The A-Z of Creative Photography: Over 70 Techniques Explained in Full

I purchased this book 3 years ago when I first became interested in photography and have thoroughly enjoyed it since. The layout of the how-to sections are easy to understand and even make enjoyable reading. The section on exposure is excellent-IMHO.I really enjoyed the "shooting floodlite buildings" section. The shot of the Eiffel Tower at night was so inspiring, that I told myself if I ever get to Paris, I wanted to shoot a similar picture. Well this past September 2001, my wife and I went to France and thanks to Mr. Frost, who told me the time of day to shoot, the film to use and to shoot at f8 for 20 seconds, I finally got my shot and have had a few offers for it! I uploaded it to a website known for desktop pictures for PC's. Excellent for those who want to improve in making pictures.

If you don't know what an f stop is then this probably isn't the book for your looking for, however for beginner of intermediate photographers, who are looking for new ideas for creating new imagery this book is very inspirational. Essentially there are 70 techniques layed out alphabetically, with a few color and b/w examples for each one. Although the book has many technical ideas, much of the emphasis is placed on learning how to see photographically, and if you have a 35mm, a flash, and tripod, you can attempt nearly everything in the book. Each "technique" is arranged into sections: How it's done, what you need, and tips.The text is clear, insightfull, assumes a basic camera knowledge, and is even humorous at times. The ideas suggested are practical and inexpensive. Things you could do in your neighborhood or town. Very easy and fun to read, very nice images, and packed with creative suggestions. I have purchased a few similiar books but this one is the best so far.

Unlike most other techniques books, the techniques shown here are very practical and easily tried out, with the f-stops, FL and shutter on every photo (unlike many other books). Most of the techniques you will ever need are included, and more. Well served as a field guide too, it's fairly small to tuck into the camera bag.Excellent writeups and light-hearted reading, so good it's one of my most often read books. Not much of a coffee table since the images are fairly small. Another excellent book from Lee is Night and Low Light Photography, a seldom touched area of photography.

When I purchased this book I was looking for something to give me some ideas of what to photograph. What I got was ideas plus explanations on how to take the photo. This book covers almost every type of photographic technique used and explains in full the way you can take the photograph yourself. It give tips, explanations and How-to's in an easy, non-boring, format to the reader. The book explains everything from infrared to macro to grainy-artictic photography. I have, and would again, recommed this book to anyone who wants to get into photography and learn some of the many techniques invovled, and areas there are to explore in creating a photograph that is pleasing to you and your sense of photographic style.

For intermediate level amateur photographers, this book has exciting and well organized content. Explains techniques clearly, and gives aperture and shutter combinations for pictures displayed so that you can try the same. I loved it.