Book Description
Time-tested lighting strategies that will improve the quality of a portrait are detailed in this book for beginning photographers. Terminology used by industry pros is explained, the equipment needed to create professional results is outlined, and the unique role that each element of the lighting setup plays in the studio is explored. Photographers learn how color, direction, form, and contrast affect the final portrait. The concise text, photo examples, and lighting diagrams enable photographers to easily achieve traditional lighting styles that have been the basis of good portraiture since the advent of the art.
Customer Reviews:
For the advanced Photographers.......2007-09-10
I read the book and one thing that I did learn is that I need to take some Photo classes and learn more about taking photos. Some of the subject matter was over my head.
Good book, great guide, very helpful.......2007-08-10
I am halfway through this book and find the instructions, diagrams and pictures very helpful. I do not understand some of the criticisms because this is about staged lighting and studio portrait and will always be "posed". I am amazed at the length of detail that the author has gone through and appreciate the multiple portrait examples in various lightings.
Great for spawning lighting ideas..........2007-08-09
This book met and even exceeded my expectations. Much like "The Portrait Photographer's Guide to Posing", this book is an excellent reference book that you will find yourself re-reading for inspiration and technique. The examples and photos are great and the book is very easy to follow. I am glad that I ordered this book.
An impressive book that teaches it all.......2007-07-03
I am a photo prothusiast. I love photography and use it in my profession. Recently I have toyed with the idea of shooting portraits on the side for a little extra cash. I thought I'd bone up on my portrait lighting techniques. I bought a few books, including Christopher Grey's Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers.
I have to say, Christopher's book is my favorite. I have had a blast working through the techniques he teaches in this book. He starts out by giving a rundown of lighting gear on the market. He weighs the pros and cons of different lighting systems and shares his favorites.
The book gets really exciting when he starts teaching lighting techniques. He uses actual photographs so you can see the results, comparing light settings and placement. He demonstrates many configurations, each more beautiful than the last.
I have taken this book seriously. I love to grab a subject and get busy, trying out his different light scenarios and seeing if I can match his quality. In some cases I have, in others I need practice.
I would highly recommend this book for both pros and beginners. It is an excellent reference that I have found invaluable.
Thank you, Christopher.
I hope this helps.
-Craig Nybo, co-author of Total Human: The Complete Strength Training System
Great Buy!.......2007-06-20
I have learned tons of information from this book on lighting. You must have it if you are a little or alot confused about studio lighting and how to do it right!
Pam Vasquez
Book Description
Can you find your digital photographs when you need them, or do you spend more time rifling through your hard drive and file cabinets than you'd like? Do you have a system for assigning and tracking content data on your photos? If you make a living as a photographer, do your images bear your copyright and contact information, or do they circulate in the marketplace unprotected?
As professional photographer and author Peter Krogh sees it, "your DAM system is fundamental to the way your images are known, both to you and to everyone else." DAM, or Digital Asset Management, in the world of digital photography refers to every part of the process that follows the taking of the picture, through final output and permanent storage. Anyone who shoots, scans or stores digital photographs, is practicing some form of digital asset management. Unfortunately, most of us don't yet know how to manage our files (and our time) very systematically, or efficiently.
In The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers, Krogh brings clarity to the often overwhelming task of managing digital photographs, with a solid plan and practical advice for fellow photographers on how to file, find, protect and re-use photographs. Following a thorough overview of the DAM system and de-mystifications of metadata and digital archiving, Krogh focuses on best practices for digital photographers using Adobe Photoshop CS2. He explains how to use Adobe Bridge, the new CS2 navigational software that replaces the File Browser introduced in Photoshop 7, with full details on integrating Bridge, Camera Raw and Digital Asset Management software.
Compellingly presented in four-color format, The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers brings Krogh's award-winning creative approach to a subject that could have been technically intimidating. Instead, Krogh's twenty years of experience and instructive visual storytelling make this material not only accessible, but compulsory reading for serious digital photographers.
Customer Reviews:
Organization!.......2007-08-31
This is a good book. It is very helpful in determining how to organize photographs. It also is a give a good review of Bridge. It would be nice for the book to be up dated to cover CS3.
An Excellent Overview.......2007-03-31
I found this book to be an excellent resource to help you to understand how all the pieces fit together.
Indespensable Reference for management & storage of digital photos............2007-03-18
As a novice in the area of digital asset management, I found this book to be extremely helpful.....well written and full of great suggestions on how best to manage your photos. Highly recommended.......a true five-star guide.
HIghly Recommended.......2007-03-08
Helps you learn how to deal with all the digital photography photos that amass on your hard drive. Do you save them as JPEG , RAW, both? What about DNG? How do you tag, and archive these files? Why would I do it this way? It's important to know when your files reach into the thousands!! Do you want to lose your data or save it as an inferior file? I hope this book gets updated yearly.
Once good, now seriously outdated and needlessly complex.......2007-03-02
The DAM Book was probably much needed when it was first published - its publication coincided with a realization by many professional and serious amateur photographers that handling the quickly growing digital photo collections required a sound organizing approach and dedicated software tools. The book aptly points out that dealing with digital image workflow and the resulting file archives is in many significant ways different than dealing with film-based archives. Based on this initial premise, the book offers recommendations on how to organize digital photo studio workflow and filing / archive system.
Alas, the author chose to tie VERY CLOSELY his mostly sensible conceptual framework (i.e., HOW to organize) with very specific software and hardware. Often, more general advice is difficult or impossible to separate from his step-by-step, software-specific recipes. So, unless you use exactly the same software and hardware configuration as the author, much, if not most of this information will be of little use.
Since the book was first published, new, DAM- and photographic workflow-oriented software has become available (Adobe CS3, including the new Bridge is now in public beta nearing its release; and Apple Aperture 1.5 and Adobe PS Ligtroom 1.0 are the new, more workflow-focused tools), and more up-to-date (although dispersed) discussion of problems in question can be found in numerous articles on the web. This makes large portions of the book obsolete, as new tools enable different workflows that may be better suited to many photographers' preferences.
The book has other issues.
First, the author LOVES using technical jargon. While technical vocabulary is appropriate in discussing technical issues, creating new terms and elaborate taxonomies for everything is an overkill. The author's misguided argument for using "controlled vocabularies" (a common term, which he uses in his own, very peculiar way - p. 47) is a good case in point. As Eric Abrahamson (Columbia Business School) aptly points out in his excellent book "A Perfect Mess," organizing is always good in principle, but OVER ORGANIZING by creating systems more complex than it is necessary to get the job done, comes at a very steep price in time and resources needed to maintain the system. Enough said.
Secondly, since this is a workflow book (not a coffee-table book), the full color print is totally unnecessary, and the price point is consequently too high. This should have been one of those $9.95 O'Reilly quick-guide booklets. Most photos reproduced in the book are simply decorative, or used as examples for things that are obvious (e.g. an example of a "group shot" - duh!; or a photo of wine barrels in a cellar as a metaphor for file storage system). Photos are not interesting on their own merit; screen captures and simple diagrams would be just as effective in greyscale.
In summary, you may want to flip through the pages of the book at a local library or bookstore - what's really useful and noteworthy here, can be easily grasped in less than 15 minutes; otherwise, your money may be better spent on a good book focused on the actual software tools YOU are committed to using.
Book Description
From lighting glass objects to photographing models indoors and out, this handbook demonstrates how to effectively use and manipulate light using a variety of traditional and unconventional lighting equipment. Written for both the professional and the serious amateur photographer, this guide explains the different types of light and how to work with modifiers such as panels, umbrellas, grids, and mirrors. More than 100 detailed lighting diagrams help ensure proper placement and are useful while pitching ideas to clients. Money-saving equipment and accessory alternatives are discussed along with strategies for working through obstacles during a shoot, making this manual a must-have resource for success on every project.
Customer Reviews:
Very useful.......2007-08-01
This book is well done with lots of photos to accentuate the descriptive language. I recommend this book.
Perfect for the college-level collection strong in photography studies........2007-03-06
What skills produce top images and big sales? Lighting has a lot to do with a photo's success or failure, and the basics of commercial lighting are here revealed in a guide covering how to use and capture light. From selecting commercial equipment to creating setups and shooting using panels, grids, umbrellas and more to soften or accent lighting, Master Lighting Guide for Commercial Photographers is filled with both photo how-tos and business tips for neo-professionals. Perfect for the college-level collection strong in photography studies.
Amazon.com
Gossipier than any tabloid, as scholarly as Vasari, luminously illustrated and illuminating as a lightning bolt, Stevens' and Swan's landmark biography is one of the most stunning art books I've seen in seven years of Amazon.com reviewing--a masterpiece that explains how the Dutchman de Kooning became the master painter of the American century. It's a page-turning tale: raised by a mom who beat him with wooden shoes, de Kooning escaped Rotterdam as a stowaway on a freighter and found a second family in New York's rampageous art bohemia. He subsisted on ketchup and booze, and broke through around 1950 with dazzling abstract expressionist canvases inspired by what was in the air: cubism, surrealism, jazz, and film noir. The careerist thing to do would've been to ride the Ab Ex tsunami, but de Kooning stubbornly defied purist abstraction with the startlingly quasi-figurative Woman paintings. Stevens and Swan artfully show how much went into these notorious works. De Kooning's Woman is "part vamp, part tramp," a Hollywood pinup girl with push-up bazooms, a dirty joke and a scary goddess based on a Mexican deity to whom hearts were sacrificed. She is also part Mom and part Elaine de Kooning, his artist/muse wife, and the numberless women he juggled. He called himself a "slipping glimpser," and this book helps us see what he saw. Nobody has ever made de Kooning's slippery meanings and painstaking techniques clearer, in every phase, even the mysterious late paintings evincing the artist's advancing Alzheimer's-like illness. Now I finally get what essentially distinguished de Kooning from his rivalrous pals Gorky and Pollock, and more. I also know what de Kooning was like in bed (loud), how he managed to cheat on five steady lovers at a time(different doorbell codes), why he slept drunk in gutters even after he got rich, and how deeply he loved and how coldly he used women. Stevens and Swan manage to do what no dame ever did: they pin down his oblique soul. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
Willem de Kooning is one of the most important artists of the twentieth century, a true “painter’s painter” whose protean work continues to inspire many artists. In the thirties and forties, along with Arshile Gorky and Jackson Pollock, he became a key figure in the revolutionary American movement of abstract expressionism. Of all the painters in that group, he worked the longest and was the most prolific, creating powerful, startling images well into the 1980s.
The first major biography of de Kooning captures both the life and work of this complex, romantic figure in American culture. Ten years in the making, and based on previously unseen letters and documents as well as on hundreds of interviews, this is a fresh, richly detailed, and masterful portrait. The young de Kooning overcame an unstable, impoverished, and often violent early family life to enter the Academie in Rotterdam, where he learned both classic art and guild techniques. Arriving in New York as a stowaway from Holland in 1926, he underwent a long struggle to become a painter and an American, developing a passionate friendship with his fellow immigrant Arshile Gorky, who was both a mentor and an inspiration. During the Depression, de Kooning emerged as a central figure in the bohemian world of downtown New York, surviving by doing commercial work and painting murals for the WPA. His first show at the Egan Gallery in 1948 was a revelation. Soon, the critics Harold Rosenberg and Thomas Hess were championing his work, and de Kooning took his place as the charismatic leader of the New York school—just as American art began to dominate the international scene.
Dashingly handsome and treated like a movie star on the streets of downtown New York, de Kooning had a tumultuous marriage to Elaine de Kooning, herself a fascinating character of the period. At the height of his fame, he spent his days painting powerful abstractions and intense, disturbing pictures of the female figure—and his nights living on the edge, drinking, womanizing, and talking at the Cedar bar with such friends as Franz Kline and Frank O’Hara. By the 1960s, exhausted by the feverish art world, he retreated to the Springs on Long Island, where he painted an extraordinary series of lush pastorals. In the 1980s, as he slowly declined into what was almost certainly Alzheimer’s, he created a vast body of haunting and ethereal late work.
This is an authoritative and brilliant exploration of the art, life, and world of an American master.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Creating the World.......2007-03-14
This volume, "de Kooning:an American Master" by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan is a masterpiece itself. The couple took ten long years to research and write this hefty biography of Willem de Kooning and along the way give us an inside look at the creation of the world of American contemporary art from the post World War II New York period forward. Before that revealling section of the book we begin in Rotterdam following de Kooning through his difficult childhood and adolescence, his leaving of Holland (as a stowaway) his life as an immigrant in the U.S. and his slow evolvement as a painter in the new York scene (which was only evolving itself). This is a New York without contemporary galleries, agents, dealers and reps. It's artists on the loose: de Kooning, Rothko, Gorky, Kline and Pollack all making their way as artists and on the way creating the world of American contemporary art. I marvelled how long it took de Kooning to actually produce a body of work. He was already quite famous before he accomplished any of his break through paintings. Then there was his wife, the irrepressible Elaine and the tumult of their life together. Stevens and Swan delve into all of the cracks and crevices of De Koonings life and yet by the end I felt there was still something inscrutible and unknown about him. This book, which is telling a much larger story than just the life of Bill de Kooning, is a stunning accomplishment. Highly recommended!
Excavating de Kooning.......2006-09-19
The masterpiece `Excavation' (1950) was trumpeted as de Kooning's first major work to be recognized by a wide audience and win critical acceptance. The authors Stevens and Swan mine this metaphor effectively throughout the biography providing the foundation for understanding the artist. After all, aren't all biographies an excavation of a past life lived?
Although de Kooning's work is not autobiographical by nature, the artist's values, temperament and creative process are made apparent here. The idea of `creative destruction' as proposed by the economist Schempeter (1942) with philosophical roots going back to Nietzsche and Marx came to my mind throughout the book. De Kooning's creative process as well as his life had strong elements of 'creating by destroying' what had existed before. De Kooning destroyed artistic traditions, personal relationships and especially is own work - either completely or partially by scraping away the painted layers laid down in a previous day's work - in a search for a yet unseen truth.
The book for me was rather consuming and at times it left me bewilder at the extent of de Kooning's self-destructive episodes. There is little artistic romance during the bohemian years in Greenwich Village or little humor in his life or work. What is portrayed is a template of how an artist's lives.
My own motivation for reading this biography are my interests in art and drawing, my half-Dutch background and the memories of the powerful image of de Kooning's `Woman I' print we had hanging in our bathroom. `Woman I' seemed to be suffering from some kind of gastro-intestinal upheaval which I attribute to that cultural trait of Flemish lowland humor. :)
Excavating de Kooning.......2006-09-17
Writing the first customer book review on Amazon is a bit like confronting a `blank canvas'. - where to begin? The masterpiece `Excavation' (1950) was trumpeted as de Kooning's first major work to be recognized by a wide audience and win critical acceptance. The authors Stevens and Swan mine this metaphor effectively throughout the biography providing the foundation for understanding the artist. After all, aren't all biographies an excavation of a past life lived?
Although de Kooning's work is not autobiographical by nature, the artist's values, temperament and creative process are made apparent here. The idea of `creative destruction' as proposed by the economist Schempeter (1942) with philosophical roots going back to Nietzsche and Marx came to my mind throughout the book. De Kooning's creative process as well as his life had strong elements of 'creating by destroying' what had existed before. De Kooning destroyed artistic traditions, personal relationships and especially is own work - either completely or partially by scraping away the painted layers laid down in a previous day's work - in a search for a yet unseen truth.
The book for me was rather consuming and at times it left me bewilder at the extent of de Kooning's self-destructive episodes. There is little artistic romance during the bohemian years in Greenwich Village or little humor in his life or work. What is portrayed is a template of how an artist's lives.
My own motivation for reading this biography are my interests in art and drawing, my half-Dutch background and the memories of the powerful image of de Kooning's `Woman I' print we had hanging in our bathroom. `Woman I' seemed to be suffering from some kind of gastro-intestinal upheaval which I attribute to that cultural trait of Flemish lowland humor.
A job well done! .......2006-08-29
As a teacher and scholar of literature, I find it difficult to read many novels in my personal leisure time, and for purposes of escape and relaxation in the sense that some people prefer. For typically, I get into the literary analyst mode, or begin to think too much about the text's formal features and how I might take it to the classroom at some point. I have a lot of love and respect for autobiography and biography as genres, but rarely teach them, and so they educate me while offering a bit of escape. I am always happy to come across ones that are well written. I tend to read a lot of literary biography, though I read many other kinds. As someone who is also an artist, I enjoy reading biographies of artists. The Stevens/Swan biography of de Kooning is beautifully written, thoroughly captivating, and ranks among the very best biographies of all the ones that I have ever read, across various categories. I had a false start with it last year during a busier time, and got caught up in other things and so lost and stopped reading the story. I went back to it again this past spring. It was so clearly written, and I particularly admired this seamlessness and clarity given that it was a collaborative project. It was a work that made me sorry that I hadn't followed de Kooning more closely, and a true fan of his art and legacy. The authors draw us in, for instance, so that in one powerful scene, one can just hear all the verbal cadences of de Kooning telling a dealer asking for one too many paintings to just "take it," and the tone that thorougly registers all that was wrong with having been asked for it in the first place. This biography comes to life and lets his story gracefully unfold, page after elegantly written page. It was the kind of book that I was sorry to see end, that I didn't want to let go of. Of the biographies that I've read in recent years, I've particularly enjoyed and found most endearing the ones that have created characters to complement their main subjects. Often, they are charismatic ones that either shadow or centrally shape their main subject. While we get clear and engaging portraits of people like de Kooning's mother and Elaine de Kooning (an artist with her own story and talented and necessary to study in her own right), what is interesting in the Stevens/Swan biography is that de Kooning alone ultimately emerges as a character in the sense that I am describing. I am also inspired by how these two art critics/editors have used their amazing talents to produce such an admirable work of scholarship, too. In general, above and beyond its value for the story related to art that it tells so effectively, it's also a great immigrant story, even an exemplary and classic one. That is to say, it reveals how de Kooning came to America earlier in the twentieth century, built a home, adapted and contributed to an increasingly modernizing society, and in effect, became American, giving this term new meaning.
Excellent!.......2006-08-21
All I can say is.......READ THIS BOOK! If you are in the least bit interested in the development of painting in the 20th Century, you must immerse yourself in this book.
Customer Reviews:
Honest photos that inspire photographers to go an extra mile.......1998-03-21
The great thing about this photo book is that Allard provides you with a continous dialogue along with the photos about how he got the shots, what was going on, etc. As an amateur photographer, I was extremely inspired by "The Photographic Essay" to continue my photographic exploits with renewed vigor.
The pages of "The Photographic Essay" come alive with photos from Mississippi, the Basques, Out West, Oaxaca, Mexico, Peru, and Australia. Allard focuses on human emotion and tends to go for photos that other photographers wouldn't attempt--ones where lighting conditions are poor and in situations that others wouldn't get into like Allard does. The result is a rich, vibrant, honest mood.
I would recommend this book to anybody interested in photography, National Geographic magazine, or cultural studies.
Book Description
“If my story were ever to be written down truthfully from start to finish, it would amaze everyone,” wrote Henri Matisse. It is hard to believe today that Matisse, whose exhibitions draw huge crowds worldwide, was once almost universally reviled and ridiculed. His response was neither to protest nor to retreat; he simply pushed on from one innovation to the next, and left the world to draw its own conclusions. Unfortunately, these were generally false and often damaging. Throughout his life and afterward people fantasized about his models and circulated baseless fabrications about his private life.
Fifty years after his death, Matisse the Master (the second half of the biography that began with the acclaimed The Unknown Matisse) shows us the painter as he saw himself. With unprecedented and unrestricted access to his voluminous family correspondence, and other new material in private archives, Hilary Spurling documents a lifetime of desperation and self-doubt exacerbated by Matisse’s attempts to counteract the violence and disruption of the twentieth century in paintings that now seem effortlessly serene, radiant, and stable.
Here for the first time is the truth about Matisse’s models, especially two Russians: his pupil Olga Meerson and the extraordinary Lydia Delectorskaya, who became his studio manager, secretary, and companion in the last two decades of his life.
But every woman who played an important part in Matisse’s life was remarkable in her own right, not least his beloved daughter Marguerite, whose honesty and courage surmounted all ordeals, including interrogation and torture by the Gestapo in the Second World War.
If you have ever wondered how anyone with such a tame public image as Matisse could have painted such rich, powerful, mysteriously moving pictures, let alone produced the radical cut-paper and stained-glass inventions of his last years, here is the answer. They were made by the real Matisse, whose true story has been written down at last from start to finish by his first biographer, Hilary Spurling.
Customer Reviews:
More than history of art.......2007-01-19
Superb! Not only one of the best biographies I've read, it get's into the mind of the artist. This is not an easy thing to do. I read it as I would a novel, it was very hard to put down.
Art is the Air That I Breathe.......2006-11-21
"Artists are like plants whose growth in the thickets of the jungle depends on the air they breathe, and the mud or stones among which they grow by chance and without choice." Matisse's words coupled with his life as proof of what van Gogh said about the love of art making one lose real love make the reader feel the pain, the joy and the rich colours of his life all that much more. He made us understand.
Hilary Spurling's masterpiece (savoured by me for endless months, days and hours) has been an extraordinary experience I never wanted to end - both volumes. And now her biography is all locked in my mind - hopefully, to be recalled again and again in painting after painting and life experience after love experience - thanks to all the years of her hard work and research.
I am now filled with the colours of the Master - just as he'd installed 'The Tree of Life' in "a change of key that brought an extraordinary clarity, serenity and stillness to the music of the chapel." If the student of art, the student of life might only read pp. 455-456, he/she would be amazed at one whose talents were mocked ("any child could paint better than Matisse." ... "...his inventions seemed not simply monstrous but blasphemous as well.") and would ache to have had the chance to be a simple fly on the wall in those last years of his life when the many energies swirled about his taxi beds and many wond'rous studios ever-changing, metamorphosing, revealing and displaying, nurturing, teaching... revolutionary!
Let us not forgot his bedrocks - the women who made all his successes possible are miraculous and astonishing... Lydia, Matisse's remarkable genius manager (we should all be so lucky to know such a dynamo); Amelie, his extraordinary wife and her 'nine lives'; of course, Marguerite, his daughter, whose amazing vitality and strength of character resounds on almost every page of his life story; she was one (by her great courage) who humbled him more than anyone else could; and the countless models and interns...
As a side note... I remember in January 2006 when Hilary Spurling "scooped one of Britain's most prestigious literary awards," Whitbread Book of the Year prize, just as the big scandal exploded about Oprah's book club "author" protégé/scam artist James Frey was exposed. I thought to myself, "There is still a god!" What kind of mindless person would turn to Oprah for advice on what to read in the first place?! What does she know about literature?
I am humbled at Hilary Spurling's great accomplishment and would love to meet her one day so I could sing her the song I wrote about Matisse and the story of his blue butterfly. [...]
"The blue of that butterfly and Cezanne
made you more of a spiritual man."
Matisse - He Shocked the World Yet He Pleases The Eye of the Individual!.......2006-06-08
Such a wonderful book to read! After seeing his works of art at the museums in New York (MET - MOMA); in Maryland (BMA); and in California (San Francisco), it is a joy to the human spirit to read this biography. This book offers the reader all the underlying events contributing to each of his major works of art. It allows us to better appreciate his extreme and intense efforts to create; it allows us to recognize his unquestionable courage to be himself while many of the art world turned away from him; and one will learn of his life long love of the natural world (birds and plants) and his view of the importance of the spirit of man. Further, this book allows the reader to see his social frustration; one can learn of his powerful drive (so red hot) to create, and one will see in words how he commanded everyone around him to assist him in his zeal to achieve his personal best in art. As the book denotes towards the end even Picasso, the great competitor, stated in a discussion of one of Matisse's later works (the Chapel in Nice): 'Only Matisse could do this!' Read to learn, read to know, and read to be more deeply passionate in love with Matisse as I am!
See New Dimensions of Matisse's Work.......2005-12-27
Those of us who live today are spoiled in one sense that we don't realize: We can see Matisse's work on display and appreciate its evolution. That wasn't possible until just the last few decades. Until then, many of his most powerful works were locked up in the Soviet system and not on display or were in the hands of reclusive collectors.
That's an important point to remember when you wonder why Picasso has gotten so much more attention than Matisse, you could always see Picasso's work and Picasso courted attention.
Matisse, by comparison, found that it took all of his energies just to create art. There was very little time left over for his family and the rest of the world. He also wasn't inclined to seek out those who could explain and defend his work. As a result, he was widely misunderstood and underappreciated during his lifetime. This book corrects many of those problems.
Of particularly interest is the finding that although Matisse spent his life painting voluptuous nudes, he didn't indulge in having sexual relations with his models. Rather he used the sexual tension the models created in him to help inspire a better work. The models did become, ultimately, the undoing of his marriage . . . but not for the reasons you expect.
As fascinating as he is as an artist, he even more interesting as a creative person and head of a family. Matisse saw his family's role as being there to serve art. Although in a crisis, he would show up to encourage and aid family members and friends . . . usually he was off painting or sculpting by himself in sunnier climes. The rest of the time, they were doing administrative tasks, critiquing the works, staying out of his way and helping him enjoy a tranquil existence.
Anyone who wants a deeper appreciation of Matisse's work will learn from this volume. Although the book would have been better with more color plates, the pages are generously illustrated with black and white reproductions to give you a sense of his focus and development.
For artists, the book's many insights into the pros and cons of relationships with collectors and dealers will make the volume a "must have" item.
I didn't know the background of many of his best works, such as Jazz. It was a pleasure to better understand why he did them.
In particular, you will come away with a new appreciation for Matisse's use of color to capture emotion. Think of The Red Studio and the Conversation.
I seldom savor biographies as much as I did this one. I plan to go back now and read the first volume in the series, The Unknown Matisse.
Ms. Spurling's extensive use of Matisse's letters (and especially reproducing the funny little cartoons he liked to put in them) made the book a special joy.
Nice work, Ms. Spurling!
Inspirational.......2005-12-11
Being a artist sometimes one needs to see new the world around them. The pressures of family life and the ability to do what you do sometimes empties the soul. What I find the most interesting is the perspective given to the self appraisal and the internal struggle Matisse went through in his personal and business dealing. Anyone interested in the business aspect of the art world from the artist perspective will find this book helpful in both personal and professional dealings.
Book Description
The Photographer's Master Printing Course offers both the enthusiastic printer and the complete beginner the key to creating perfect prints that combine technical assurance with true self-expression. Ranging from the basics of equipping a darkroom to advanced skills such as lith printing, toning and multiple printing, this complete volume is on the recommended book list of the Royal Photographic Society's Visual Arts (Pictorial) Panel.
Customer Reviews:
If I could only have one darkroom book............2006-12-06
this would be it. Tim Rudman is one of the best teachers of photography around and this is one of the best technique books available. Get it.
The benchmark for beginners and Pro's........2003-08-20
My first attempts in the darkroom were some 31 years ago and I purchased many,many books to discover the how and why of black and white printing. I still have all those books, BUT now that I have Tim Rudman's book in my new darkroom the others gather dust. This book is the benchmark for beginners and Pro's.
Thank you Amazon for making it available.
Excellent! Very Comprehensive and easy to understand.......2003-01-21
I am an amature photographer who wanted to get into printing my photos. This book was the foundation of my learning. It was very comprehensive and easy to understand. I found that it was technical enough to make you understand the principles, yet pragmatic enough to use immediatly. Mr. Rudman has done a great service to the photographic community.
Raymond's rating.......2002-01-22
For the novice, this book could be a little bit too much advanced. For the seasonal (but serious) dark room user, plentiful advices are available, yet the author seems to be in a hurry to go to some points that do not add up in creativity. Well written, I would quote that book as a seasonal reference. The technical side is usefull.
I would believe that the author has a very good knowledge for handling toning procedures. Yet, it's useless to try to give a better rendition by toning an inappropriately printed image.Should it be rewritten, the goal should be to give more details on toning, and suggests that it is for advanced photo printers.
Example or really good book on advance printing.......2001-12-08
I am quite new to Black and White printing (that is I do my own printing but I am not professional). I am amazed by the wealth of information given in this book on toning, bleaching, multiple printing and so on. Furthermore you could really see what author mean by showing photographs before and after using some bleaching toning or other technics. And photographs by itself don't feel to be unnatural, in a sense, that most of them show some grain in much or less degree depending on used techinics. Of course, some photographers who like gradual soft sort of photography may not like Rudman's harsh contrasty style of depicting nature, but who cares, it's his artistic expression. He could really explain how he got one or another effect. By the way, if at the end you don't like this book you may leave it for the simple fact of its attractiveness. It could serve you as nice coffee table book, quality is superb. Excellent book.
Book Description
Designed for professional photographers who are already well versed in the basics of lighting, this book will take their lighting to the next level, adding the flair and refinement that can turn professional images into world-class photos. Each chapter explores a different master photographer, with a thorough analysis of signature techniques, a look at the creation of his or her top images, and a discussion of past photographs that presented lighting challenges. A virtual master class, this book presents the teachings of nearly two dozen photographers for a fraction of the price of a single photography seminar.
Customer Reviews:
Great book!.......2007-08-08
I always refer to customer evaluations before deciding to buy a book and this is no different. Honestly, I have never been disappointed so far! This is a great book for all portrait photographers. It gives us a good overview of the techniques of the different masters considered to be the best there is. This is a good book! It should have been titled an overview of marter portrait photographer's techniques....grab one and you will never be disappointed!
Masterpiece work by Michelle--again!.......2007-04-13
Michelle takes you through the photographic lighting styles of some great photographers-this is a must buy if you'd like to look how various top photographers see lighting in different scenarios. I know, as I'm not only a Lighting Master at the annual Photo Plus Expo in New York, but I'm one of the chapters in this book.
Many photographers today spend thousands on camera bodies that change every Monday when the Board of Director's meet, yet they buy cheap lights. Hopefully this book will show you why lighting is to an image what the blood is to your body--without either, you have nothing. This is a must read for anyone interested in photography at every level.
Other great books, of course my own, Garage Glamour: Digital Nude and Beauty Photography Made Simple plus my latest, Rolando Gomez's Glamour Photography: Professional Techniques and Images and keep an eye out for Michelle's newest book coming out later this year! All the best, and remember, we're all students of photography as it's a never ending learning experience. --Rolando Gomez, contributing writer Studio Photography magazine.
Book Description
This handbook explains how minor placement and color adjustments can enhance—or ruin—images.
Customer Reviews:
Too dang wordy.......2007-05-29
Rob Fisher (no relation) is right: this book is a disappointment. Wildi's pictures are beautiful, but a good editor would have trimmed the excess verbiage, most of which covers pretty basic compositional guidelines. Much of the information in this book is covered more concisely in Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" and Jim Miotki's "BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Photography."
Master Composition Guide.......2007-05-13
This book is great, it really helps you look at what makes a photograph good. Unlike many digital photography books out there that tell you how to use a camera, this one focuses on the composition of a photo. It explaines balance, color, lighting, subject matter, angles, and just about anything else you can think of. I really enjoyed reading this, and have learned a lot.
Very Nice!.......2007-05-08
I like the book and it is very helpful. I just wish it had some details about the various compositional elements.
Really disappointed.......2007-03-07
Sorry to be a voice of dissent. I bought this book on Amazon and feel it doesn't live up to its title - 'Master Composition Guide'. I was expecting an advanced book. After reading it I have the feeling that it is a book created out of bits and pieces from other photography books (some quite old) and given a strong title and the descriptor 'digital' to make it sound more relevant to a modern audience. I see no justification for the 'digital' adjective. Composition principles are largely independent of capture medium or camera format. I find the prose style very wordy and authoritarian and at times patronising and contradictory of itself. There are many examples of sentences with long, punctuated lists of items, things, examples, words, etc., etc., etc., (just like this sentence) that become tedious to read. A couple of examples are enough to get the message across. It's not a large book but it could be made much more concise with some strong editing. The words 'must' and 'should' are very prominent and give the book a dogmatic and prescriptive tone. Much of the stuff mentioned has no place in a book on composition. For example, talking about varying the temperature of developers in a wet darkroom to control the contrast of negatives! We've moved on from there. With due respect to an accomplished author/photographer, I was annoyed that I spent my money on this book only to find that it is a rehash of much old material with far too frequent references to equipment (digital, medium and large format film cameras etc.) and processes and techniques that are really nothing to do with good composition and more to do with an airing of knowledge and experience. Composition is format independent. I'm a photographer with more than 30 years experience and I was looking for another reference that could help me fine tune appreciation and understanding of the artistic nuances of photographic composition. For me, the word 'master' in the title of this book was overstated. It covers well known basics reasonably well but could do so in a more concise fashion. I may sound harsh but that's the way I see it. By comparison, I have books by Freeman Paterson, Bryan Peterson and Gross & Shapiro that I find much more useful. And this is a not a paid advertisement for those authors!
Master Composition Guide for Digital Photographers.......2007-01-05
Excellent teaching book. I learned a lot about framing photographs and color.
Book Description
"In the beginning, there was the Word. On the streets and in the yards, the word was the Name. And the name was everything. It was persona and place, form and content, truth and fiction. The name was an act of self-invention, a pure visual manifestation, through alter ego, alias, and nom de plume, of personal expressions in the public realm. The name was a line and the line begat the Mark. Then, in the great style wars toward the end of the second millennium, medium, meaning, and message were joined in a golden era where the name became the source and signifier of Style. And when the name became wild style, the word was Dondi."
-- from the Foreword
The dominance of the graffiti aesthetic in contemporary culture is undeniable. But how did an art form spawned in the train yards of 1970s New York achieve the ubiquity it now enjoys at every level of the mass-media landscape? There are many answers to the question, but one major factor is indisputable: Dondi White.
Coming of age in hardscrabble East New York in the early 1970s, Dondi White unknowingly began the process of introducing a whole new artistic dialect into the cacophony of the American art scene. His train pieces painted from roughly 1977 to 1982 stand as some of the most influential works ever committed to Transit Authority steel. Writing with legendary partners such as DURO, NOC 167, KID 56, KEL 139, and FUZZ ONE, Dondi created some of graffiti art's most enduring iconography. His pieces just don't stop -- and neither do the aliases. From the badass Mr. Whites to the cocky, self-satisfied Busses, from the nasty Pres to the perfect, vicious Rolls, Dondi straight killed it, again and again. Works like Children of the Grave Part 2 and Mr White + Bev remain benchmark pieces for graffiti aficionados the world over.
In the 1980s, partially through his collaborations with noted photographers Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper, Dondi White's work entered the rarefied world of fine art. In making the transition from subway car to canvas, Dondi retained his unfaltering sense of letter form and balance, and his paintings remain a testament to the clarity of his aesthetic. Dondi's canvases were subsequently shown in galleries from New York to Amsterdam to Tokyo and beyond, influencing a new generation of young artists and introducing an indigenous American art form to the rest of the world.
Dondi White: Style Master General presents the life and work of a seminal -- yet heretofore overlooked -- American artist whose work has resonated on every level of our popular culture. Filled with rare photographs, original sketches, unpublished interview materials, and testimony from some of Dondi's closest cohorts, here, finally, is the full story. At the time of his death in 1998, Dondi had seen the majority of his work destroyed -- scraped off, painted over, or chemically removed from the steel upon which it thrived. Within these pages, however, it still speaks volumes.
Customer Reviews:
the bomb.......2005-10-21
this is one great book,very well detailed from dondis underground train bombing days plus his days when he was hitting up art gallerys and it even tells you about dondi b4 he was even a writer.plenty of great pics plus lots of top reading too.one of the better graff books.
Beautiful book!.......2005-09-21
This is one of the must-have books if you dig graffities! It features lots of beautiful photos, sketches and actual pages from the Dondi's own black book. Hardcover with slipcover gives a good value for money!
Grade - Bham UK.......2005-07-24
What can I say an excellent book from an excellent artist, I am sure Dondi and others form the late 70's to early 80's movement in NYC never would have thought that their creations and inovations would become such a world wide hit and change cities across the world. From my early days as a youngster starting out in Graff in 1985 to now as a somewhat maturer but always youthful graff lover I can definately say that this book was like turning back the clock, and boy was I shocked to hear that he was never caught, "I just wish I could say that"!. A well documented and presented book but sad he is'nt here still to have written it himself "RIP DONDI"
Excellent Tribute to a Great Artist.......2003-12-23
Zephyr has done a great job compiling this book and I highly recommend it. Try and get it from your local bookshop and you can see just how slick it is before you purchase.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN BROOKLYN..........2003-09-15
In a nutshell, "Dondi White Style Master General", is an excellent retrospective on the life of the great Dondi White. Bar-none, one of the illest artist to wield a can of spray paint; Dondi's work was highly influential and propelled him to great heights. From his stomping grounds in East NY, Brooklyn to the Boogie-Down Bronx, Dondi's subway pieces were some of NY's most exciting and arguably the best. One of a handful of early graffiti artists to successfully make the transition from subway to gallery, Dondi's unique pieces were well received at home and abroad. Longtime friend Zephyr and (Dondi's) brother Mike White do a fantastic job of covering Dondi's incredible body of work. The reader is given great insight into the life n' times of an extremely humble and incredibly gifted man. Dondi's untimely and mysterious demise left the graff community and artworld deeply saddened, but his work and spirit will forever live on. --James "Koe" Rodriguez
Books:
- Mastering Digital Nude Photography: The Serious Photographer's Guide to High-Quality Digital Nude Photography
- Mastering the Trade (McGraw-Hill Trader's Edge)
- Maxwell Street: Survival in a bazaar
- Me Talk Pretty One Day
- Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America
- Mitsubishi- Galant/Mirage/Diamante 1990-00 (Chilton's Total Car Care Repair Manual)
- Murder, She Wrote: Three Strikes and You're Dead (Murder She Wrote)
- My Sister's Keeper: A Novel
- Obsession (Alex Delaware Novels)
- Oh My Baby, Little One
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- In the Country of Men
- Falling Stars
- All Souls' Rising
- Bowling Fundamentals
- California Wine Country: A Sunset Field Guide
- Geoenvironmental Engineering: Site Remediation, Waste Containment, and Emerging Waste Management Tec
- Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of the Human Mind
- Interpretation for the 21st Century: Fifteen Guiding Principles for Interpreting Nature and Culture,
- Ada and the Doc: An Account of the Ada Leboeuf-Thomas Dreher Murder Case
- Patriot's Progress
General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
The Portrait Photographer's Guide to Posing
Posing for Portrait Photography: A Head-to-Toe Guide
Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies
Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)
Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting
