Can anyone suggest books/resources on the artistic side of photography?

Question

I am a relatively new photographer. I have no problem understanding the technical side of photography (I am an engineer by trade), but I do struggle with the more 'artistic' side of photography (composition, symmetry, choice of color/B&W...)

Can anyone suggest any reading material (either online or books) that could help improve my artistic side?

Asked by n/a

Answer

One of the best books I can recommend is Michael Freeman's famous book:

• The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos

This book is a rare gem, in that it does a pretty superb job of covering all the critical artistic topics of photography in a generally agnostic way. Michael Freeman is a talented photographer, and his communication of compositional aspects of photography is second to none. You may not learn everything about the artistic side of a specific kind of photography from this book, but you'll definitely learn the general basics that can be applied to most forms of photography.

Two other books by Michael Freeman should also find their way into your collection:

• Michael Freeman's Perfect Exposure: The Professional's Guide to Capturing Perfect Digital Photographs
• The Photographer's Mind: Creative Thinking for Better Digital Photos

These three books comprise my favorites out of my entire collection, and have been the most useful (and most used) over the two or so years I've been doing photography. They do not get into the specifics of any specific field of photography, so if you are looking for detailed information information about a single field, you will have to look deeper. I generally do landscape photography, and I can offer some superb books for that field that can help you expand your artistic horizons beyond the fundamentals covered in Freeman's books. For other fields, like portraiture, architectural photography, street, etc., others can hopefully help you find what you need.

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I do landscape, nature, and wildlife photography, so most of my books are related to that area of photography. Here are some other great books that I found that have helped me learn the artistic side of things:

• "Developing Vision and Style: A Landscape Photography Masterclass" by Joe Cornish, Charlie Wait, and David Ward — An excellent resource of other photographers' work. One of the best ways to learn the artistic side of photography is observe the artistic photographs of other great photographers.
• Alain Briot's "Mastering Landscape Photography: The Luminous Landscape Essays" — Alain Briot has been a long-time contributor to the Luminous Landscape web site. This book is a more-thorough compilation of his works on that site.
• David Noton's "Waiting for the Light" — Another excellent book for landscape photographers, this one explains how to find and use natural light.

When it comes to other types of photography, I don't have a whole lot to offer. I've perused some books on portrait and wedding photography, however I don't own any and couldn't offer much. Architectural photography seems to be an area that is fairly lacking in books. There do seem to be some great books from individual architectural photographers that showcase their works, and observing other photographers work is a great way to learn, but it is limited. Another field I have started to delve into is astrophotography. There do seem to be a few books and resources in that area:

• Digital SLR Astrophotography
• A Beginner's Guide to DSLR Astrophotography
• Long Exposure Astrophotography
• Catching the Light

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Most of the books I have learned from are for landscape and wildlife/bird photography, so I am not certain how useful they will be for you. I think the compositional concepts are very sound, and apply to more than just nature photography, however.

• The Photographers Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos
  • Fantastic book on composition from a general perspective...definitely a must have if you need to learn more about composition
• Waiting for the Light
  • Excellent book for landscape photographers, has some good tips on composition, but mostly about natural lighting, how and when to find it, etc.
• Mastering Landscape Photography: The Luminous Landscape Essays
  • Another excellent book that has some great examples of composition with visual examples
• 100 Ways to Take Better Nature and Wildlife Photographs
  • Mostly wildlife, however the compositional tips are superb
• Developing Vision and Style
  • Not so much a book explicitly about composition, however it has a ton of example nature & landscape photographs from visionary photographers that make excellent material to review and learn from...some truly fantastic stuff. All photographs, their location, and the gear used to capture them is detailed in the back of the book. Each set of photographs from each interviewed photographer includes their sense of vision and style, which can be helpful.
• Working the Light: A Photography Masterclass
  • Good examples of quality composition, again, all landscape

Answered by n/a

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Apart from birds/wildlife and sports what are some “artistic” uses for telephoto lenses?

Question

I mean no offence to birders and sports shooters, but I don't practice those types of photography.

So what other types/styles of shooting can be done with long (200-300mm+) lenses, other than the obvious?

Please provide example photos to better illustrate your point.

Asked by Instantkamera

Answer

Pigeon-holing lenses is not always a worthwhile exercise. Any lens can work in virtually any setting.

Long lenses can be excellent in landscape situations, for example picking out and isolating a particular feature. The long focal length also has the effect of compressing perspective. They can also be used in street photography, where the length allows you to discreetly capture scenes.

Answered by ElendilTheTall

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How do I create a sense of power and splendor in an image?

Question

I'm trying to take pictures currently that convey strong emotional feelings, and I would like to know whether there is any particular color scheme or type of picture that would convey a feeling of splendor.

Asked by J. Walker

Answer

Very context dependant:

• Monochrome is often used to ennhance such effects.

• Add high contrast to monochrome.

• In some context poor focus or purposeful blurring assists. Maybe a funeral procession or drawing you in to be part of what is happening.

• Dim and dingy and sidelit and available light and high window and flickering candles etc etc etc .... all help IN SOME CONTEXTS. (Not for eg coronation of the Grand High Whatever.

Knowing he more specific context(s) would help.

Note that "string emotional feelings" and "splendour" would not be a marvellously good match to many people. You may need to better convey what you want to achieve.

Answered by Russell McMahon

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What photographer took this mid 20th-century color photograph?

Question

Can anyone please identify who is the photographer of this picture and what is the name of the picture?

It appears taken in middle of 20th century (1950s?) in a rural place. It looks like summer. A young blonde girl is lying naked on a chair, in front of a window. Outside the window there is a yellow field and in the back, after the field, there is a man standing next to a blue car. The style is painting-like, and it's hard to tell if it's even really a photograph in the low-quality jpeg image I've found.

This is the photograph, which may not be "workplace safe", as it contains some nudity: http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/5558/pic025v.jpg

Answer

Just do an image search with google on that url

http://www.google.com/imghp

and it will offer to search by image.

Which results in:

Best guess for this image: Saul Leiter

and, following some of the results, the title "Lanesville, 1958".

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