Photo Photo
Search Advanced SearchView Cart   Checkout   
 Location:  Home » Books » General » The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos  
Home
Blog

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

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

zoom enlarge 
Author: Michael Freeman
Publisher: Ilex
Category: Book

Buy Used: $104.36



Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 51 reviews
Sales Rank: 4800407

Format: Import
Media: Paperback
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 9.3 x 0.6

ISBN: 1905814046
EAN: 9781905814046
ASIN: 1905814046

Publication Date: June 11, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Excellent customer service. Order inquiries handled promptly.

Also Available In:

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

Similar Items:

  • Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)
  • The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2
  • Understanding Shutter Speed: Creative Action and Low-Light Photography Beyond 1/125 Second
  • The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters (Voices That Matter)
  • The Digital Photography Book

Customer Reviews:   Read 46 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars Super book!   January 7, 2009
This is the first book on photography I have seen in a long time that I have actually read every word! It's a very instructional and inspiring look at how to use composition to make your photographs say what you intend them to say. The writing is terrific, and the accompanying photos are excellent illustrations of the concepts. I will look for other titles by this author and hope they are as good as this one!


5 out of 5 stars Worth twice the price!   December 22, 2008
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is the best photography book I own. This book can be useful for any level photographer, but certainly is tailored to someone who has a good feel for the basics, and wishes to begin to understand how to compose great pictures. Explanations are detailed and thorough, illustrative pictures are well chosen. Buy this this book; you will not be disappointed.


4 out of 5 stars Requires a critical approach in reading   December 21, 2008
Though a promising book on composition/design, it requires the reader to be careful and not take the author's views at face. The reader needs to keep a critical eye on what she reads. Examples:

On page 18, Freeman argues that "distorting" the image taken may be problematic due to ethical considerations (such as extending the sky or the background of the subject) because "the final image is not necessarily as it was seen." Interestingly enough, Ansel Adams would probably disagree, arguing that "printing" is an essential part of image-making procedure where the photographer is actually trying to produce what she *saw* ("visualization", see Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs, "seen in the mind's eye before taking the photo" according to Wikipedia) that led her to take the shot in the first place.

Or on page 20, talking about a photograph of an abandoned Thai temple besides a larger tree, a large foreground, and an elongated sky, he suggests that if the image were to be cropped, the temple should be the subject because "there is nothing else," demonstrating a problematic limit in imagination as he misses the possible significance of other numerous subjects, such as the crop in the foreground, the elongated sky, the larger tree (which I would use as my primary subject), the panorama in the background behind the haze, and so on...



3 out of 5 stars Good content, poor writing style   December 17, 2008
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is a good book for someone looking for a guide to composition theory in photography. It covers a lot of ground and actually teaches you compositional principles, however it's also really hampered by the mediocre writing style. The language just isn't very concise/clear, and at times you are wishing the author would get to the point instead of writing 10 convoluted sentences, which essentially say one thing. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything else close to this book available, so if you want to learn composition and design, this is probably your best bet at the moment despite the writing style.


5 out of 5 stars Best Purchase I've ever made   December 15, 2008
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is fantastic book. Let me tell you where I stand in photography and then you could make your mind regarding this book. I am an enthusiast photographer who will be taking next Spring a one year photography program after shooting for pleasure since 2002. I do a lot of traveling and portraits of family and pets. But now that I know all the nuts and bolts of digital cameras and Photoshop, I felt I wanted to improve my composition. You have no idea how many books are out there offering to teach you photographic composition! For my level of photographic expertise, this book has been a blessing. It is elegantly written and has diagrams and pictures to show you what he means. It is also a finely edited and published book, strong but beautiful. If you happen to be at my level, buying this book will be the best dollars you'll put into your photos.

Disclaimer: This is an Amazon storefront - the products referenced on this site are manufactured and sold by other parties and sold through Amazon.com We make no representations regarding either the products or any information vendors offer about their products. Any questions, complaints, or claims regarding the products must be directed to the appropriate manufacturer or vendor, or to Amazon.com.