Book Description
Almost everyone can "see" in the conventional sense, but developing photographic vision takes practice. Learning to See Creatively helps photographers visualize their work, and the world, in a whole new light.
Now totally rewritten, revised, and expanded, this best-selling guide takes a radical approach to creativity. It explains how it is not some gift only for the "chosen few" but actually a skill that can be learned and applied. Using inventive photos from his own stunning portfolio, author and veteran photographer Bryan Peterson deconstructs creativity for photographers. He details the basic techniques that went into not only taking a particular photo, but also provides insights on how to improve upon it—helping readers avoid the visual pitfalls and technical dead ends that can lead to dull, uninventive photographs.
This revised edition features the latest information on digital photography and digital imaging software, as well as an all-new section on color as a design element. Learning to See Creatively is the definitive reference for any photographers looking for a fresh perspective on their work.
* New edition of a best-selling title
* Updated to include digital
* All new artwork, and a totally revised and expanded text
* All-new section on color as a design element
* Written by one of Amphoto's bestselling authors
Customer Reviews:
Exactly what I needed.......2007-08-15
I purchased this book earlier this summer and couldn't be more pleased with the information it contains. I needed some inspiration to "see" things differently to make my photographs more dramatic. Bryan's writing and assignments in this book really changed the way I look at the composition of a scene and the way I see colors and how they compliment each other. My photos have improved A LOT since applying some of the principles written about in this book.
Good deal.......2007-08-10
I found the information in the book worth money I paid. I love photography but something was missing in getting appealing result with my photos. This book fills some holes in my amateur knowledge and also opened my mind to different thinking and approach. Good examples of right and wrong, nice recommendations. Specialy I live author's good sense to explain observation techniques with everyday and real life situations.
I'm still not done, searching for another book.
book.......2007-08-02
good experience, did not speed in sending and prefered no shippimg. I deal with Amazon and they always take care of me
Nice balance of creative & technical advice.......2007-07-26
This book delivers on its promise to teach you how to see the world in ways that will lead to better photos. The examples (photographs and commentary) are inspiring and the author provides enough details about technique so you know how he took the picture but you're not overwhelmed. It is an enjoyable read and I like to go back and look at the examples again and again. I only wish the book were longer, I was sorry when I finished it.
Absolutely worth it!.......2007-06-20
I've been shooting for a few years now and felt I needed something to take me to the next step. While this isn't a 100% solution to that problem it definitely is a huge step in the right direction. This book has opened my thinking to different ways of composing, and in general really helped me to see the bigger picture while shooting. All of the 100+ photos in the book give the details of the exposure which is a huge help in and of itself.
Highly recommended for the avid hobbyist to semi pro and even down to the mom or regular guy/girl who just want to take better pictures.
Book Description
In this third edition of Photography and the Art of Seeing, Freeman Patterson reviews principles of composition and visual design and provides techniques and exercises for breaking away from traditional concepts. Aspiring photographers are made aware of the barriers to seeing and learn how to observe, imagine and express in a personal and creative way.
Customer Reviews:
Breaking the photographical routine.......2007-03-24
Freeman tries to get photographers to break out of their ways, to look at the world with different eyes, to question old habits. This is a good thing, in my opinion. But does he succeed?
I can only answer this from my own perspective: Yes, the book gives me impulses to try out different perspectives than the ones I'm used to.
The writing is fluent and to the point. The images underline the points in the text. I like many of them, even though they seem unspectacular at first. The printing quality could be better, though. I ordered the book together with two volumes by John Shaw ("Focus on Nature" and "The Field Book to Nature Photography", both Amphoto Books), and those are printed much better, with more contrast and color saturation.
Still, a recommended book for anyone who likes taking photos and would like to explore new grounds.
I deeply regret buying this book... RATED NO STARS AT ALL.......2007-02-16
I wrote a review as follows: 'Anyone can take a picture of a hot dog. If this photographer took a picture of a hot dog you would smell the french fries, hear the ocean, and taste the salt water taffy. The author offers the reader a chance to see the world through his eyes.
Then I looked through the book more closely. On page 137 I saw a picture that disgusted me. When I read what he wrote about the subject, I became angry. He wrote, "This photograph captures a moment in the life of a child, and suggests innocence. The little girl had withdrawn from her playmates on the beach; she wanted to be alone. She was crying a little. When I came along, she hid her face to preserve her privacy. I quickly made this picture and left. Note that the expanse of rocks and the girl's small space in the composition strengthen the sense of her privacy."
The picture is of a naked little child who was hiding her face crying and trying to turn away from the man taking her picture with his camera. It is only my opinion, but I think this man is greatly lacking in respect of human dignity.
I am sorry I put money in his pocket. I hope no one else will.
An excellent resource.......2006-12-15
If you have moved up from the technical aspects of photography, and are into "photography as an art", this is the book to buy to take you to that next level.
If there is just one book in the whole world that you can buy, this is it! I own all of patterson's instruction books - and they are all great! a worthy investment and proudly displayed in my bookshelf.
Don't buy this book - PLEASE!.......2006-11-30
Please don't buy this book. It will change your photography. I bought it, and now I have an advantage, and I want to keep it!
Seriously, this is probably the most disturbing photography book I have found. It will challenge everything you do in photography, and that is unsettling.
If you follow the exercises properly, you will develop a whole new way of seeing and taking photos.
Sure, if you want to, you can read it from cover to cover and go "Ho, hum, very nice." and take it no further. But if you want to improve your photography, take your time, and do the exercises carefully. You will be surprised at the results.
I especially like the one where you lock yourself in a small room (bathroom) and have to take 20 images. "If you don't feel desperation before you finish this exercise, then you have to take another 20 photos."
Don't buy this book! Run away and hide. Keep taking boring photos.
Stimulating Creativity.......2006-11-11
I found this book excellent for stimulating the creative process where photography is concerned.
Book Description
"This collection of classic essays in the study of visual culture fills a major gap in this new and expanding intellectual field. Its major strength is its insistence on the importance of three central aspects of the study of visual culture: the sign, the institution and the viewing subject. It will provide readers, teachers and students with an essential text in visual and cultural studies." -
Janet Wolff, University of Rochester
Visual Culture: The Reader provides an invaluable resource of over 30 key statements from a wide range of disciplines. Although underpinned by a focus on contemporary cultural theory, this reader puts issues of visual culture and the rhetoric of the image at centre stage.
Divided into three parts, The Culture of the Visual, Regulating Photographic Meaning, Looking and Subjectivity, this reader enables students to make hitherto unmade connections across art, film and photography history and theory, semiotics, history, semiotics and communications, media studies, and cultural theory. The key statements are from the work of:
Visual Culture: The Reader sets the agenda for the study of Visual Culture and will be an essential sourcebook for researchers and students alike.
This is the reader for the module The Image and Visual Culture (D850) - part of The Open University Masters in Social Sciences Programme.
Customer Reviews:
great selection of essays dealing with visual culture.......2000-09-20
this selection of essays offer a wide understanding of all the arenas in which visual analysis can take place. it has an introduction about what is visual culture and essays from academics such as j. clifford, m. de certeau, g. pollock, etc. it is a review on the history of visuality and the implications of visual culture in the arenas of the representation of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc. You wont regret buying this book if you are interested in the study of visual culture.
Average customer rating:
- Drawing from Observation by Brian Curtis [Paperback]
- Great textbook.
- great for design visualization
- Fine Art's Studio Class in a Book
- Clarity of Required Concepts
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Drawing from Observation
Brian Curtis
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
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Binding: Paperback
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Art of Responsive Drawing, The (6th Edition)
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Perspective Drawing
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Drawing: A Contemporary Approach
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The Sketch Book for the Artist
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A Guide to Drawing
ASIN: 0072410248 |
Book Description
Perceptual drawing, in which one renders the physical world as it appears to an observer, is the focus of this new text for the introductory drawing course. Drawing from Observation offers a balanced mix of hands-on technique and perceptual theory while making a compelling argument for the long-term value of studying perception-based drawing.
Customer Reviews:
Drawing from Observation by Brian Curtis [Paperback].......2005-07-01
Wonderful book for any artist; should be a required for all artist's library. Great reference as well as instuctional guide. Well organized, each aspect of drawing is fully covered, well written and appropiately illustrated.
Great textbook........2003-07-06
As a teacher of drawing, I have read many books on the subject. This book is the only one I would use as a textbook. I would agree with all the previous reviews but would only comment on the one review from the budding artist who felt the book is confusing and has too much art history for someone who only wants to learn to draw. I come to this book with over two decades of art experience so maybe that is why I find it so interesting, but even if the history is skipped and you read only the practical explanations and do the lessons in the back of the book, you will learn to draw from observation, as this book promises. The book is not meant to be read in two weeks. Learning to draw takes hard work and invested time.
great for design visualization.......2002-12-25
This text is the front-runner in our search for a text to teach visualization drawing for computer graphics students. Its methodology for perceiving and translating form and space into drawing very nicely parallels the principles used in computer modeling. The section on perspective clearly presents principles in such a way as to merge intuitive and analytical understanding. This is a hallmark of the book in general. In addition to practical clarity the text adds historical and theoretical perspectives to round out one's understanding of drawing. I appreciate this because, in the case of our program, it helps us to link the traditions of human visualization from ancient times to the computer age.
Fine Art's Studio Class in a Book.......2002-06-14
Best text, projects, and examples that I have ever seen in a text. A must have for schools and universities (chosen for Drawing 1 and Drawing 2 text).
Teaches you to really look at the object your drawing. Excellent for those who think that they could never draw.
Clarity of Required Concepts.......2002-06-10
The simplification and clarity of the needed concepts to trascribe from a three dimensional space to a two dimensional plane are clearly eplained in this new book.
It has been a great experience to teach with this new text because the student is able to read the concept before he comes to class and therefore able to better understand the concept at hand.
The progressive format of the book from gesture to clock angles and chiaroscuro are well illustrated and clear.The perspective chapters are to me an addendum to what is done from the start with the square and rectangular forms. The historical aspects that are weaved into the text set the book apart for the student of fine art who is interested and needs this reference. I find that the materials chapter at the start of the book also set up a sequence of answers that are important to the beginning student of fine art. The section on "Drawing Assignments" is of particular interest to those didactic artists who will work on their own as well as the instructor who needs refernces for student exercises.
One suggestion on my behalf is the incorporation of a "CD" to augment the in class lectures and help the student visually.
I have been using this book for one semester and have adopted it for my College. Good work Mr. Curtis
Average customer rating:
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Depression Glass: Documentary Photography and the Medium of the Camera Eye in Charles Reznikoff, George Oppen, and William Carlos Williams (Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory)
Monique Vescia
Manufacturer: Routledge
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0415975476 |
Book Description
This interdisciplinary study examines the interrelations between the documentary poetics of "Objectivism" in the United States during the 1930s. Focusing on three volumes published by the Objectivist Press in 1934--Charles Reznikoff's Testimony, George Oppen's Discrete Series, and William Carlos William's Collected Poems, 1921-1931--the book examines both photographic and linguistic images, along with criticism, correspondence, transcripts of interviews and lectures, contemporary periodicals and other documentary sources from these years. Reznikoff, Oppen, and Williams each constructed textual objects that aspired to the condition of the photograph, and the successes as well as the failures of that aspiration are the subject of this book. Juxtaposing selected works by these three poets with the camera work of Walker Evans, Lewis Hine, and Alfred Stieglitz, Depression Glass also exposes some of the fundamental affinities between documentary photography and modern poetry as forms of expression. This study challenges some of the critical commonplaces of American modernism by demonstrating how these poets comprised an alternative "tradition" dedicated to a project of social realism that would later become the exclusive territory of prose.
Customer Reviews:
LOADS OF IMAGINATION AND FUN.......2006-03-08
MY HUSBAND LOVES THESE MAGIC EYE PICTURES. SO WHEN HE TOLD ME ABOUT THEM, I LOOKED ON LINE WITH AMAZON, AND THERE THEY WERE. WE ORDERED TWO AND ARE HAVING A BALL WITH THEM. OUR GRANDKIDS REALLY HAVE FUN TRYING TO FIND THE HIDDEN 3-D PICTURE.
DANA AND CRYSTLE SALISBURY
FLORIDA
Magic Eye III.......2002-12-27
I love the Magic Eye series... I would recomend this book for almost any coffee table. The illusions are both fun and engaging, definatly a conversation starter.
Awsome.......2001-12-19
I love all the "Magic Eye" books. Trust me, if you bring this (or any one of the "Magic Eye" books out at a party you will have loads of fun! Everyone just races to see the images! There are a lot of folks who have tried to create 3d images, but only one remains the forerunner in this innovative area and that's "Magic Eye"!! You creative folks at "Magic Eye" are just AWESOME. I give "Magic Eye 111 an A plus!!
Basically a rehash of Magic Eye I and II.......1999-10-30
Nothing new for the 3-D afficienado here. First timers will be amazed. Doesn't have the artistic advances of a 3-D Book of Angels or Henry's Gift.
Excellent.......1999-03-25
I guarantee you that if you keep trying magic eyes, you'll get them. When you do, this book will be amazing to you, as it was me.
Average customer rating:
- Devices of Wonder: playful, engaging, instructive.
- Devices of Wonder: playful, engaging, instructive.
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Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen
Barbara Maria Stafford ,
Frances Terpak , and
Isotta Poggi
Manufacturer: Getty Trust Publications: Getty Research Institute
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Cabinets of Curiosities
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Mr. Wilson's Cabinet Of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Techno logy
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Visual Analogy: Consciousness as the Art of Connecting
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To Have and To Hold
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Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750
ASIN: 0892365900 |
Book Description
An inquiry into emergent media's rich lineage, Devices of Wonder explores the artful machines humans have used to augment visual perception.
The encyclopedic cabinet of curiosities serves as a model for this study of the archaic instruments lurking in state-of-the art technology. Featured in Devices of Wonder are android automata, lunar landscapes, perspective theaters, vues d'optique, microscopes, magnetic games, magic lanterns,
camera obscuras, boxes by Joseph Cornell, Lucas Samaras's Mirrored Room, Suzanne Anker's Zoosemiotics, Mark Tilden's UniBug 3.1, panoramic works by Jeff Wall and Giovanni Lusieri, paintings by Jean-Baptiste Chardin and Joseph Wright of Derby, projections by Diana Thater and James Turrell, and a
pop-up book by Kara Walker.
Barbara Stafford's introduction weaves these fascinating artifacts into a provocative narrative analyzing the complex links between old and new media. Her wide-ranging investigation is complemented by thirty-one short essays in which Frances Terpak tracks the often surprising connections among
individual items. Like the cabinet of curiosities, Devices of Wonder functions as an analogical instrument, reframing the beautiful "eye machines" that continue to mediate our encounters with the world.
This book is published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Getty Museum from November 13, 2001, through February 6, 2002.
Customer Reviews:
Devices of Wonder: playful, engaging, instructive........2001-11-22
The book, "Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen", is the catalog for an exhibition that has just opened. The first two reviews provide perspectives and understanding that are quite different from those offered in the preceding review from Publishers Weekly.
Leah Ollman (LA Times, 11/18/01) comments that, "We want to know the world and have experiences beyond the ordinary. We want to extend our vision beyond its familiar capacity. These are timeless desires, born with the species. They thrive on wonder, ... 'Devices of Wonder' traces those impulses and the technologies designed to act on them during the past 400 years. Full of serious toys, marvelous instruments and art resonant with the theme of discovery, the show [and catalog] track a history of visual thinking, 'from the world in a box to images on a screen,'..."
Speaking of both the exhibition and the catalog, the hard-nosed and insightful reviewer, Christopher Knight (Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2001) remarks that, "The Wunderkabinett is back, their show asserts--bigger, now nearly ubiquitous and considerably more far-reaching than any Baroque prince could ever have dreamed. Today's Wunderkabinett is sitting on your desk at home or in the office, or perhaps it's resting in your briefcase or on your lap." "Looking at wondrous things in a Wunderkabinett becomes the launch pad for the wonders of looking. Sight connects with insight. Mirrors facilitate reflection. Images are themselves ideas. ... Playful and unexpected connections get drawn. ... The show [and the catalog] is filled with these sorts of surprising delights, which can send your mind off in unexpected directions."
...
Devices of Wonder: playful, engaging, instructive........2001-11-22
The book, "Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen", is the catalog for an exhibition that has just opened. The first two reviews provide perspectives and understanding that are quite different from those offered in the preceding review from Publishers Weekly.
Leah Ollman (LA Times, 11/18/01) comments that, "We want to know the world and have experiences beyond the ordinary. We want to extend our vision beyond its familiar capacity. These are timeless desires, born with the species. They thrive on wonder, ... 'Devices of Wonder' traces those impulses and the technologies designed to act on them during the past 400 years. Full of serious toys, marvelous instruments and art resonant with the theme of discovery, the show [and catalog] track a history of visual thinking, 'from the world in a box to images on a screen,'..."
Speaking of both the exhibition and the catalog, the hard-nosed and insightful reviewer, Christopher Knight (Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2001) remarks that, "The Wunderkabinett is back, their show asserts--bigger, now nearly ubiquitous and considerably more far-reaching than any Baroque prince could ever have dreamed. Today's Wunderkabinett is sitting on your desk at home or in the office, or perhaps it's resting in your briefcase or on your lap." "Looking at wondrous things in a Wunderkabinett becomes the launch pad for the wonders of looking. Sight connects with insight. Mirrors facilitate reflection. Images are themselves ideas. ... Playful and unexpected connections get drawn. ... The show [and the catalog] is filled with these sorts of surprising delights, which can send your mind off in unexpected directions." (...)
Customer Reviews:
up close.......2000-07-21
Things up close have a totally new perspective. Up close it can look like many different things or thinks, but when you concentrate you can see the whole picture. But not really since it can be most anything. Like the first picture my mom thought it was a spiral to a notebook . The second picture she thought it was figs and it was an apple sliced showing the star. Cool book. I like it! You are a totally cool author. I love books with no words because it gives me something to think about.I love up close pictures. I can't wait until I see another one of your books.
Average customer rating:
- Great starter book
- This is not a Photography book
- An Academic Treatise
- i love this book
- Beyond Photography and Beyond Me!
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Perception and Imaging, Second Edition
Richard D. Zakia
Manufacturer: Focal Press
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Basic Critical Theory for Photographers
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Visual Thinking
ASIN: 024080466X |
Book Description
Taking photographs has become easier over the years, but taking photographs that have impact and lasting power has not. Such images require heart, and some understanding of the factors that make an image noteworthy. Perception and Imaging, Second Edition will lead you into areas and concepts that will spark your intellectual curiosity and assist you in your image making. What is known about vision and the visual process is overwhelming; what is directly applicable to pictures is not. Perception and Imaging, Second Edition is the visual artist's gateway to the principles that drive visual perception.
Perception and Imaging, Second Edition invites you to explore the domain of the subconscious and collective unconscious, and the role subliminals, secondary images, and archetypes play; the role of memory and association, and why ambiguity and illusion are an important components;
why soft and hard contours (edges) are critical to sharpness, contrast, color, and depth perception; and how visual rhetoric has been used to give impact to photographs, advertisements, posters, promotional material, and motion pictures. Perception and Imaging, Second Edition is for anyone and everyone involved with visual images and has a desire to better understand them.
Many examples of metaphor, metonymy, paradox, pun, homology, hyperbole, ellipses, inversion chiasmus, allusion, and other rhetorical devices.
A new enlarged section on color, with 15 new color images presenting color measurement and notation, color connotations, color illusions, color constancy, color synesthesia, metamerism, and defective color vision.
The chapter on Critique has been expanded to include the use of Group Dynamics. Photographs are polysemantic, possessing layered meanings.
Customer Reviews:
Great starter book.......2007-03-09
I bought this book for a beginning media design class. Good book for beginners. Lots of interesting and helpful information.
This is not a Photography book.......2006-02-14
Read the reviews. This is not a photography book. It is a book on psychology. As a photographer I give this 1 star. This may very well be a good psycology book.
An Academic Treatise.......2004-06-12
I'll keep this review short and sweet. This book is an in-depth academic discussion of how humans see and perceive things. Although there were some interesting tid-bits throughout the book, I wanted to learn how to improve the composition of my photographs, and didn't find anything of use. This book is probably well-suited to a graduate-level psychology course, but for me it has little applicability to photography.
i love this book.......2003-06-16
I own the first edition of this book and I'm still reading and rereading it. This book is a source of ideas, methods, knowledge. What is more important, it is about the fundamentals. A serious, profound book for a thoughtful reader. It will not give you 1-2-3 easy to apply techniques to do this or that. It will do you better - reveal the basics so you can develop your own style and vision (it could take time and efforts, though :)
Beyond Photography and Beyond Me!.......2003-05-27
Most photography instruction books talk about equipment and subjects. Seldom is there a discussion of the psychological and physiological aspects of the photographer and the viewer in the process of creating and looking at pictures. This book attempts to fill that gap for photographers and other graphic artists with the aim of giving more impact to pictures created by those artists.
The contents are wide ranging, with everything from a discussion of Gestalt psychology field grouping to a discussion of the meaning of the "Kilroy was here" signs that proliferated during and after the Second World War.
Some of the material may be immediately useful to a photographer such as the discussion of figure and ground. Thinking in these terms may make it easier for the photographer to decide how, or even if, he wants to provide separation to his subject.
Other material will require a major mental engagement that could ultimately prove useful. For example there is a lengthy discussion of the use of rhetoric in photography. This will be a new concept for most photographers. Zakia suggests that rhetoric deals with structuring the photograph to alter its message in a certain direction. For example, the photographer can use the rhetorical device of identity to strengthen a picture through repetition. That device should be easily understandable to most photographers. On the other hand using dubitation for opposition (sic!) may leave the photographer wondering what the author is talking about. However, a close reading might reveal that considering this approach may lead to a stronger picture.
Finally there is material like the discussion of synesthesia, a situation where one experiences a sensual stimulus, like a sound, in another mode, like vision. While interesting, I failed to see the relevance of this information to the practical photographer.
And that is a major shortcoming of this book. The author frequently fails to make a connection between a phenomenon that he is describing and photography. To compound this shortcoming, when he offers a connection to a visual work as an illustration, he does not usually include the work in the book, but rather describes it in writing. For a book on imaging, the failure to include images is shocking.
I suppose there are photographers who are so skilled and so intellectual that they could benefit from this material. The rest of us can probably find other guides to better our photography.
Books:
- Letters From a Skeptic: A Son Wrestles with His Father's Questions about Christianity
- Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting
- Magnetic Information Storage Technology (Electromagnetism)
- Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog
- Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables
- Mexifornia: A State of Becoming
- Micro-Macrame Jewelry, Tips and Techniques for Knotting with Beads
- Mystic Chords of Memory: Civil War Battlefields and Historic Sites Recaptured
- Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques (Practical Photohgraphy Books)
- Nikon Creative Lighting System Digital Field Guide
Books Index
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- History: Fiction or Science
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Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)
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The Digital Photography Book
Photography and the Art of Seeing: A Visual Perception Workshop for Film and Digital Photography
