The New Manual of Photography
The definitive guide to photography in every format
by John Hedgecoe
In short, this is a great book for what it is - a book with a very
broad scope, catering to a moderately broad audience. That sounds
like I'm trying to overly qualify saying that it's a great book...
which is not my intent. It is a great book. Period. The qualifications
come more into play when you ask "Is it a great book for me?"
If you are a complete novice with photography, have no idea what you
are doing, and are interested in nothing more than figuring out how
to not cut the heads off of your relatives in the pictures that you
take at holiday dinners each year, then this is not the book for you.
(But then, why are you reading ramblings on this site to begin with?)
If you are a fairly advanced photographer with years of experience
shooting around the world and developing in the wet dark room you
built in your spare bedroom, then this book might be useful
as a reference when teaching your friends "basic concepts". (Again,
why are you reading ramblings on this site?)
For the vast majority of us who fall into the middle, this book at
least has something for each of us. It's a wealth of information,
but presented in such a way that you do not need to bring a lot of
background knowledge with you when you read it. On the other hand,
if you have a working knowledge of some of the concepts it talks
about, I'd still say it is worth going through - just to reinforce
things, and/or point out some tidbits that you weren't aware of
(or even had forgotten).
Either way the information is densly packed without being unusable,
with example images that help illustrate a variety of concepts and
practices. Overview subjects like camera basics, and how to choose
the right camera for you. Basic photography subjects like exposure
and depth of field. Artistic photography concepts like shot
composition. Details on special circumstances like still-life,
portraits, architecture, sports, and studio shooting. Even a section
on post production work either in the darkroom or in working with
digital imaging.
I suppose at some point in all of this I should actually point out
that, at the time I am writing this, I have not actually read the
entire book cover to cover (yet). I'm actually only about half way
through it... yet already I've found concepts that I only half
understood before, are more firm in my mind. Other things that I
had heard "this is what you want to do", I now understand more
about the underlying "why". Not to mention the number of times I
have already pulled out the book to show someone an example from
the book just to illustrate something that we were talking about
(just this last week I was showing my mother the examples in the
section on depth of field).
Finally just to say explicitly what has been hinted at already --
this is a generalist book. If you are looking for something to
deal with only digital photography, there are probably better
books out there for you. If you are looking for something to teach you
how to setup your own studio in your garage, there are probably
better books out there for you. But if you're looking for
some general overall learning, or even just for a book to have
on hand as a general reference for photography related questions,
then I would indeed suggest at least thumbing through this one
at your local bookstore and see what you think.
The New Manual of Photography
by John Hedgecoe
Copyright 2003 Dorling Kindersley Limited
ISBN 0-7894-9637-2
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