The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos

The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos
by Michael Freeman

The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos
List Price: $29.95
Category: Book
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Book Summary Information

Author: Michael Freeman
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-06-06
ISBN: 0240809343
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Focal Press
Product features:

Book Reviews of The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos

Book Review: Why are some of my photos stunning but the vast majority sucks? Here I found the answer.
Summary: 5 Stars

I've been doing extremely close up, what most people these days would call macro, and a lot of microphotography for many years, both professionally for my work and as a hobby but I never really cared much about my travel shots. Recently, however, I started to notice that among tons of uninspiring photos, I manage to capture some really stunning images... National Geographic stunning if you know what I mean. I started to wonder then, what made these shots so special, and more importantly, how could I increase their frequency, from 1:5000 to let's say 1:500 (I am not overly ambitious here). Because of my job I know about lenses, apertures, DOF, exposition, etc, but after talking to a friend who studied photojournalism it became clear that what I was missing was a serious look into what goes into photographic composition. Enters Freeman's book.

The book covers the basics of composition, that is the study of how the objects in front of a camera melt into a 2D image -my poor definition-, from the beginning. The book does not require previous knowledge of composition theory, but I think the reader may benefit from a prior understanding of some basic photography topics (knowing the difference between a wide angle and a telephoto lens for example). Freeman's book will show you how to use the geometrical forms within a frame to convey information, how to take advantage of shapes and color to suggest different things to the viewer, as well as discuss what makes a shot "pleasant to the eyes". This book certainly gave me many hints about why my good photos are good and the bad ones are bad and as a result I notice the quality of my travel photography has really improved (I have friends asking me for copies of some photos... this is a first!).

Also, and unexpectedly I must add, I found myself applying what I learned here to my macro and micro-photography with very good results. It turns out you can -albeit often in a very limited way- compose in the micro world also and it makes a difference!

In summary... if you know the technical aspects of photography, you know what every control and menu item in your camera does, and now you want to put that knowledge to work and take better photos, then you are likely going to benefit from checking out this book.

Summary of The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos

Design is the single most important factor in creating a successful photograph. The ability to see the potential for a strong picture and then organize the graphic elements into an effective, compelling composition has always been one of the key skills in making photographs.
Digital photography has brought a new, exciting aspect to design - first because the instant feedback from a digital camera allows immediate appraisal and improvement; and second because image-editing tools make it possible to alter and enhance the design after the shutter has been pressed. This has had a profound effect on the way digital photographers take pictures.
The Photographer's Eye shows how anyone can develop the ability to see and shoot great digital photographs. The book explores all the traditional approaches to composition and design, but crucially, it also addresses the new digital technique of shooting in the knowledge that a picture will later be edited, manipulated, or montaged to result in a final image that may be very different from the one seen in the viewfinder.

Features
*Covers both traditional in-camera composition and the new opportunities for picture-making made possible by digital imaging editing
*Shows how to explore situations and locations in order to find the best possible photographic possibilities
*Uses clear examples from real photographic assignments, with schematic illustrations of how and why the pictures work

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