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Introduction

Just the other week, the Nobel Committee awarded the 2009 prize for Physics to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, both of Bell Labs, for their work developing the CCD (Charged Couple Device). Without the CCD, we would not have the digital camera. Without the digital camera, we would not have a host of image sites all over the web and hard drives exploding with images. Photoshop would not be as significant an application as it is and scanners would be in even greater use. Because of the CCD (and CMOS) we, as a people, are taking more photos now than ever before (consider: film is expensive and electrons are cheap). We often depend upon some photo enhancer software to make our images look better, but most of the time this ends up like trying to (as the saying goes) "shine shit." Simply, the ability to take photos does not mean we know how to take good photos. These are three books to guide the reader on what's involved in taking photos that are striking, memorable, and tell a story.

Simply, taking photos is no less an art form than painting, sculpting, writing, glassblowing, or any endeavor that requires time and practice to develop the skills necessary to create unique beauty. Anyone can paint on a canvas, but very, very few can create art without any formal education. Even after a long education, the number of masters is not great (that's why the masters are masters). When we go off on vacations and take photos of the iconic beauties of this earth, the vast majority are pictures. Few are photos. While some people can do art naturally, the vast majority of us cannot, at least not without some guidance. A good photographer can get a memorable photo with a point-and-shoot camera while the hobbyist with the most expensive digital single lens reflex might end up with some okay pictures.

Fortunately these books can help the reader understand what's involved with photography and what's involved with taking memorable photos. It's safe to say that reading any or all of these books is not sufficient to make you a great photographer, but if you read and understand what's being said, you will be a better photographer.

All these books explain some of the physics and mechanics of photography: the use and reasons for manipulating the aperture, the shutter speed, and ISO. Fast lenses, slow lenses, long and short lenses, and zoom lenses. But none of the books dwell on these issues. The first two books dwell a lot upon the thought processes behind great images. The last one is quite a bit different than the other two, and while I won't explain anything about it yet (see my comments/review later on), what all of these books point out is that there are two elements of taking good photos. One is the composition; as mentioned earlier, a good photographer can take a good composition image with ANY camera. The other issue is hardware. We often forget, or never knew, that when professional photographers go off taking photos, they have their camera (of course), several lenses (makes sense), probably a tripod (hey, I've got one), various flashes and strobes (well sure), and reflectors and diffusers (oh really?). Simply, in the goal to manipulate and capture light, the folks who take the best memorable photos do a lot of light manipulation in the goal of capturing that light.

In other words, one of the reasons why professional photographers come up with such great photos is that they have all of the equipment necessary to do a great job. If the light is too harsh, pull the diffuser out. If there's too much shadow under the face, pull the reflector out. If you want more light on the right side of the face, put the strobe over on the right side. If the subject is in too much shadow, have the subject move to a better lit area.

All three books explain how one needs to exclude things to improve the image. I believe it was Mark Twain who once said (and I paraphrase here) "I'm sorry, but I do not have the time to write you a short letter." Photography is no different as it takes time to compose an image, deciding what to exclude, and then wait for the pieces of the image to fall into place. All three books talk about setting yourself up, finding a scene, and then waiting for the necessary components (the light, the people, or any other needed artifacts) of the image to be together at the right time in the right place so you can press a button.

It's important to keep in mind that photographers get involved with taking the photo from all aspects. It's not as if they walk into a public area and take a great shot without disturbing anyone and then walk out. Job done! Can it happen that way? Sure, but very, very, very rarely. Photographers control their environment, control their equipment, and may take many many photos as they try to sneak up on the shot that says what they want the image to say. It's not magic, but rather education, knowledge, and experience at work (and always a bit of luck).

The Books

Within the Frame
Author: David duChemin
Publisher: New Riders
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-65052-3
ISBN-10: 0-321-65052-0
Pages: 254
Price: USA - $39.99 / Can $ $47.99 / UK £28.99

Simply, this book was my favorite of the lot. duChemin is an assignment photographer specializing with humanitarian projects. That means people pay him to go to places and take photos that will grab your heart. It's one thing to say people are having a rough time in yadayadaland, it's a whole different ball game if you show the people who are having the rough time in a meaningful way that causes you to open up your wallet.

Among the features of this book that appealed to me was that it's also a compilation of an around-the-world trip he took visiting Mongolia, Ethiopia, Peru, Tunisia, India, and Cuba. All of the photos of the book come from this trip, and all of the photos are used to elucidate the various points he makes. Also, since the photos are all recent, he can talk about his experiences when taking the photos that make them more than just a great photo.

Although certainly not the first thing, early on in the book he talks about the dynamics of capturing images (shutter speed, aperture, and ISO) along with the physics of lenses. For every image in the book, he identifies what camera was used, the lens, shutter speed, aperture, and the ISO. It's one thing to have someone mention how you control depth of field by the aperture, but to study every photo and compare its aperture with other images was a big treat and wonderfully educational. What was missing was a bit of extra commentary as to whether any of the settings were just happenstance or intended. For example, on one photo that he identifies as a roadside vendor, the ISO was 800. That seems high to me for a daytime outside photo. He was using a Canon 5D so the amount of noise for that camera is going to be very low, but nonetheless, I'd like to know if he had recently been in a building and forgot to reset the ISO or if that was an intended setting.

Another pleasure within the book was his commenting on just about every image. It's as close to being the places where he was as I'll likely ever be, but when he describes his conversations with the various people he photographed, it brings a little more life to an already great photo.

duChemin makes a big point about talking to the people whom you are about to photograph; it removes the stalking imposition that could otherwise potentially exist, and also can be an opening for them to want to work with you. [Recently I was at a Fall Arts Fair in New England. I took duChemin's advice and talked with the various vendors who were doing crafts at their booths. I asked them if they minded me taking photos of them as they worked. All were very cooperative, much moreso that had I not asked, and almost all thanked me for asking. I know I got much better photos than if I just stood there taking pictures without any interaction or conversation.]

duChemin has a good eye for taking photos and an even better tongue for explaining things he does to capture those images. For example, he likes contrasts. Not just light and dark, or blue and yellow, but cement and a flower, a row boat and a speed racer. Look for these when you see a subject, it can make for a more interesting photo.

Nonetheless, what I got the most out of this book is that it it okay to take the time to take a good photo. duChemin talks about being at the Taj Mahal and how it's almost impossible to take a photo of such an iconic beauty that would stand out from the already thousands of photos that have already been taken. But he does, and did. There's one photo of a man with a simple homemade broom sweeping a tile floor inside an arched doorway with the majestic Taj Mahal in the background. What makes the photo that much more amazing is that there were (according to duChemin) people all around, but he positioned himself in such an angle that all you saw was this one man sweeping, centered in an archway overlooking the Taj Mahal. Stunning.

duChemin, as others in this list, points out that when the light is too harsh he pulls out a diffuser, or if the the shadows are too great he will pull out a reflector. I now have a better understanding that if I really want to control the harsh direct light of a mid-day sun on a vendor in the street, I really need to pull out a diffuser or have him move to some shade. Since I am not likely to carry a diffuser with me, I have a choice to either (1) hope there's some shade around or (2) accept that the shadows will be a bit sharp.

Simply put, this book is good in that I learned a lot and it's a fascinating read. If there's any fault, it's that duChemin tends to wander in his writing and occasionally you wonder where he's going. He's good enough that I'm willing to cut him some slack and go on his verbal journey.

For an extra treat, duChemin has a series of (20) podcasts where he takes images that have been uploaded to his "Within the Frame" section at Flickr, and he comments on the images (besides the Flickr access, you can also go to iTunes and search on "within the frame" for the same podcasts). What's amusing here is that the camera that's part of his iMac or Powerbook is a wide angle lens. He should know better than to get too close to a lens like that, but he starts and ends every broadcast with the camera on him, and he's too close. Way too close. Besides his podcasts, you can also look at his work by visiting his website.

Visual Poetry
Author: Chris Orwig
Publisher: New Riders
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-63682-9
ISBN-10: 0-321-63682-1
Pages: 287
Price: USA - $44.99 / Can $ $53.99

Chris Orwig is a photographer, author, and a teacher at the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara California. His teaching pedigree shows in this book, as it has a defined beginning, middle, and end. He has a plan, he's going to get there, and he's going to take you with him.

Orwig's book is broken down to very logical blocks that start with—dare I say it—"Getting Started." Here, Orwig guides the reader to find inspiration to learn to see as a photographer, and to understand the tools required. This is followed by "Let the Adventure Begin" where he provides tips and guidelines for portraits, kids and families, weddings, travel, action and outdoors, and found objects. Lastly there's "What's Next," where he talks about camera gear and how to become a professional. Simply, the teacher in Orwig has organized this book in a very clear and straightforward way.

The typical structure of the book is a continuing series of a few words in the subhead of the text followed by a paragraph or ten on that subject. For example, in one subhead titled "Bold Mistakes," Orwig talks about the need to be bold when experimenting and be ready and willing to make mistakes. Good advice. At other places in this book, Orwig has sub-subheads that are more instructional guidelines, and the following text elaborates on those guidelines. For example, in the chapter on "Action and the Great Outdoors," in the subsection called Practical Tips, the various sub-subsections provide such statements as "Understand Time to Anticipate Action," or "After the Sun Goes Down." After these titles, Orwig provides one or more paragraphs elaborating on the tip.

There is a lot to learn from this book. By chapter three I was circling paragraphs or specific sentences and "PostIt noting" the pages. Soon, my copy had a bunch of yellow things fluttering away at the top of the book. On the other hand, in the beginning and in the end, I found myself frustrated by Orwig's encouraging comments. For example, in a subsection called "Solitude," Orwig says "If you want to create photographs that haven't been done, invest in yourself." Forgive me, but that sounds like nonsense. Fortunately this is immediately followed by "People will tell you it is all about capturing the essence. I say capture the essence of what captures you."

How about, "If you want to create photographs that haven't been done, capture the essence of the image that captures you."

I really wish I could have edited this book before it was released.

Nonetheless, the advise is absolutely sound.

All of the authors tell you to experiment and to grow by working with (or against) limitations. That is, (for example) go out with one camera lens (or set your zoom to one length) and take all of your photos with that one setting. Since you can't zoom, you have to move back and forth to frame your photo. There are a variety of these structured challenge tasks. By Part II—when he's advising you how to take portraits, kids and family photos, etc.—there's a section at the end of these chapters called "Workshop Assignments". Yup, you are as good as in school. Orwig breaks this down to five components: Survey, Shoot, Share, Review, and Respond. In fact, Orwig invites you to send your lesson photos to his Flickr site (address below) so people (and Orwig) can review your work. That's really great.

The Survey is to study those who come before you. If you want to shoot portraits, look at the master portrait photographers; if it's architecture, look at the master architectural photographers, etc. The Shoot is just that: shoot. He gives you various assignments such as subjects you admire, no faces, etc. In other words, he wants you to work by limitations, not just quantity of shots. Share is to have a show, use Flickr, whatever way you can get your images out there for people to see. Review is to see what others say about what you've done, and Respond is what you're going to do about it. If you are serious about your photography, these workshop assignments can be an interesting task that just might help you focus on your art.

At the end of every chapter in this book, Orwig invites guest speakers—famous photographers from all disciplines—and asks pretty much the same questions to each guest. Unfortunately, at no point does he ever take an answer and do a follow-up question (I was frustrated by this because I had lots of follow-up questions). Nonetheless, by asking the same questions over and over, you do get a wide perspective on how the creative community sees many of the same issues vastly differently. Since we are all different people, some of these answers might appeal to some, whereas other answers may not. Included are some samples of these guest speakers' art and web links for you to "survey" their work to a greater depth.

One of my other frustrations with this book is Orwig's placement choice for where the photos landed in relation to the text. duChemin nails it time and time again, but Orwig doesn't. I've written books and I know it's profoundly difficult to place images at just the right spot in relation to the text that discusses the images. Whether it's Orwig, his editor, the typesetter, or whomever, it didn't work all that well in this book. For example, on the page that he has a large subhead called "Night," he shows a photo that relates to the subject that starts the page before. Later he discusses how you can get a more meaningful shot of (in this case) signs by using a big lens to zoom way in. On the page he discusses this he has a photo of the whole sign, but the zoomed in image of one letter on the same sign is several pages before the page where he describes the technique. Fortunately, Orwig is trying to teach us how to be photographers, not typesetters.

Despite these frustrations, I do feel this book will appeal to many readers.

Like duChemin, Orwig also has a Flickr account; and like just about all photographers, a website for this book, and his own personal website.

The Digital Photography Book (volume 3)
Author: Scott Kelby
Publisher: Peachpit Press
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-61765-1
ISBN-10: 0-321-61765-7
Pages: 243
Price: USA - $24.99 / CAN - $29.99 / UK - £13.99

Scott Kelby has written more books on Photoshop and photography than just about anyone else on earth. Like most of his books, Kelby takes a subject (e.g., long lenses, the difference between main and fill light, use backlighting to your advantage, whatever), and writes one page on the subject, and that's it. In fact, every subject in this book is one page long. Well that and a photo, so actually it's half a page.

Rather than go into lengthy explanations of the physics of long lenses as opposed to the physics of short lenses or the value of prime lenses, or how you need to take the time to remove the parts of the image that do no work, or whatever, Kelby's objective in this book is to simply knock the subject down to the basics; here's the issue, here's the solution, done.

Don't expect a discussion of art, light theory, or composition. Those subjects are there, it's just there's no discussion of them. Comments, yes, just no discussion. Kelby does present a lot of the hardware required for taking great professional quality photos in this book. It's not that he's trying to sell you these things, but he is letting you know that if this is what you want to do, you need this kind of hardware to do it. He does provide some counseling that can help you save a bit of money here and there, but he also adds, "... make sure you have a good marriage because photography can be an expensive hobby." To his credit for the small book, Scott does cover just about every dynamic of photographic needs as he shows what's necessary (or at least recommended) for studio work, product images, sports photography, you name it.

Kelby takes a rather interesting approach toward selling his books: this is volume 3, not the 3rd Edition. If it was the latter, one might think that he'd have updated parts of a previous book and expanded other parts. Nope! He tells you in the first couple of pages that to get the full understanding of [camera] flashes, you will need to look at the section on flashes in volume 2. There are other aspects that need to be checked out in volume 1, as well. As I've not seen those volumes, I cannot comment, but there's little mystery why Scott is the most published author for Photoshop and photography. In addition, Kelby also refers you to his website for further information. While this is not uncommon, Scott's extra info pages (which do provide good info) happen to be within this kelbytraining.com website to which you can subscribe for lots of very good information on how to use Photoshop and other software products.

A lot of what's covered in the other two books is here also, but as is typical with Kelby's writing style: boom! Now move on. For example, he shows an image of a canal in Venice Italy, and it's very underexposed. Kelby points out that in the upper right of the image you can see the sky and the exposure meter in the camera was overwhelmed by the light and that's why the image was overexposed. What to do? Zoom in a bit so that the sky is not seen in the image and that will solve the problem. However, in another section he talks about the difference between evaluative versus spot metering, but never discusses the advantages and disadvantages between the two.

While many books have sidebars, this book has bottombars. If Kelby has room on a page, and had a side topic to bring up (or perhaps something that was on his mind at the time he was writing that page), he adds the extra information on the bottom of the page within a darker box. Sometimes these are on subject [when discussing shooting from a low position the bottombar points out that it's a good idea to get some workman's kneepads] while at other times you wonder what was going on [such as when discussing an easy way to get a pure white background in a studio shoot, the bottombar suggests you write out a list of the various shots/poses/lighting you want to accomplish before going off on a shoot].

Like the previous authors, Kelby has several websites. For his books, you need to go to his book section at Kelby Training, and for this book you want to go to digital photography 3. Although Kelby doesn't have his own Flickr account as do duChemin and Orwig, he does have his "Photowalk" Flickr account. For several years now, Kelby has organized a one day worldwide event where people form small groups and meet at a specific location, walk, and take photos. You can obtain more information about the Photowalk at the Photowalk website.

Summation:

When you think about it, trying to explain to people how to think a new way in a visual medium is an interesting challenge. There are so many ways to compose any individual shot, and there are so many different types of shots, that to be specific is an exercise in futility. Thus, what any author who's trying to teach the specifics of how to do anything does is give you thoughts and concepts to mull on. There are rules (e.g., rule of thirds) and laws (e.g., optics) that should be obeyed or ignored depending on what you are tying to capture. Think about how successful it would be to tell your algebra teacher in high school that you are ignoring some algebra rule because you want to accomplish something different. The arts are different, and explaining and teaching the arts is an art in itself.

Within the Frame and Visual Poetry are both very similar in intent and general structure. The Digital Photography Book is very much a different book both in intent and general structure, but, interestingly enough, the end result is very similar. There is profound overlap in all three books so you will do no wrong whichever one you chose to get. However, keep in mind that Kelby's book is volume 3, and you might consider purchasing the other two to obtain the full benefit. Since Kelby sells a box cover for these books, I'm fairly comfortable there will not be a volume 4. On the other hand, I just learned that a new author has written the 6th book in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, so while I'm comfortable, I'm not betting. Especially not against Kelby, who will only stop writing when he dies (and even then I'm not so sure).

Grading these books is not easy but I will do so.

Within the Frame

I'll give 5 "A's." Despite sometimes being a bit wordy, I got wonderful information on almost every page. New ways to look at photography, an image, a thought. I now have a much better understanding about what I can capture and what I cannot. I have regained my nerve to take photos of people being people and will continue to redevelop that work. I enjoyed being on this world wide shoot with duChemin, I hope he takes me along on another.

Applelinks Rating:

Buy Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision

Visual Poetry

Despite the fact that this book covers similar road as Within the Frame, I found this road a bit bumpy. Choice and placement of images was a bit frustrating to me and I found Orwig's comments needed some tighter editing. I would suggest that occasionally Orwig should take his work into an empty room and read it aloud to himself. Does it have the same weight as when he's reading silently to himself?

Despite those criticisms, as I stated, the middle section of my copy is filled with PostIt notes marking comments and sections I really liked. If any book should be examined within the book store, this is the one. You might find my complaints are beyond stupid and that this book should be given a 6A rating.

Applelinks Rating:

Buy Visua Poetry: A Creative Guide for Making Engaging Digital Photographs

The Digital Photography Book, v. 3

This book is so different from the other two thatone might wonder why it's here. Simply, it has a lot of the same information, but in a completely different format. Kelby's writing style is brisk and to the point whereas both Orwig and duChemin can chew a thought or concept at great length. Thus, Kelby's approach might appeal to many. Certainly, Kelby's approach is fantastic when your reading time is available in short bits. It's one thing to say "I'll be with you at the end of this paragraph," or "I'll be with you at the end of this chapter." If you like your information in short bits, this is the book for you.

Applelinks Rating:

Buy The Digital Photography Book (volume 3)

___________ Gary Coyne has been a scientific glassblower for over 30 years. He's been using Macs since 1985 (his first was a fat Mac) and has been writing reviews of Mac software and hardware since 1995.

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