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Review: The Photographic Eye/Learning to See with a Camera
by Michael F.O'Brien and Norman Sibley, Davis Publications
I have dozens of books on composition. Most are out of print. Here's a gem, in print. "Composition is the arrangement of visual elements within the frame of a photograph." Notice it doesn't say anything about what the elements are or what the photo has to say. I feel that controlling the elements in the frame are very important before worrying about what is being said. It is better to start with plain everyday objects around the house and yard that if looked at very carefully will make good compositions. "Photography is an art of discovery." Learning to see all over. Finding associations of objects within a frame that we take for granted with labels and a glance. A tree is a tree and a chair a chair.
This book goes much farther than my minimal rules of composition. They put rules that can interpret the student pictures in the book. Maybe they are reading too much into each picture, but the shots are great shots of everyday people in everyday locations. I feel that is the best place to start. They state many rules, but also that rules are to be broken. I still like my fourth rule the best, "Do you like it?"
They say that learning to critique other's work is a way to learn. Yes, yes. Look at pictures all the time, why do they work? Get together with other shooters to critique each others work. We are all poor judges of our own work because we all have egos bending our ability to judge our own creations. Our own babies are not ugly!
With a camcorder you can shoot many different compositions of a location and you can select the best on a TV. The darkroom photographer has a final composition choice of re-framing his negative. We don't have that option in motion picture photography.
Once you start looking at the world for it's photographic possibilities you will see the world differently and maybe at a loss for seeing it in other contexts.
© Copyright 1999-2004 Ron Dexter. All Rights Reserved.
Contents
7 Introduction
Part 1 Getting Started
11 Chapter 1 From Blurs to Big Business
History • Photographic Careers
Part 2 Elements of Composition
35 Chapter 2 Tools
Manual or Automatic? • The Camera, Inside & Out • Exercises: Testing the Shutter & Aperture
• Loading Film
51 Chapter 3 What is Composition?
Snapshots vs. Photographs • Structure, Balance, Dynamics • Exercises: Mat Frame • Cropping
67 Chapter 4 Developing A Critical Eye
Critique Session • Evaluating a Print • Exercise: Sample Crit
83 Chapter 5 Point of Departure (f!6 at 1/125)
Starting Simply • Doing it Right
87 Chapter 6 Line
Pattern, Structure, Direction • Exercise: Pattern
95 Chapter 7 Texture
Expressing the "Feel" • Exercise: Leaves
103 Chapter 8 Shape
Mass, Proportion & Relation • Using Negative Space * Exercise: Circles & Ovals
113 Chapter 9 Light
Controlling Exposure • Information & Mood • Using a Light Meter • Other Functions of Light
• Depth of Field * Exercise: Bracketing
129 Chapter 10 Motion
The Science of Blurs • Stop and Co • Exercise: Blurred Movement
137 Chapter 11 Perspective
Lenses • Different Ways of Seeing • A Point of View • Exercise: A Point of View
Part 3 People, Places & Things: Exercises & Examples
151 Chapter 12 Things
Exercises: Bicycle • Hubcaps & Taillights • Eggs • Object & Its Shadow • Bottles & Classes • Water
• Old Things
167 Chapter 13 Places
Exercises: Landscape • Architecture & Environment • Neighborhoods • Zoo/Farm • Store Windows
* Construction Sites
181 Chapter 14 People
Exercises: Hands • Elders • Children • Soft-Light Portrait • Side-Lit Portrait • Prop Portrait • Detail
Portrait • Mood Portrait
197 Chapter 15 Putting It All Together
Exercises: Fairs • Open Markets • Rain • Playgrounds • Sports Events
209 Chapter 16 Breaking the Rules
Exercises: Night • Monotone • Silhouettes • Grain and Diffusion • Double Exposure • Photo-Copy
Photos • Panel Panorama • Text and Image
Appendixes
227 Appendix 1 Processing
Processing Film • Printing • Manipulation
243 Appendix 2 Color
From B&W to Color • Technical Considerations
253 Appendix 3 Manipulation & Presentation
Presentation * Manipulation
265 Appendix 4 Advanced Techniques
Tools
272 Mat Frame (template)
273 Cropping L's (template)
275 Bibliography
279 Glossary
281 Index
287 Acknowledgments
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