Rating: 

After a recent trip to a photo studio to do my first studio portraits, I fell in love with portrait photography. I recently ordered this book after having it on my wish list for a while. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. I got the book on a Friday and had read it twice by the following Wednesday. This is the first publication by Rick Sammon that I have read and I really enjoyed his writing.

Face to Face was written in an easy to read, very light manner. There isn't a whole lot of text compared to most photography how to books, but the information is given in an easy to read and easy to understand manner. This is one of those situations where it's not how much there is to read but it's the quality of the information given. He wrote this book in such a manner even my wife, who is not into photography, was describing things to me that I had no idea she even new about.

This book has tons of photographic examples throughout the book. It is so nice to see what the author is talking about first hand. When a description or technique is given there is also a photo demonstrating the differences.

Thank god finally a photography book that doesn't budget 90% of the book to Photoshop. Rick Sammon gives the reader a brief section on the topic. This book is not real technical, but does go into great detail what it takes to get a great portrait. After reading the book I think the most important aspect is your interaction with the subject you want to shoot.

I would highly recommend anyone that currently shoots portraits, or anyone with the interest in shooting portraits, pick this book up immediately. Your portraits will dramatically improve if you follow Rick's advice.