Photographic Composition

Generally, I'm not much of a review writer. I'm not that eloquent, easily bored, and lazy in the extreme. This particular book, however, merits an exception. To put it succinctly, it's one of the best photography books I've ever come across and I've come across quite a few of 'em. Despite this, I'm not too surprised at the lukewarm ratings and reviews that it's been getting here. Furthermore, I'm sure that the majority of the current wave of photo hobbyists will find it irritating in the extreme. Here's why. We're an instant gratification society. We've been conditioned to look for easy solutions to complex problems and to want them here and now. Most photography books that get printed right now cater to that trend. They're full of do-this-get-that examples, pre-canned ideas, standard lighting setups, etc., etc. You will find none of that in "Photographic Composition". It is a book that deals with concepts, not instructions. If you slow down, think things through, and meditate on the material that's presented, then maybe, just maybe, it will help you create something... interesting. If you're not willing to do that or just not interested, then you should probably look elsewhere.

This is the only text on photographic composition (that I know of) that discusses the elements of composition, techniques to achieve the desired results, and gives examples. It follows through with a discussion of using a series of photographs to explore a theme. The writing is clear and detailed, and progresses logically through the subject. The book is a good reference book for someone taking coourses in photographic composition.

This book is unique in the matters that it tries to touch, namely the photographic composition and the "visual language". This is something I haven't read in any book, be it the great technitian Ansel Adams's "The Camera" or "The Negative" or the overrated Bryan Peterson's "Learning to See Creatively", which is basically a showcase of his own stock photography skills. Unlike Peterson, the author of this book, Tom Grill, actually wants to teach you how to create photos, the way a painter creates his paintings. The author wants you to learn the visual language of photography, which very few people have mastered. Unfortunately, this theoretical discussion of the art of photography and its visual language ends pretty quickly, and the author discusses the more prosaic topics. For example, I can't say I learned anything new in the chapters like "The Meaning of Colors" or "Shutter Speed"(something that has been covered a million times before). Still, there are invaluable topics discussed throughout the book, like "Matching the Shape and Meaning" or "Light and Mood". Buy this book, and it will make you go further in your photography than you've done before. You'll go beyond the mere looks, you'll begin to look for the meaning.

In my view there are 3 stages that must be understood to become a good photographer , Using chess as an analogy , there is the beginning which is mastering your camera equipment, the middle mastering composition and the end mastering light and exposure. For the first, get out your camera manual and practice till everything is second nature , for composition buy this book , It is required reading for mastering composition , It is more in-depth and may take a little longer to read then other books , Once you finish and understand you will be well on your way to better compositions. As for light and exposure there are many fine books out there covering the subject and couldnt pick one that is heads and above the others.

This is a very well organized and concise book on photocomposition. It has a very thoughtful progression of the covered subjects, taking the reader from basic concepts of graphic design to the practical presentational and psychological principals. From the 5 main chapters of the book I found chapters 2 "Graphic Controls" and chapter 5 "Total Control" the best chapters from the point of view of richness of presentation and its practical value. The other chapters seemed to me shallower and less focused. I share the dissatisfaction of other reviewers with the presented photographs. Even though I understand that those photographs are carefully selected not for their extreme photographic value, but rather for their association with the subject of the topic they are presented for, I assume that the authors could had done a better job of finding or making more appealing pictures. Without a rich set of photographs this books seems to be a bit more "theoretical" then a book on photography, I believe, should be.On the other note, I noted that despite the very careful selection and sequence of presentation of the main subjects, most of them are not covered as deeply as they deserve to. This being a disadvantage on one hand could easily be considered as an advantage, because the book does not overwhelm the reader with details, leaving enough space for creativity.Overall I consider the book to be very useful and educational, especially for high end amature and beginner professional photographers.Despite some criticism presented, I still rate it with 5 stars, which I think the book fully deserves.