Article
Dental Photography – Portfolio Guidelines.
On first receiving this book, I was delighted to hold and review the book due to its outstanding binding and presentation. The book itself comes in A4 landscape format, with a solid metal ring binder and pop-out flip stand for presentation of selected pages. The first two pages of the book encompass the author's preferred equipment ‘load out’ using a Nikon camera. At the bottom of these pages are some recommended alternative cameras, lens, flashes and accessories options.
The book is split into three main sections, displaying all necessary portrait, lips and teeth shots. At the start of each section the full range of shots are summarized, which would be useful for teaching a team in-house. Each selected photographic image is then displayed with a high-quality gloss finish, on the right-hand side, with the remainder of the page having a tactile matt plastic finish.
Down the left side of each page is a section suggesting background set-up, camera type and settings. Along the bottom of each page is a tips section consisting of suggestions on how to position the subject, instructions to give to the patient and how each shot may be useful in diagnosis or treatment. The teeth image section provides additional information on retractors and contrasters in order for the reader to achieve excellence. The quality of the images is very good, and this book could be used as an aide-memoire to enable assistants to capture the perfect shot.
As a keen dental photographer myself, I understand the value of taking regular pictures of my patients' dentition, to ensure outstanding results and, in rare cases, identify problems early on in treatment. This book added to my knowledge of photography and provided me with information about shots I could take, in addition to my standard set.
However, this book is not for the novice as there is far more to dental photography than what is written on these pages. Producing consistently superb photos takes practise and some education over just buying the correct camera and having the right settings. Purchase of this book should be seen as an adjunct to having someone in the team already adept at photography, or in preparation for undertaking a hands-on/educational course. Diligent readers will find a link to the author's dedicated ‘dental photo master’ website where, for an annual fee of $749/year, you can access videos and tutorials to compliment this well presented publication.