Think Before You Shoot


Book Description

This is a book is a visual feast, an offering both for those who love fine art and those who recognize the thought behind its creation. It is in addition, a book for photographers seeking to learn how to make your own photographs more artistic. The goal of this book is to offer readers, a guide for those seeking to take fine, interpretive photographs and a joyful thought-provoking journey that the photographs in this book will inspire.




The Heart of the Photograph


Book Description

Learn to ask better, more helpful questions of your work so that you can create stronger and more powerful photographs.

Photographers often look at an image—one they’ve either already created or are in the process of making—and ask themselves a simple question: “Is this a good photograph?” It’s an understandable question, but it’s really not very helpful. How are you supposed to answer that? What does “good” even mean? Is it the same for everyone?

What if you were equipped to ask better, more constructive questions of your work so that you could think more intentionally and creatively, and in doing so, bring more specific action and vision to the act of creating photographs? What if asking stronger questions allowed you to establish a more effective approach to your image-making? In The Heart of the Photograph: 100 Questions for Making Stronger, More Expressive Photographs, photographer and author David duChemin helps you learn to ask better questions of your work in order to craft more successful photographs—photographs that express and connect, photographs that are strong and, above all, photographs that are truly yours.

From the big-picture questions—What do I want this image to accomplish?—to the more detail-oriented questions that help you get there—What is the light doing? Where do the lines lead? What can I do about it?—David walks you through his thought process so that you can establish your own. Along the way, he discusses the building blocks from which compelling photographs are made, such as gesture, balance, scale, contrast, perspective, story, memory, symbolism, and much more. The Heart of the Photograph is not a theoretical book. It is a practical and useful book that equips you to think more intentionally as a photographer and empowers you to ask more helpful questions of you and your work, so that you can produce images that are not only better than “good,” but as powerful and authentic as you hope them to be.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Better Questions

PART ONE: A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH?
Is It Good?
The Audience's Good
The Photographer's Good

PART TWO: BETTER THAN GOOD
Better Subjects

PART THREE: BETTER EXPRESSION
Exploration and Expression
What Is the Light Doing?
What Does Colour Contribute?
What Role Do the Lines and Shapes Play?
What's Your Point of View?
What Is the Quality of the Moment?
Where Is the Story?
Where Is the Contrast?
What About Balance and Tension?
What Is the Energy?
How Can I Use Space and Scale?
Can I Go Deeper?
What About the Frame?
Do the Elements Repeat?
Harmony
Can I Exclude More?
Where Does the Eye Go?
How Does It Feel?
Where's the Mystery?
Remember When?
Can I Use Symbols?
Am I Being Too Literal?

PART FOUR: BETTER PHOTOGRAPHS
The Heart of the Photograph
Index




After You Shoot


Book Description

The dangerous legal loopholes facing an innocent person after a self-defense shooting are described, with solutions proposed. Calling 911 after surviving a criminal assault negates your right to remain silent, your right to have an attorney present during questioning, and compromises your 5th Amendment guarantee against self incrimination, all into a police voice recorder while you¿re still traumatized and shaking from adrenaline. Proposed solutions include changes to law and criminal procedure, suggested behavior on the phone at the scene, and the model used by police after an officer-involved shooting, along with the controversial ¿Adnarim¿ statement.




Think Before You Shoot


Book Description

This book was originally born out of a frustration with my travel photography. I would take trips to amazing places and even with all the inspiration, the work I brought back was more of a snapshot quality than good photography.The best way for me to learn is to teach others. I sat down an analyzed what was going wrong and I wrote the original book. Now, several years later, I have learned more and expanded my vision.The principles I teach here are those I practice. And with time, they become almost automatic when I am shooting. My photography has changed for the better and I hope the book with give you new approaches to how you think about yours.




Road to Seeing


Book Description

After beginning his career as a photojournalist for a daily newspaper in southern California, Dan Winters moved to New York to begin a celebrated career that has since led to more than one hundred awards, including the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography. An immensely respected portrait photographer, Dan is well known for an impeccable use of light, colour, and depth in his evocative images. In Road to Seeing, Dan shares his journey to becoming a photographer, as well as key moments in his career that have influenced and informed the decisions he has made and the path he has taken. Though this book appeals to the broader photography audience, it speaks primarily to the student of photography--whether enrolled in school or not--and addresses such topics as creating a visual language; the history of photography; the portfolio; street photography; personal projects; his portraiture work; and the need for key characteristics such as perseverance, awareness, curiosity, and reverence. By relaying both personal experiences and a kind of philosophy on photography, Road to Seeing tells the reader how one photographer carved a path for himself, and in so doing, helps equip the reader to forge his own.




Shooting in Sh*tty Light


Book Description

Sometimes photographers have to shoot in less than ideal lighting situations. Maybe the wedding is mid-day in the middle of a field, or perhaps the event is in a florescent-lit room. These scenarios can be particularly intimidating for beginning photographers who don't know how to handle the many undesirable lighting situations they may encounter. In Shooting in Sh*tty Light, professional photographers Lindsay Adler and Erik Valind cover the top ten worst lighting situations and provide a variety of solutions for each. They explain which solutions are most practical and why one option might be preferable over another, examining such problems as extremely low lighting when no flash is allowed, strong backlight, and the light on an overcast day. Unlike other books that focus on natural light or lighting in general, this book addresses a very real need of beginning photographers, answering the question, “What do I do when the lighting is terrible?” Lindsay and Erik candidly show you the tools at your disposal, demonstrating the techniques essential to getting the job done with minimal fuss. Shows how to deal with ten of the worst lighting situations, such as harsh midday light, extremely low light, and mixed light. Offers real-life examples and practical solutions for handling poor light, such as identifying natural reflectors, bouncing light off a wall, or utilizing flash gels. Features a fun, conversational style to help you conquer the fear of poor lighting and approach any lighting situation with confidence!




Think/Point/Shoot


Book Description

Think/Point/Shoot gives students a thorough overview of the role of ethics in modern media creation. Case studies emphasize the critical issues in global media ethics today in all stages of media creation from preproduction research and development, to production and post production. This volume features practicing filmmakers, journalists, and media creators who provide insight into dealing with real-world ethical dilemmas. For this era, digital imagery, sounds, and web communication have opened doors to sharing thoughts and ideas instantaneously to potentially vast audiences. This presents exciting opportunities, but also serious ethical, legal, and social challenges. The cases and exercises found in this book are applicable to the current media field while still remaining grounded in strong ethical theory. Think/Point/Shoot explains the challenge of communicating a story to a worldwide audience while maintaining ethical standards. A companion website provides additional resources for students and instructors: media ethics game chapter summaries and case studies important forms Instructors will also find: classroom exercises PowerPoints video from the "Global Media Ethics" Conference from March 2013




Lomo


Book Description

The Lomo camera, an icon of mid-20th century design, is perceived as unable to take a bad picture, due to the unique, glass lens and capability for handling low-light levels. This antidote to all things digital and slick has found a vast international following of people who use it to document every aspect of their lives. This has spawned fan clubs and competitions the world over, culminating in the 2001 final in Cuba. This work features many images by keen lomographers, alongside facts, figures, anecdotes and ravings. It charts the visual language, history and lifestyle of this unique cult, an extraordinary camera and its global audience.




Photographers on Photography


Book Description

Through a carefully curated selection of quotations, images and interviews, Photographers on Photography reveals what matters most to the masters. With enlightening text by Henry Carroll, author of the internationally bestselling Read This If You Want To Take Great Photographs series, you'll discover how the giants of the genres developed their distinctive visual styles, the core ideas that underpin their practice and, most importantly, what photography means to you.




Mastering the Model Shoot


Book Description

For the first time ever, world-famous photographer and fashion lighting instructor Frank Doorhof takes you behind the scenes to reveal every step of his model-photography workflow–the same workflow that has made him a hero to photographers around the world thanks to his practical, budget conscious, no-nonsense approach. In this groundbreaking book, Frank starts right at the beginning with how to find models, find great locations, work with backgrounds (you’ll be amazed at his tricks for creating stunning backgrounds for just a few bucks), and work by yourself or with a team (stylist, hair stylist, and makeup artist) to create an image that will get your photography noticed. Then, it’s on to an in-depth look at the lighting setups and looks that made Frank famous (complete with diagrams and detailed explanations). You’ll see how Frank lights his images (you’ll be shocked at how simple most of his lighting setups are and you’ll be able to create these same setups yourself), plus he covers the critical little stuff nobody else is talking about, including: how to calibrate your monitor (and why it’s so important); how to use a color target to nail your color every single time; and why (and how) to use a light meter to get consistent, reproducible lighting each and every shoot. Frank also shares his own retouching techniques through step-by-step tutorials, and he takes you from start to finish through a number of different looks so you can see exactly how it’s done, and recreate these same looks yourself. If you’ve ever wished there was one book that covers it all, the whole process of photographing models from start to finish, not leaving anything out, then this is the book for you.