The following information is from the inside cover: | Image: Designing Effective Pictures (Amphoto...

Understand why images visually work | Image: Designing Effective Pictures (Amphoto Photography Workshop Series) | Michael Freeman

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	• Image: Designing Effective Pictures (Amphoto Photography Workshop Series) Michael Freeman Watson-Guptill Pubns, 1988 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews
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Best photo composition book I've seen

Image: Designing Effective Pictures is my favorite photography book that deals with composition. Freeman takes pains to show how things can be composed using frame, color, line, texture, juxtaposition, etc to create dynamic tension or harmony, and the strengths of various choices of lenses, focus, etc. It bears re-reading. It also is a photography book where the text and sketches are as important as the photo examples. It doesn't deal with digital cameras, but the book is hardly dated since what he's talking about is independent of the camera. If you read one book about photo composition, this is it IMHO.

In looking up this title on Amazon, I found that Michael Freeman has an updated version called The Photographer's Eye. Some of the examples that I saw are in Image: Designing Effective Pictures, but I will buy this newer one as well because a reviewer had read both and thought that the second book was even better.

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The following information is from the inside cover:

Image is the second volume in a unique new series that approaches photography in the critical, exploratory manner of a teaching course. Many books on photography intend to provide practical information, but instead concentrate on the mechanics of the subject in question. In contrast, the unique value of this series of books is that the sound practical instruction is based on the readers' development of such skills as visual awareness, design, and the control of image quality - in short, the taking of good photographs.

Design is the single most important reason for the success of most photographs and the fundamental skill needed to produce effective pictures. Without using camera technology as a prop, the greatest possible improvement that any course of instruction can stimulate is in the ability to see potential pictures and to be aware of the choices available in organizing the image within the frame.

Equipment is kept at a subsidiary level in Image, although the graphic effects of lens design are treated fully. This volume teaches the dynamics of the picture frame or viewfinder, the basics of design, and the many means of directing the attention of someone looking at the photograph, of making the picture be seen in the way that you want. Problem subjects can also be tackled by applying a well-trained eye rather than extra equipment or tricks, and practical instruction is given in this. Finally, the distinction is made between the major stylistic treatments, such as the formal proportions and minimal and abstract designs. Throughout the book is a carefully worked out series of practical exercises with specially prepared examples which are discussed in detail. The reader is encouraged to criticize the work shown here, and his or her own, and to develop powers of judgement, interpretation and selection.

Conceived for those photographers who have a basic knowledge of the subject and are keen to improve their craft, each volume of the series is devoted to a different topic. This is the second volume in the series; the others are Cameras and Lenses, Light and Film. The Photography Workshop Series will benefit both keen amateurs and professionals alike, and provide an invaluable guide for anyone wishing to discover the techniques for taking excellent photographs.

Michael Freeman, an established photographer for nearly twenty years, has emerged as one of the most important authors of books on photography in recent years. He specializes in studio, reportage and wildlife photography. His work has appeared on posters and record sleeves and in numerous books and magazines. Michael Freeman's other publications include The Photographers Studio Manual, The 35mm Handbook, Collins Concise Guide to Photography and Wildlife and Nature Photography.

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Understand why images visually work

I've been searching for this book for a long ever since seeing it at the library when I was 10. The book explains easier topics such as contrast, but it delves into far more complex topics such as balance, lighting, perspective, and color. This book is meant to be studied and reread multiple times. The examples are exquisite.