The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography - Book 1 (Ansel Adams's Guide to the Basic Techniques of Photography) [Paperback]

John P. Schaefer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1999 | Series: Ansel Adams's Guide to the Basic Techniques of Photography (Book 1)

A comprehensive and accessible guide to photography. It covers cameras and lenses, the specifics of black-and-white and color photography. field trips. All aspects of photography are thoroughly presented in a clear, readable manner.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If the serious photographer could have but one book on the subject, by all odds, this would be it. Superb".

-- Photographic Society of America Journal

About the Author

John P. Schaefer is an active photographer and the author of Basic Techniques of Photography, Book 2. In 1975, as president of the University of Arizona, he was instrumental in founding the Center for Creative Photography, which houses the archives of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and many other outstanding photographers. Schaefer was a student, collaborator, and close friend of Ansel Adams and is currently the president of Research Corporation and a Trustee of The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Ansel Adams; Rev Sub edition (April 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821225758
• ISBN-13: 978-0821225752
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.9 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #344,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book ON Adams, not BY Adams., August 30, 2001

By 

Bob Carpenter (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography - Book 1 (Ansel Adams's Guide to the Basic Techniques of Photography) (Paperback)

Although I loved this book, and knew what I was buying, Amazon's attribution of this book to Ansel Adams is misleading. This is a book about Ansel Adams' technique, and his zone system in particular. It's not a book by Adams. If you want Adams' own take on the basic techniques of photography, check out his three books: The Camera, The Negative, The Print, as well as his book of case studies, The Making of 40 Photographs. It takes a lot of nerve to write a book like this when Adams has already done a bang up job of it himself. Surprisingly, Schaefer's effort doesn't pale in comparison to the master's own. Plus you have the advantage of a single book rather than Adams' three. Schaefer provides an excellent guide to Ansel Adams' zone technique, with great illustrations. And despite a bit more attention paid to color photography than in Adams' own books, it still seems like an afterthought.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars *whew*, September 1, 2003

By 

raboof "Lauren in Tokyo" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography - Book 1 (Ansel Adams's Guide to the Basic Techniques of Photography) (Paperback)

This book has everything, and then some. It will take you from not knowing anything to being a quasi-expert in a fairly short amount of time.

That said, it is pretty dry. Very textbookish in form, the book is difficult to read straight through. This is made more palatable by the extreme depth that the book goes into for each topic that it discusses.

Starting with the differences in photo gear, the author leads the reader through selecting a first camera to selecting a lens to selecting a film and finally the development of the negative and print. The book is exhausting in its depth and breadth.

Much time was spent on Adams' Zone system and its usefulness in taking beautiful photographs. This focus throughout the book really drove home the importance of exposure.

The pictures used in the book are fantastic and the personal accounts of some photos by Adams himself are very interesting.

The only thing that I felt was skimped on was the process of selecting a shot. Adams was a large-format photographer so he wasn't able to make the hundreds of shots of a scene that a 35mm photographer could make, so it was important for him to select his shots carefully. More text space devoted to Adams' method or instinct for finding shots would have been the final piece of information that would have made this a complete guide to photography.

It wasn't easy reading, but I learned a lot and was able to immediately use the information in the book to improve my own photography.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book uses a good blend of instructional methods., September 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography - Book 1 (Ansel Adams's Guide to the Basic Techniques of Photography) (Paperback)

This book is an excellent choice for beginning photographers as well as more seasoned photographers who wish to review the basics. This book covers a wide variety of techniques, as well as providing information about the history of photography, cameras, and film. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in taking up black-and-white or color photography as a hobby or as a career.