Customer Reviews

The Confused Photographer's Guide to On-Camera Spotmetering (The Confused Photographer's Guide to . . . Series)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

[...] Actually if you have bought "Confused photographer's guide to photographic exposure and the simplified zone system" - you bought _MORE_ of the very same content, which is available in "The Confused Photographer's Guide to On-Camera Spotmetering". This book looks like a subset of the previous one, with very little additions, concerning the spotmetering. Please, don't get me wrong. It is not a completely bad book. It is acceptable as long as you haven't seen "The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System", where the content fits much better. Therefore simply be warned that if you have "The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System" you won't get almost anything new from this book. :-(

This book teaches you in simple terms how a camera light meter works (particularly your on-camera light or spot meter) and explains the principles behind it. However any one who owns an SLR camera with a built in light meter will benefit temendously. Numerous simple examples are used to explain how your camera's light meter works and these techniques are easily understood by the time to move on to the next chapter. You literally become an expert in a few hours; the time it takes to read this book. At 12 cents a page, this book is a bargain. I'm no beginning photographer. I had to photograph a major surf contest and awards ceremony on a Saturday and Sunday. I received my book on the previous Thursday, read it cover to cover in several hours and then proceeded to shoot with confidence 23 rolls of perfectly exposed photographs. You use your camera in manual mode, with the spot meter turned on. I was able to get a correct exposure from a gray card, use variations of the "16 rules" (also explained), and ascertain that the scene was perfectly exposed by spot metering a tone in the scene (3 verifications for the correct exposure). These important photographic principles will remain etched in your brain for the rest of your life.

35mm photographic technology has reached a pinnacle, with electronically controlled cameras that perform autofocussing and autoexposure magic. But many amateur photographers are still unhappy with their results, especially in exposure. Why? As Farzad points out, despite the technical advances exposure systems (auto and manual) still cannot tell the difference between black and white, rendering any scene or subject into a middle gray.

Farzad's book a provides a practical and simplified application of the zone system, a topic that sends most tyro photographers running. So Farzad never mentions the "z" word. Instead, he provides a simple explanation of how photographic exposure systems work (regardless of camera type). He follows this with a simplified methodology to employ with an on-camera spotmeter (found on many popular cameras today) to ensure proper exposure. The system is based on science but with use becomes intuitive. "Cheat sheets" for popular cameras incorporating spotmeters are included to facilitate application of the principles applied.

This is a well-produced self-published book, wiht lots of simple graphics to illustrate the concepts conveyed. Farzad himslef is an accomplished amateur photographer and photographic instructor; examples of his work can be found on his website. If you are Ansel Adams, this book is not for you. If you want to begin to approach Adams' technical style, start here.

The Problem: How to get your camera to accurately expose for scenes of widely varying colors and contrast when your camera's built in meter can only see the world as 18% Gray?

The Answer: Read this book!!

In one bold stroke (one brief, lucid book) Mr. Farzad has completely de-mystified the technique of achieving proper exposure on color slide (and negative) film. His explanations are quite clear and simply presented without sacrificing the more subtle aspects of the "art" of exposure control. The book clearly explains the power and limitations of the on-camera spotmeter, basically teaching you how the meter "sees" the world. Once armed with this knowledge it is an easy step to then understand the proper use of exposure compensation in order to produce the kind of pictures that you want. Reading the book is like having a private lesson from the kind of teacher who can make even the most complex subject seem utterly simple. I particularly liked the analogies and graphics that he used to reinforce the concepts. The book can be easily read in a few hours and they are hours well spent. In addition, the book contains appendices with additional more advanced material (if desired) as well as exposure "cheat sheets" for most of todays available 35mm SLR's. In my opinion, reading this book is the quickest and cheapest path to improving your images. It should be the first book you read after the camera manual.

The book is actually way too elementary most of the time. But I give it four stars for one reason. The fact that it drives home one point, which was a revelation to me. "Any normally exposed simple subject, irrespective of its tone, will be exposed by your spot meter as 18% gray" If you don't get the above statement, buy the book.

I recently bought a Nikon N70. It is the first camera I've purchased in 22 years. Soon, however, I was surfing the web looking for simple and logical instructions to improve my exposure skills. This search ended at Amazon.com with the only book I found written about on-camera spotmetering. I am impress with this book. Instead of just listing robotic like steps that come with any camera's manual, it tells me why I need to override my spotmeter's readings in order to get a correctly exposed image. Also, I like its simplicity and one-page cheat sheet for my N70 (as well as other popular cameras). I am in the high tech business,and I like to know why and how things work. Thanks to this book and the spotmetering of my N70, I am in control of my exposures and am able to analyze my subject, interpret the spotmeter readings, take one picture and walk away knowing that I have captured the image that I wanted.

(Note: I'd rate this book 3 1/2 stars, but can't give half stars on Amazon.)

A good basic introduction to zone system concepts and on-camera partial- and spot-metering. Perhaps *too* basic - the author insists on running very simple concepts into the ground and providing lots of charts and analogies in case you still don't get it. At one point, he even spends a whole paragraph discussing 'percentage', as Farzad assumes his audience is not mathematically literate enough to understand what 18% means!

The first chapter takes about 80 pages to discuss what could have been covered in 8. If you're a slow learner (or just plain dense), this might be useful, but for other readers, especially those with some photographic experience, I recommend simply skimming through the first part. The last couple chapters and appendixes are more useful, covering topics such as subject and film contrast ranges, tips for photographing under different lighting situations, the relationship between tonality and detail, plus a useful appendix on how to use Photoshop or similar programs to test whether your digital camera is exposing consistently as exposure is stopped up or down.

It should be noted that this book is oriented toward black-and-white photography, though with some explanation of how to use tonality concepts in color photography. "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson (another flawed introduction to exposure) might make a good companion to this book, especially if you are going to shoot in color.

Bahman, now I understand why the close-up photo's that I took of my wife's collection of small rabbit statues were not correctly exposed. I used the spotmeter, thinking it would give the correct exposure. Now I know the spotmeter gives the "normal" exposure, and you can change this into the "correct" exposure if necessary. If you want you can also change to a "desired" exposure. The way you explain it is very very simple, and it was so fun to read, that I read it in just a few Sunday afternoon hours, without putting the book down. Now I'll start the "Zone" book you wrote.

Bahman Farzad is a marvelous teacher. If he can teach me he can teach anyone. I have been taking photos for 20 years and never knew how to do it correctly. I bought high end cameras and used them in Programmed Auto mode. I went digital a few years ago and did the same thing....Programmed Auto. I recently purchased a Nikon 5700 and have been stuggling with it. I was ready to give up. Then someone told me about this book. It has made all the difference imaginable. I had to reread some but finally the "lights went on". For taking digital or film photographs this is a book that everyone who picks up a camera should read. Actually I bought both of his books and don't regret it for a moment.

You can have all the camera technology money can buy but if you don't know the basics.......why bother.

Don't get me wrong...I am not Ansel Adams. But I do know how to take photos in Manual mode, spot meter and make correct exposure decisions all because I read these books.

This book covers all of the important aspects of metering. You will understand what your camera is telling you. The Author approaches the subject from differant angles. Each person that reads the book will fully understand the concepts and will remember them in the field when it is important. As for the price of the book. Its worth every penny!