One of the bands my wife and I heard about 15 month ago or so is “The Rescues”. Great writing and harmonies. Just saw a deal where they are giving their music away for whatever your willing to pay for it or by telling 5 of your friends. I already own their album, but I really think people should take a moment to check out their music.
http://www.therescues.com/
Exposed, by Claire Lewis, is a quick, fun read into the neurotic world of wedding photography. Claire gives quick, funny, and insightful comments on a wide range of weddings – from the quirky to the disaster to the perfect. And perfect, isn’t what most young brides think of – it’s what works best for the couple, their families, and their friends. About every three chapters, Claire gives a quick autobiography of her life – both professionally and personally.
There’s not necessarily a lot to learn from a technical standpoint outside of the additional equipment list that she carries in her bag. But wedding photography (from an outer sider’s perspective) isn’t about technical skill (which is mandatory), it’s about how to run a business and survive what ever gets tossed your way.
Final recommendation: Read a copy from the local library. It’s enjoyable, but necessarily something that you’ll want to read again. If you enjoy the story, you may also want to lurk on the wedding forum at Fred Miranda – glimpses into a spectacle that can be like watching a train wreck, but at the same time, seeing some amazing photography.
This book is very similar in some ways to Bryan Petterson’s Understanding Exposure, but goes beyond into covering more technical details and providing specific techniques to improve the photographs that you make, as well as details to improve through post-procssing.
I don’t think advanced photographer’s will benefit from reading the book, but both beginners and intermediates will. The book starts with an overview of composition, followed by discussions of exposure in terms of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Next, he presents an excellent overview of the various ways light appears in photographs (side, top, front, back, ….) with very relevant photographs. Rick covers various exposure modes available in digital SLR camera’s, hints for tricky circumstances, and ways to improve your photographs with flash.
The photographs throughout the book are stunning and appropriate for the related text.
Well worth the purchase price for $19.77 at Amazon.
This book by John Beardsworth covers the gamut of black and white photography. He starts with the basics of how to capture the initial image. John next presents a wide range of conversion methods available to the digital darkroom artists. These methods arrange from the insanely stupid to the latest adjustment layers available in CS3. Lightroom’s standard method (which is excellent with the ability to target colors) is also included. The author explains the strengths and weaknesses of each. There’s enough detail for you to follow along in Photoshop, but if you are expecting to have your hand held similar to the style in the Kelby Training books, you’re in the wrong spot.
Next, he talks about how to fine-tune the images, looking for tonal separation, selective conversions of different image selections, constrast, dodging & burning, and then sharpening techniques.
After this baseline, John demonstrates how to creatively finish the images using a wide variety of methods. Once again, he does not give you complete step by step instructions, but he does explain why he chose to finish the image in the particular method.
Finally, he covers presentation – whether it be output for printing or the web.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. From my standpoint, I do not need my hand held through Photoshop with step by step instructions. I also enjoy studying what the author conveys. There is a substantial amount of information in this book and at $25.00, it is well worth the cost.
Final Recommendation: Definitely buy
This book contains 400 of Ansel Adams most significant works from his early teen years to those made in the 1960s. Although forty-four books have either been edited by Ansel Adams or his estate, this is first to cover such wide range of time and allows us to study his progression.
Overall, the book is well edited by Andrea Stillman, who was a long-time assistant to Adams. The print quality is remarkably high and the list price of $40.00 reasonable.
Although, I have not yet spent much time studying Ansel’s other books (to include ten additional books on photography not included in the above counts), a few items jumped out at me that I’m sure are contained elsewhere.
As much as we know Adams for his landscape work, his portraiture work shines strongly. He shows great control over the subject though both composition and lighting. His environmental portraits are extremely well-done showing their subjects within the context of their work and surroundings.
His composition skills are constant on display. A definitive subject always exists. I found his use of framing foreground elements with background elements particularly striking. So often in my work and what I have seen of other photographers, the reverse exists.
Additionally, the patience and the ability to revisit a subject over years and seasons is quite significant. I freely admit that I do not have the patience to wait at a particular location for the perfect light or time of year. It is quite evident from shadows and light within his photographs that the vast majority are taken in the times of “golden hours” of sunrise and sunset. Additionally 22 of 400 photographs are from Half-Dome – a subject he must have taken thousands of shots over a lifetime. (Many digital photographers could probably do that in a single day.)
Recommendation: Buy
I look at books like this one to get inspired from what other artists to do. There’s no doubt that Annie Leibovitz is a great portrait photographer/artist. The contain many solid examples of her work as well as personal photographs with her family. As a photography, there’s plenty for me studywith her use of light and composition.
Where I was disappointed was in some of her attitude/persona. Many autobiography books tend to come off as self-centered and this was one squarely in that trend. One example is the renting of the helicopter to scout locations in Monument Valley, Arizona. She justified the cost by stating that Ansel Adams would have done it. Actually, I don’t think Adams would have. He would have engaged one of the local Navajo’s or Hopi’s to be his guide. Additionally, the photos from the trip that were included are complete crap. They don’t tell any type of story of their own. Why Leibovitz fawns over them, is that they remind her of trip. Unfortunately, some client ended up picking up the cost of unnecessary extravagance.
Another example of how she was more concerned with herself than her clients was using a trip to the tropics and photographing storms. The magazine who commissioned the work was unable to use it for their upcoming beach issue.
To be fair, she comes across very compassionate and loving to her immediate family.
In many ways, I think many serious amateur and professional photographers dismiss her work – believing that they could easily duplicate it. That attitude is wrong. One sing of genius is making the complex appear simple.
Recommendation: Browse through at your local library or bookstore. I honestly can’t imagine ever booking this book up again.
I stumbled across this site looking for photography guides for lighthouses in the Northeast. Not only did a find a quick overview to the entire East Coast, the site also had guides to several locations throughout the United States. Additionally, the site had some pretty good essays and tips on photography.
Well the latest photography book I’ve read is actually fairly recent – having just been published earlier this year.
Overall, Matt Kloskowski’s book is solid, tutorial-based approach to layers within Photoshop CS3. Beginners and intermediate users will appreciate the style – very much the same as other books from the “Kelby Training” organization.
If you have solid understanding of the following topics (and can use independently), I would pass on this book:
Quite frankly, if you already own Scott Kelby’s Seven-Point System book, you can take a pass on this book as well.
From an improvement standpoint, I would have like to seen some material put into the book in a different manner(from the tutorial/step approach) such that the book could function as a reference. For example, description and sample uses of all of the blending modes and layer styles.
Matt did a great job in thinking through the examples in the book and people without much experience in this area, will learn from the book.
There’s also a nugget or two in every chapter on becoming a better post-processor:
Final recommendation: Buy if you need more help and practice with layers.
