Langford's Advanced Photography, Seventh Edition [Paperback]

Efthimia Bilissi (Author), Michael Langford (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240520386 | ISBN-13: 978-0240520384 | Publication Date: January 1, 2008 | Edition: 7

The 7th edition of Langford's Advanced Photography brings this bestselling advanced guide right up to date, with Michael Langford's renowned level of technical detail now extended to cover all the latest in digital technology.
Whether you are a serious enthusiast, a student or a training professional this book covers it all; from cameras, lenses, digital imaging sensors and films to insights into photography as an industry and how to manage accounts, charge for jobs and self promote to kick start your career. Genres are explored, from portraiture and photojournalism to aerial photography, and in-depth coverage of digital manipulation, film processing, colour theory, archiving and storage provide everything you need to know to extend your art into professional realms.

. A comprehensive guide to digital and film photography for the serious amateur, student or training professional
. Fully updated to cover new digital technologies, workflow and methods from image manipulation to colour management and archiving
. The ONLY comprehensive guide to photography at an advanced level

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lecturer in Image Science at The University of Westminster, UK. Previous Editor in Chief/Technical Editor on Fotografia and Imaging Pro magazines and winner of The Royal Photographic Society's Selwyn Award.

Michael Langford, renowned author, teacher, and practitioner, is a legend because of his skill that balanced art and technique. He inspired and taught thousands. As Photography Course Director at the Royal College of Art, London, UK, his key involvement with photography courses and exams set the standard worldwide.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 7 edition (January 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240520386
• ISBN-13: 978-0240520384
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 9.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A potentially good book, poorly written, August 24, 2009

By 

Akos Szalkai (Budapest, Hungary) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Langford's Advanced Photography, Seventh Edition (Paperback)

I ordered this book in the hope that it goes beyond the typical beginner-to-intermediate photography books (e.g. rule of thirds, depth of field, etc.) and explains the theoretical and practical background of photography, like how lenses are designed and manufactured, how different sensors work, the theory of lighting, and so on. Judging by the table of contents before ordering, I saw that the potential is there.

After reading the book around halfway (even though the author recommends the readers to only read the chapters they are interested in), I still think the potential to be a good reference book is there. Some topics are more detailed than others, but on average, the information included in the book is adequate.

The one thing that makes this book very hard to read and to profit from, is a horrible writing style that makes me feel it has never seen an editor. There is almost no cohesion in the text: completely unrelated sentences follow each other, sometimes a single paragraph introduces two different topics, sometimes a paragraph simply repeats the previous one, slightly reworded. Some statements are overexplained, some are not explained at all (or perhaps much later, without any kind of referencing). And these do not happen occasionally, this is how the whole book (at least the half I've read so far) is written. As usual, this is topped off by the poorly done index.

All in all, this could be a classic reference for those interested in the theory of photography (mainly the technical parts), but it needs an almost complete rewrite for the next edition.