Customer Reviews

Beyond Basic Photography: A Technical Manual

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an ideal text for a photographer who wishes to advance his/her understanding of black & white photography methods. Without excessive detail, the steps that go into the making of a print, and the reasons that justify these steps, are clearly discussed. As the author points out from the start (in the subtitle), this is a technical manual. Those who are looking for a book on the "creative" and "inspirational" aspects of photography should look elsewhere. However, a prerequisite to "creativity" is a solid technical background, and you probably cannot learn "creativity" from a book if you haven't got it to begin with. If you think the techniques of photography are "dull", do not try this book. But for a photographer who wishes to understand them, rather than merely follow them as a cookbook recipe, this is a superb intermediate textbook.

I read this book after Photography for Dummies, and it was just what I needed to get a more technical slant on some things. I am still basically a neophyte at photography, so there was a lot of new, useful, more in-depth info in this book for me. I thought the author's discussion of exposure issues was especially good, as getting a feel for all of the things that affect this, and how they interact with the developing process, is one of the things that separates the experienced photographer from the less skilled.

For example, the author discusses of how and why you should expose for the shadows, and develop for the highights, and why even a negative that is overexposed by two stops is still usable versus one that is underexposed. Since the negative reverses everything, it is impossible to recover from an underexposed negative for the shadows, since you can't get detail that isn't there, no matter how long you develop. However, film that is overexposed for the shadows can still be used because there are ways to deal with the highlights during developing.

Overall, I found the book full of useful info like this and can recommend it to photography buffs who want a more in-depth understanding of the processes.

Lets read the last part of that title again, "Technical Manual". While some people might consider the creativity or spirituality of photographs "Technical" I don't think that's what this book is supposed to be about. This book covers in detail techiques for improving image quality and technical problem solving. And it does a great job at it. The author doesn't get condescending or lose the average intelligence photographer with writing, and provides a valuable tool for improving photographs.

I used this book when I taught my advanced photography classes at FSU. Very readable and concise. I recommend it to anyone who has advanced past the beginner level & wants to know more about creating a "perfect negative".

For those of us who want to go on in photography and learn in depth techniques, I think this book is pretty good. I have Horensteins book Basic Photography. I appreciated all the indepth coverage of the elements of basic photography. Beyond Basic Photography continues with more detailed coverage. I don't like the illustrations this time around, they seem more cartoony--but the content is very detaile.

The book is very specific about teaching you how to get good negatives, which will in turn, help you make better prints. That's always a good thing.

I really like Henry Hoernstein's book, Beyond Basic Photography: A Technical Manual. I use it as a text book for my Photo II class. It brings 2nd semester students to the next level, "Old School" style. Easy to read and to the point.

As a student of Henry's at the Rhode Island School of Design I read the book BEFORE I attended RISD I was captivated by the simple ways he explained the "sometimes" complexity of photography.

Such as Henry's way - making life easy and fun for everyone.

I suggest checking out his other books too.

This is a mediocre book that presents a lot of loosely related technical facts but almost no link to the creative side of photography. For example, you learn how aperture affects depth of field but never really get a feel for why you would ever want to change depth of field and what creative control it gives you. The books is full of technical detail but is badly missing INSIGHT. Anyone serious about photography will get a lot more out of Ansel Adams trilogy ("The Camera", "The Negative", "The Print") which is very inspirational and insightful.

I ordered a book i needed for school a month later and it still hasn't even shipped!!!! I e-mailed and not even a response....what a JERK!

For beginners the books is clear simple and describes you step by step how to take black and white pictures.