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has anyone read books by Bryan Peterson such as

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-See-Creatively-Composition-Photography/dp/0817441816/sr=1-4/qid=1171190265/ref=sr_1_4/002-8889778-3046412?ie=UTF8&s=books

or

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Portraiture-Creative-People-Photography/dp/0817453911/sr=1-2/qid=1171190265/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-8889778-3046412?ie=UTF8&s=books

i'm after a exact method of taking really good shots.

currently reading a children photography book which has a good setup in a garage using a couple of bits of white foam near the edge of the roller door so the light comes in from the side and bounces back onto the subject for a nice non direct lighting. i liked this diagram approach which was a specific way to take a shot.

i guess i'm a programmer who is technical and would like to be told DO THIS to get THIS end result.

i find a lot of books give you vague ideas and theories but never show you exactly what or how to get the end result.

anyway if you have come across any good books/sites that can help me to achive good portraite shoots let me know.

cheers Troy

Troy - creativity in photography comes from within. That’s why you can place identical cameras in the hands of two people and one might produce a masterpiece, and the other, crap!!

Books are good for learning the techniques of others and are the stepping stones to your own creativity, or not.

I can’t comment specifically on the books you have mentioned but I am sure someone on the forum will have used them and will make comment.

I was contemplating buying the first book. But spent a bit of time looking through it at the local bookstore. I found that it is an ok book but wasn't the book you pick up and go "ahhh I see it all now", not that I think any book would be unless you are on the same wavelength as the author!

I see books like this to be aimed at the authors way of viewing things, and I think there is more than enough information out on the web about the "technical" way to compose a photograph, to do it creatively comes from within as Chris mentioned.

I recently picked up a little pocket book from the newsagents (was waiting for my wife to do some shopping and a little bored). It is on composition, and it tackles it from the technical perspective, not a bad little book in all and for $14.95 I cannot complain. Whilst it is not awe inspiring it does give you the basic rules (guidelines) and also tells you that they are not set in concrete and to bend or break them can make the composition better at times.

For creative inspiration, go out and view peoples galleries on pbase, flickr, etc there are so many great photos out there that you can't help but get creative and inspired after seeing them. You will find that your eyes will open up a little and you will see things differently than before, also try to look at things from unusual or different angles, something viewed from ground level gives a completely different perspective to something that is at eye level.

I think this is where my passion for photography comes from, the fact that there is no specific, you must do it this way, rules. I can do things the way I want and get the images I want and see in my minds eye rather than conforming to someone else's pseudo standards.

Brett PS What I think I am saying with all that is to go and borrow them from the library, if you feel they are really worth keeping in your home collection then buy them. But in all, get out there and play around, experiment, post up photos for critique, this is by far the most un-fettered way of learning to see creatively.

outtram wrote:i'm after a exact method of taking really good shots.

I'm sorry to say, if you are looking for this type of learning way for photography, you wont get anywhere. There is no absolute values in photography. It has rules but ironically, they are meant to be broken.

There is no 'cookbook' or magic recipe for taking a photo. Every situation is different and you must learn how to cope with different situations and see differently.

i find a lot of books give you vague ideas and theories but never show you exactly what or how to get the end result.

Simply because photography is not about "do this and get that". Wrong...
It can happen in computer language and programming, but not in the world of photography.

Books are as said above, stepping stones for your understanding and conceptual thinking. But what you really need to achieve and how to apply all these, it is all left open for you. There are endless ways to make a 'good' picture, it is just that how you want to make it, and it all depends on the creator of that light painting. We can't hold your hand and paint it for you, where is the fun of this after all?

Edit:
What I was trying to say is that, there are books that tells you exactly what to do and how to setup the shoot. But these are not specifically good books to depend on. They can be as a reference but not one that you should follow all the way. If you do keep the way they do, you will end up getting the same shots over and over again, and not improving from that point because you are simply glued to that technique and believe it works best. Tho, at times, when situation and thing changes, you will be out in the blank not knowing what to do because you were told to do 'that', but it doesn't work anymore.
Key to improve is get ideas, know some technical details, then practice, practice and practice. You will soon find your own way of taking photos.

I have the Learning to See Creatively book and have browsed it several times and read parts. It is high in my "to read" stack. Whilst your photography relies on how you see and compose your photos, these books do encourage you to go and try additional and different actions to get yout shots. Will your shots be better? Who knows. But as I said, te books do show that you can get different shots to what you do now. Are they better? Only if YOU think they are better.
Buy them both, enjoy reading them, and go and try different shots!

brett what was that little book you picked up called?

i relise that photography isn't an exact science. currently i'm taking lots of shots at different hieghts, trying to have nice even exposure on peoples face, clean background, trying to use low apertures to blur the background to help bring out the subject, shooting lots in anticipation of that perfect smile. using fill flash to help eliminate shadows.

i guess i'm just after those extra little one percenters that the pro's know and i dont, stuff like the angle the sun hits the face does this matter? is it better to look down or up slightly, what should people do with their hands.

i've read that its best not to cut people of at the joints.

a pro photographer mentioned to me that when he was shooting into the sun he dropped his exposure down by 2 stops and cranked his fill flash up by 1, the subject had the sun directly behind them, i had really blown highlights but i could see my subjects face ok... i thought his shots would have came out heaps better than mine cause i didn't do what he said due to him telling me afterwards. anyway he had blown highlights anyway???

wheres the best place to post photo's about say the above situation to get feed back?

cheers troy

Hi Troy

I am not one to give any feedback on the other issues, but to post photos for feedback, go here.

Cheers

Patrick

thanks for the link

I'll grab the exact title when I get home for the little pocket book.

Cheers
Brett

cheers brett

Hi Brett,

I would like to know the name of the book as well.

Thanks
Mak

Sorry guys I forgot about this

The pocket book is - Photography Focus Guides - Composition

Published by Derwent Howard (http://www.derwenthoward.com.au)

$14.95 from a Newsagent.

It seems this is the first in a series of books, second one is Portraits.

Cheers
Brett

thanks for the link.