As a working professional in the glamour industry, he’s become a goto guy for information on shooting this genre. As the blog goes, it’s a mix between posts on Jimmy’s work, and a little philosophy thrown in for good measure. One thing that is the case with most blogs is that posts are bit-sized. Enough information to hold the average viewer, but not enough to qualify as indepth. That’s where the realm of the book comes in.
The posts about a future DVD on the subject of Pretty Girl Shooting have been many, and whether or not it’ll happen, Jimmy has written a book on glamour shooting in the interim. It’s called Guerrilla Glamour, and introduces the topic of shooting glamour. This is written for the beginner to intermediate level photographer, and covers the range of topics involved in shooting including, gear, lighting, finding and working with models, modifiers and post processing. Jimmy goes into great detail in choosing equipment to a budget, but also make clear distinctions on when you need to spend money to get a better result. The style of writing is that of a conversation with a mentor. Personally I quite like books that are written this way, as making a connection with the writer makes the reading easier.
The book is chocablock with great images as well as BTS (behind the scenes) photos. One disconnect I didn’t like in the book, is that often the BTS doesn’t have an actual image from the shoot associated with it. I felt this would’ve pushed the point home further. That said, it didn’t take away from what was being taught, and is merely an observation.
Chapter 4 is an especially interesting read, with a very current blog post title: 10 suggestions for improving your glamour photography. This chapter distills a lot of the essence of the book, and is a good quick reference to return to. Another superbly beneficial section is that on dealing with models, from both the rapport point of view, to how you behave, and how to get the best out of them. For the lighting section, Jimmy covers lighting with one light and then moves on with examples showing up to 4 lights in operation. He also shows many examples with different modifiers such as the Octabox, and the Beauty Dish as key lights lights. Overall, it’s a very informative read, and really sticks with the keep it simple stupid mantra.
The book can be purchased via this affiliate link, it’s the same price as on Jimmy’s site, but I do get something back to help the upkeep of this site. That fact hasn’t influenced the review either. If I thought it was crap I’d say so. Overall I’d give this book 4 out of 5 for beginner to intermediate photographers coming into working with people. If you’ve a lot of experience with people, this may still be useful as a reference.
