Book Info

Title: Fundamentals of Photography – the essential handbook for both digital and film cameras

Author: Tom Ang

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Release date: November 2008

Edition: 352 pages, soft cover

ISBN: 978-0-375-71157-2

Just a small note before I start with the review: I have a couple of copies of this book to give away. Details are bellow, so keep on reading. 

Tom Ang

Tom is an award-winning photographer with many books published in the photography world. He had several teaching positions and was a senior lecturer in Photographic Practice at the University of Westminster. His work was seen worldwide in several exhibitions. The last time I came across Tom’s name was at the jury panel for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 competition.

Besides Fundamentals of Photography, some other books by Tom Ang (a small sample since the full list is way too large) are: Digital Photography Masterclass, Tao of Photography, Advanced Digital Photography, Erotic Home Photography and How to Photograph Absolutely Everything.

The Content

Fundamentals of Photography is divided in 11 main chapters:

• What is Photography?
• Fundamentals of Light
• The Camera
• Capturing Light
• Using the Lens
• Manipulating Light
• Working with Color
• Processing the Image
• Digitizing the Image
• Outputting the Image
• References

My Impressions

Photography has evolved immensely in the past decade. Digital photography became much more affordable and is now the norm with film relegated basically to the serious enthusiast. This tendency can also be seen in the dedicated photography books and if you take some time at your local book store and overview the contents of the books on photography edited in the last years chances are that a big majority is focused on digital photography. Unfortunately, and of course this is my personal opinion, by “digital photography” many editors are only thinking about digital darkroom. And while knowing what can be done with an image on the computer is a necessity and a pleasure to explore, photography is much more than that. Photography is understanding the camera and how light is captured, is understanding light and knowing how to modulate it, is understanding how an image will be perceived by someone looking at it,… And there is where this book excels.

The content is extremely well structured and explained in detail without overwhelming the reader. Although it can be read from cover to cover in one sitting, one of the strengths of the book is being structured in a way that individual chapters stand by themselves and can be referenced on their own. The sub-chapters are well divided and have just the right length: enough to provide all the information without crossing the “too boring” barrier. Every definition or concept is explained in great detail without sounding excessive, but it does go deep and it is not what can be considered light reading. Even if you are a seasoned photographer, I believe that within the book you’ll find some information that you haven’t seen before. In any case, this is not a “field guide”. Don’t expect to use it as a always-carry-in-your-camera-bag book.

With over 1000 illustrations and photographs complementing the definitions, the book is visually very appealing and able to provide information on just a quick overview. From example photos to schematics on lenses, cameras and other gear, you’ll find everything here.

Intermingled with the content there are small sections that target the more advanced user or the really curious photographer and are technically more complex. Again, bypassing these sections, will not detriment in any way the understanding of the remaining content, but is good to have them around. There is no such thing as too much knowledge…

On the photography gear side, details on available equipment abound. Moreover, Tom gives constant advice on which type of equipment is needed or better suited for a certain kind of shot. And besides that, you’ll get explanations on how the equipment works, allowing you to completely understand the functionality of the equipment and why it might be better suited for a certain task.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Price – at the current listed price, it can’t be beaten
• Huge amount of good information (read again: GOOD INFO & HUGE AMOUNT)
• Content well structured
• Suited for both beginners and seasoned photographers
• Tons of photos and illustrations
• Approaches both digital and film

Cons:

• Page layout can be tricky at times with so many boxes and side notes.

In Conclusion

As I mentioned before, if you are looking just for digital darkroom information, Fundamentals of Photography might not be the more adequate for you. This book feels like a photography encyclopedia and is a reference for everyone wanting to understanding it more. If there was only one book that I’d be able to recommend to anyone wanting to learn photography, this one could very well be it.

Free copy of Fundamentals of Photography

The publishers were kind enough to offer me a couple of copies to give away. One of the copies I’ll be giving here on my blog while the other is offered on PhotoNetCast (the photography podcast I’m co-hosting). This means, two chances for you to win. If you’re interested in a copy just write a comment saying you’re interested. You can leave your comment right on this post, on the show where the giveaway was announced, or both. BE QUICK. On Wednesday, Feb 4th, in the evening, I’ll be randomly selecting the winners. Your comment has to be in by then.

Please Note: This book was sent to me by the publisher for review. Financial compensation was not and will not be received and the review was not read or edited by the publisher before publication. The opinions expressed are mine alone.

Photo Credit: “Confused/Relaxed”, by stevec77 (CC)

"It’s not a photo until its a print"

With this quote Jim Goldstein introduced his Buying Prints from Your Favorite Photographers project. Basically, Jim’s purpose is to have photography fans acquiring and admiring the work of photographers not through a computer screen, but holding the final print. And let me tell you, the experience cannot be compared. After upgrading cameras and having bought some other equipment recently, this project could not have come at a worse time for me, financially speaking. So, I went for the next best thing after a fine art print and got a book from a photographer whose work I’ve been following for years: Sebastião Salgado.

Salgado is a Brazilian-born photographer (or photojournalist if you prefer) that started as an economist for the International Coffee Organization. During his time in Africa on assignment for the ICO, he started documenting his contact with the local populations, all the problems but also all the life inside those people. In "Africa", Salgado goes back to his roots and compiles work from over 30 years in the continent. The book is 345 pages long, filled with more than 300 black and white photos and spiced up by some writings by the Mozambican author Mia Couto (at least in the edition I have).

Admiring Salgado’s work, specially in this book, is like being transported to a different world, one that in many aspects unfortunately still exists. The images of poverty and human misery, something that Salgado has been criticized in the past for glamorizing, are powerful enough to create a profound empathy between the observer and the subjects. If there is a way to photograph so many bad things and making something beautiful out of it, while at the same time not diminishing the suffering or value of the subjects, Salgado has definitely found it. In between, amazing African landscapes can also be admired… What a continent…

His photography style that translates into high-contrast black and white photos, highly enriched by grain texture, or his mastery in dodging and burning that so much enhance his work, is something that you can’t admire on a computer screen, and it’s one of the reasons I wanted to bring his work to Jim’s project. I’m finding myself spending incredible amounts of time looking at each of his images, being drawn to them, being mesmerized and going back for more.

I can’t frame and hang the book on my wall, but that’s for the better, for I would not know in which page to leave it open.

If you want a fantastic coffee-table book by a living Master, that is much more than just a collection of nice images and if you specially enjoy black and white photography, then Africa is for you.

Mastering composition is one of the greatest challenges for many photographers and a skill that if understood and applied, can completely transform your photography. Unfortunately, it can also be one of the hardest.

In this article I’ll introduce to you a new book by Steve Mulligan: Understanding Composition: The Complete Photographer’s Guide.

Book info

Title: Understanding Composition: The Complete Photographer’s Guide

Author: Steve Mulligan

Publisher: Photographers’ Institute Press / The Guild of Master Craftsmen

Release date: September 2008

Edition: 176 pages in hard-cover

ISBN: 978-1-86108-534-4

Steve Mulligan

Steve is a Master Landscape Photographer (as selected by Outdoor photographer Magazine) from Utah, US. He is also an instructor at the Ansel Adams Workshops and specializes in landscape photography with emphasis on the untamed American landscape.

Besides Understanding Composition, Steve is also the author of several other photography books: Terra Incognita, Black & White Photography: A Practical Guide (from the same publisher as above), EarthWorks, Darktown, Living Landscapes of Kansas and Pennsylvania (Wild & Scenic) and has exhibited his work on several locations throughout the US.

The Content

Understanding Composition is divided in ten chapters:

• Introduction
• One: Equipment
• Two: Basics
• Three: Exposure and Focus
• Four: Color & Light
• Five: In Practice
• Six: On Computer
• Seven: The Final Image
• Glossary
• Index

My impressions

When I received the book my first thought was "How can you explain composition? This can’t be an easy one…". Well, it seems that I was wrong. In fact Steve makes it quite easy and after I started reading I could not stop until the end. The book has an easy flow, from the basic technical explanations to all the techniques being applied further on.

With the advancement of the digital age and more powerful applications being developed, one trend in modern photography books is to show the reader not what can be done with the camera but only what can be done in the digital darkroom. In Understanding Composition it felt refreshing to break that trend and clearly shows the photographer’s background from film photography.

The main chapters address some photography basics, making sure that the reader understands what is going to be discussed further on. After the basic explanations (and after my "another basic photography book" thought evaporated) the real diamonds start to show. Every aspect of composition is explained in detail, from the pillars (Viewpoint, rule of thirds, etc.) to more advanced techniques like making use of light and shadows, color, framing or depth of field to lead the eye of the viewer through the photo. Steve also goes into detail on how the balance and direction of light, balancing color and even choosing angles to emphasize shapes can have a dramatic effect on photography.

And if I’m a profound supporter of admiring other photographer’s work to improve my own photography, making sure I understand what makes great a certain photograph, Steve makes this very easy in the book. The concepts are illustrated with "Compare shots" throughout the book, in which pairs of photos are placed side by side to emphasize how a certain feature (focus, differences in light, orientation, cropping, focal length, symmetry, etc) can impact and improve a photo. The selection of photos is excellent and I caught myself analyzing each image with the concepts explained before.

In the end, almost as an added bonus, the author dedicates a chapter to photography presentation, from books to exhibitions, with advice on which medium to choose, how to select and sequence photos for a gallery exhibition and even website presentation.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Easy reading with all the technical aspects clearly explained
• The layout is great, not overstuffed with text clearly giving breathing space to the images
• 176 pages filled with hundreds of photos
• High-quality edition comparable to many photography coffee-table books
• Not the cheapest book around, but for the quality it is extremely well-priced

Cons:

• Small author bio. I like to know more about an author when I read a book and two short sentences didn’t quite do it, but it’s a personal preference
• Although it’s a guide, some sub-chapters could be extended

In Conclusion

Understanding Composition: The Complete Photographer’s Guide is much more than a basic photography book. It’s a true reference that will help shape and improve your photography, not only in the digital darkroom, but specially the field capturing the moment. Truly recommended.

Please Note: This book was sent to me by the publisher for review. Financial compensation was not and will not be received and the review was not read or edited by the publisher before publication. The opinions expressed are mine alone.