Das Bild des Tages von: Steven Maess

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My Love/Hate Relationship With Photography Books

I admit it. I have a love/hate relationship with photography books. There are a lot of books on photography published these days. Some are obviously better than others, but none could possibly tell you all you need to know. Photography is an art form that relies on tools that tend to be fairly complex. But being good at photography requires both technical knowledge and applied skill.

Reading photography books can potentially teach you the technical fundamentals of photography. While you'd be hard pressed to buy a camera today that won't at least attempt to determine proper exposure, you can generally get better results if you understand a bit of exposure theory to allow you can take matters into your own hands. Books excel at explaining the arcane math of aperture, shutter speed and the square root of two. Books can also teach you about the history and mathematics of photography, so you can understand why that whole square root of two business is even part of learning about photography.

You can also buy books specific to most popular camera models so that you can learn about what all the various controls on your camera do. The number of settings on a modern camera can be a bit overwhelming without this kind of information. Few cameras today come with printed user manuals. But you'd be hard pressed to buy one that lacks downloadable pdf documentation of course. Yet few go into much detail beyond the basics. They may tell you what the camera controls do, but rarely offer any details as to when or why you should make use of most. Not all photography books do a good job of providing these sorts of explanations, but at least some can. Even after being involved in photography all these years, when I buy a new camera body, I still tend to buy a third-party book to augment the Nikon manual. I figure if I can pick up even a few useful tips, it's money well spent, especially when put in context with how much the camera itself costs. It just seems that buying a new camera yet using it as if I already know fully how to somewhat puts a dent in why I bought a new camera in the first place. If I want to make the most out of the new features it offers, I need to fully understand those features.

Photography books can also provide inspiration in terms of what is possible. After all, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. In my experience, some have been worth far more to me, but since some seem less valuable, perhaps this is meant to be taken an average. I'm not one of those people who feel that images in photo books need to have the exact shutter speed and aperture as part of the caption. To me, I find more value in studying the composition of such images, especially when put in context with the body work represented by the book as a whole. If photographs represent the point of view of the photographer, I want to study other images shot by the same photographer, too.

But there are some things that are difficult if not impossible to learn from photography books. Indeed, I've found that photography books can sometimes actually create a barrier to learning. As I said at the outset, photography can be seen as both an art and a science. As an art, what ends up matters most is what you can only figure out for yourself. It's your own experience that matters. I wouldn't go so far as to say that practice makes perfect, but it does help to deepen your experience. I've talked with more than a few photographers over the years that felt that all they needed was an even better book on photography to learn what they didn't know yet. Rarely is this the case though. But a quest for that missing piece of information can all too easily become a shiny object, distracting you from what you are lacking. Information helps, but hard-earned skill and experience ultimately matter much more.

A camera is a tool. You need to know how to use that tool effectively. But ultimately, there's really no substitute for time spent using that tool if you want to create great photographs.

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Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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Das Bild des Tages von: Christina Wieck

Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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Frohe Ostern! Einige von Euch haben sich ja mit unserer kwerbox selbst beschenkt. Wir hoffen, sie ist gut bei Euch allen angekommen. Falls nicht, meldet Euch unbedingt bei uns und wir forschen nach, wo der Osterha… ähm… DHL sie versteckt hat.

Linktipps

• Einfach großartig: Menschen versuchen, Spiegel für den Verkauf zu fotografieren. → ansehen

• Andreas Jorns hat auf seinem Blog einen guten Beitrag zum Thema Sexismus in der Fotografie, der sich speziell mit der Objektifizierung von Modellen auseinandersetzt. → ansehen

• Die Lichtfeldtechnik war eine große Innovation, doch jetzt geht Lytro Bankrott. → ansehen

• In der ARD-Mediathek gibt es einen Beitrag über die Geschichte von Fahndungsbildern. → ansehen

• Standentwicklung im C41-Prozess klingt schwierig, ist aber ganz einfach. Meint zumindest Marc von Martial in seinem Blogbeitrag. → ansehen

• Die kleine Insel Kotisaari in Finnland wurde durch die vier Jahreszeiten hindurch fotografiert. → ansehen

• Sergey Gorshkov fotografiert Braunbären in Kamtschatka aus nächster Nähe. My Modern Met stellt den Fotografen vor. → ansehen

• Ihr erinnert Euch sicher an unseren Artikel zur utopischen Stadt Auroville. Ben Hammer hat einen spannenden Podcast mit David Klammer geführt. → ansehen

• Peter Zelewski hat die letzten paar Jahre damit verbracht, eineiige Zwillinge zu fotografieren und nicht nur die unglaubliche Verbindung zwischen ihnen zu zeigen, sondern auch, was sie voneinander unterscheidet. → ansehen

Buchempfehlungen

„Die Kunst der Wildtierfotografie“ : Als preisgekrönter Wildtier-Fotograf weiß Richard Garvey-Williams, wo die besten Bilder zu machen sind. Und so nimmt er in seinem Praxisbuch Hobbyfotograf*innen mit auf eine bildgewaltige Safari durch Savannen und Wüsten, führt sie in tropische Regenwälder und extreme Polarwelten. Er erklärt die Schlüsselfaktoren Perspektive, Beleuchtung, Komposition und Timing. Gleichzeitig appelliert er für Respekt vor den scheuen Objekten der fotografischen Begierde. Das Buch ist im Verlag Edizioni White Star erschienen und kostet 16,95 €.

„Literarische Hühner“ : Beth Moon hat über 50 Hühner fotografiert und diese Portraits Texten der Weltliteratur gegenübergestellt. Die Portraitaufnahmen zeigen, dass in jedem Huhn eine echte Persönlichkeit steckt. Der Band ist im Verlag Elisabeth Sandmann erschienen und kostet 29,95 €.

Ausstellungen

Vinent Peters
Zeit: 24. März – 19. Mai 2018
Ort: Camera Work, Kantstr. 149, 10623 Berlin

Fred Stein – Modern Times
Zeit: 28. März – 25. Juni 2018
Ort: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Residenzschloss, Taschenberg 2, 01067 Dresden

Norbert Rosing – Mein wildes Deutschland
Zeit: 23. März – 23. Juni 2018
Ort: Leica Galerie Nürnberg, Obere Wörthstr. 8, 90403 Nürnberg

EIKON Award (45+)
Zeit: 16. Februar – 14. April 2018
Ort: Künstlerhaus 1050, Stolberggasse 26, 1050 Wien

Drüben auf Instagram

@adinasalomeh – Adina Salome zeigt großartige Portraits und Selbstportraits auf Instagram, die voller Emotionen sind.

Fotowettbewerbe

Digigraphie-Foto-Wettbewerb

Epson sucht das beste Foto in jeweils einer von drei Kategorien: „Architektur und Natur“, „Natur abstrakt“ und „Nachhaltigkeit“. Die Gewinner*innen jeder Kategorie erhalten eine Einzelausstellung mit insgesamt 15 bis 25 Motiven. Um am Wettbewerb teilzunehmen, könnt Ihr noch bis zum 9. April 2018 fünf Bilder hochladen.

Videos

Der Trailer zum Netflix-Film „Kodachrome“ ist online.

Warum auf Selfies die Nase oft größer erscheint.

Unser Titelbild stammt von Jean Gerber. Vielen Dank!

Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
Please visit our main site for booking availability and rates.

Receive valuable industry knowledge delivered free to your email each day.