24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Generally informative but not technically useful, August 3, 2007
This review is from: Panoramic Photography: From Composition and Exposure to Final Exhibition (Paperback)
I received the book in this morning. And after a quick flipping, i was disappointed by the content.
Almost half of the book is showing you panoramic photography equipment in the market, from camera to tripod, panohead, software, etc. And also some history on panoramic photography. Well i appreciate all these for general information purpose, but that's not why i bought this book in the first place. Rather than what the book suggests "From composition and exposure to final exhibition", so little information is provided on the technical aspect.
Also, one thing really annoys me is that the book includes quite some panoramas made by other photographers, not the author.
So if you are looking for some oringal panoramas and techniques in shooting panoramas, i will not recommend this book.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thoughtful introduction to panoramic photography, July 28, 2008
This review is from: Panoramic Photography: From Composition and Exposure to Final Exhibition (Paperback)
I think this book deserves better than the few perfunctory reviews offered here. To my mind French photographer Arnaud Frich has put together a serious, comprehensive guide to taking panoramic photographs and this deserves recognition.
The material is organised in seven chapters. The first chapter introduces the subject by defining the panoramic image (in terms of its aspect ratio), briefly surveying its place in the history of photography and by providing a general overview of the different ways in which a photographic, panoramic image can be created.
At one level panorama photography is just a specific application of the photographic craft in general and it follows the same basic rules. This is certainly true when a panorama image is created by either cropping a picture with a more traditional aspect ratio (a square or a 2:3 ratio) or by combining (`stitching') a series of conventional photos into a picture that exceeds the 1:2 aspect ratio. However, panoramic pictures can also be created by specially designed cameras - flatback and swing-lens or rotational cameras - the specifics of which dictate a certain modus operandi (hence the attention to hardware in this book is certainly justified). The particularities of both kinds of cameras are explored in the three following chapters.
Chapter 2 focuses on framing and composition, Chapter 3 on taking pictures specifically with flatback cameras (e.g. Hasselblad XPan) and Chapter 4 zooms in on swing-lens and rotational cameras. The latter type often covers a very wide angle of view (typically 120°) and this implies that particular care has to be taken in exposing the image, particularly when there are significant differences in luminosity across the frame. Frich has built a reputation for his nighttime pictures in urban settings with (Noblex) swing-lens cameras and his treatment of this subject is very detailed (which makes the reproach that this book reflects too little user experience all the more surprising).
Chapters 5 and 6 are fully devoted to joined or stitched panoramas. Again the treatment is exhaustive and goes beyond the relative merits and manipulation of required hardware (panorama heads) and software tools. For example, the reader learns how to calculate the number of pictures that need to be taken relative to the size of the final desired image, how to determine the entrance pupil of the camera-lens combination and the intricacies of exposure and preparation of the images prior to joining.
The final chapter rounds off the discussion by focusing on matters related to printing, presentation and archiving (most of which are not specific to panoramic photography).
In addition to its depth and seriousness the book offers a number of additional pluses. It is carefully and imaginatively designed which makes it very pleasing to read and browse. In addition, Frich has taken the trouble to invite a range of panorama photographers to contribute to the book with their images, expanding the motivic repertoire beyond his own focus on urban architecture to include landscapes and a (small) number of more photojournalistic images. There is a pleasing mix of colour and black-and-white throughout the book.
To conclude, I find this book good value for money. As a manual for aspiring panorama photographers it certainly fits the bill. Its in-depth treatment of swing-lens cameras and of stitched panoramas make it complementary to
Lee Frosts Panoramic Photography.
I would just like to offer two mildly critical remarks. First, software tools for stitching photos into panoramas have evolved since this book was published in 2007. These tools will probably continue to develop which will render certain sections of this book obsolete rather quickly.
Finally, as a somewhat more experienced practitioner of panoramic photography, I would have liked a slightly more adventurous take on the subject. Frich's approach is squarely didactic. This is also bound up with his own, traditional predilections as regards style, and with a certain rigour that can perhaps be considered typically French. All this results in a rather careful - and to my liking rather tame - approach. Great practitioners of the genre - Josef Koudelka, Pentti Samalaahti, Michael Ackerman, to name just a few - have given copious evidence of a much more daring and free use of the panorama format. No doubt just that kind of freedom is very difficult to systematically describe. Maybe better to keep this as a subject of a separate book ...
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
e-Book Vs. Print, January 5, 2011
I believe that all reviews until now are based on the print version of this book.
I previewed the print version online before deciding to purchase the e-Book for my iPad.
This book was never conceived for the new media and has forfeited quality even in comparison to the low-quality preview!
There is not a single colour image in the book. All images are of abominable quality and some images are missing, even though they are discussed in the text.
The contents of the book are acceptable. The author goes into the history of the panorama image and goes into detail about camera equipment available on the market. The author has gone to some lenghts to create a comprehensive guide to creating panoramas with various equipment - originally imaginatvely packaged with a creative layout. For the price, quite a good book.
The e-Book does not in any way do the original justice! In a book about photography, I expect to see high quality colour photographs. What we get are low quality black and white jpgs full of artefacts that do not deserve to be called images.
If this is what is to expected of Kindle, then I shall remain with 'that other' company that offers electronic literature.
So come on, Kindle, pull your socks up and give some consideration to the possibilities of the new media. We, the users, don't want poor-quality reproductions, we want something that takes advantage of the high-quality devices we are using!
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