Customer Reviews

The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos

5 star:		(121)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is the best single volume on visual design and composition in years. Painters need a book this good. Freeman's earlier book from the 1980s, "Image," had long held the status, IMHO, of being the best single volume. His new book surpasses the older one by a significant margin.

Freeman is one of very few photographers, or artists of any ilk, who can articulate their art-related thoughts in concrete, accurate, analytical ways, and not in the jargon of so much of what is written about art that lacks any actual content. Not only is he an outstandingly gifted photographer, with dozens of books to his credit, but one who has mastered the grammar of images and is one of the few who can describe how and why visual phenomena work.

This is the most complete volume on this subject out there in terms of numbers of topics introduced and discussed at a reasonable length. It is also the most effective melding of the insights of current Gestalt perception theory with traditional design elements/principles in print. The first 60% of the book deals with the more concrete aspects of designing an image.

The last two chapters marry the other part of composing that is harder to articulate well: the message in a image, or the photographer's intent. Only in this book has an author attempted to define major categories of intent in making an image. And then categorizes the physical and mental aspects of how a photographer goes after, constructs, or recognizes an image - the process.

Throughout the discussions he introduces those aspects of digital imaging that a photographer can use to influence a picture's design. Perhaps the most powerful development is that digital in-camera and post processing technologies allow the photographer to apply to color images all those image control aspects formerly available only in the wet chemistry darkroom to monochrome images, as well as many more.

Make no mistake.... This is a book for readers. One cannot get all of this book's benefit from the illustrations alone, in the manner of so many "how-to" art and photography books these days that have pictures, but little text. But this is the book to which thoughtful photographers will return over and over for many years.

The only way it can be significantly better would be to have twice as many pages. It would make a wonderful textbook for any studio art, photography, art history, or art appreciation course in high school or college/university.

5 May 2009, update. The number of reviews, number of responses to reviews, and other sources of information indicate that this book is a certifiable best-seller among photography books. The response to this book indicates that there is a large market for information about the structure of images and for effective writing on that difficult, intangible interplay between design and content, or of structure and expression/message.

My hope is that Freeman and other capable author/photographers will publish books delving further into the composition problem. To date, the in-print situation is grim. This one, Mante's, and Hoffmann's books are about the only ones yet in English that deal with composing photographs at higher than the most elementary levels. Together these three books comprise quite a strong presentation at the intermediate level of image structure and of various approaches to imparting meaning and expression in one's images.

There is more, though, that can be said. To date there is no thorough look at the role of similarity and proportion in causing a viewer's eye to move through an image. That is to say, which characteristics among, shape, size, tone, color, direction, etc., assume priority in one's eye in which combinations, and how does proportionality, or violations thereof, work?

To date, this reviewer cannot find any published research that updates Alfred Yarbis's ground breaking insights into eye movement in images from the 1950s and 1960s. His work is quoted to this day as the definitive study in this field. His results seem to imply that many artists' assertions about the role of "leading lines" may be nothing but bunk.

Do light tones and bright colors really appear to project toward a viewer and darks recede? A Russian scientist has a considerable argument that, in fact, darks are what appears to "project" and lights recede. His work is not available in English.

Is the success or failure of an image still articulable only at the level of intangibles? At this point in the history of the arts and contributions from visual psychology and brain studies, one should be able to make specific assertions about structure and its role in the success or failure of carrying the artist's expression or meaning.

Unfortunately, there are very few artists or photographers who also write who can focus clearly enough on these nitty-gritty issues to make statements that have actual meaning. An inordinate percentage of writing about the arts still reduces to hand waving and ranting: always has, always will, it seems.

It is one of Freeman's gifts that he can write analytically and be a very successful, versatile artist. This book's success indicates that the demand is there for hard-hitting information on images. Three authors does not amount to much of a supply.

Let me start by saying that even though I write photo books for a living (including The NEW Joy of Digital Photography (Lark Photography Book) and Exposure Photo Workshop: Develop Your Digital Photography Talent, I don't know Michael Freeman and have never communicated with him. That said, this is easily the best composition and design book that you'll find--and that goes for professionals as well as hobbyists. This is the first book, in fact, that I can recall that covers these topics with such depth and clarity of thought.

Freeman has long been one of my favorite photo book writers and this book continues his long streak of great reads (his other recent book, The Complete Guide to Digital Photography is also worth owning).I sometimes laugh at how extremely British his writing is, but it's just amusing, not distracting.

The main thing that I like about The Photographer's Eye is that Freeman approaches the subject from a very thoughtful perspective. While the book covers the basic elements (lines, shapes, dynamic tension, balance, etc.) he also talks at length about more emotionally-related issues: chiaroscuro and key, the search for order, reactive thought, etc. These are the concepts that more experienced photographers (and artists) find themselves confronting once they have a solid feel for design elements and construction.

I often find myself wondering if design is more of a thoughtful process or an instinctive one--and I think it's a combination of the two. In reading this book, in fact, I can see better the value in taking an objective and analytical look a how great compositions are made and how we can take scenes that we react to instinctively and find quick and useful ways to turn them into dynamic photos. Very often when you find a great subject you don't have the luxury of time to decide how to construct the image to "get" what you see.

That is the value of studying composition and image design: to prepare you to make fast decisions. If you are hiking in the deserts outside of Tucson, for example, and you come across a great potential silhouette of a saguaro cactus at sunset, you have only two or three minutes to organize the elments, choose the best viewpoint, the best lens and then make the exposure. It's tragic to spend day after day exploring for powerful images and then only come close.

Freeman's book is crammed with an extraordinary number of great photos with a vast emotional and geographic diversity. These are world-class images, not just "how-to" examples and it's hard to imagine one photographer coming up with all of these great photos. As I said, I write and illustrate photo books myself and I am awed at times by Freeman's proflific work.

If you're looking for a book on design, don't let $20 stand between you and all of this great knowledge and hundreds of fine examples (something I might say of my own book, as well!). Just buy the book--or ask you library to order it.

Freeman's journey through the the principles of photographic composition is eye-opening, eloquent, and beautifully published.

This is not a book on the basics of taking "better photos," so those who seek information on exposure, cameras, lenses will not find it here. Nor is such shooting information for any photographs included. In a general book on photography, this would be a major defect, but here such information would only distract from the book's primary subject: the composition of a visual image.

On the surface, photographic composition may seem to be a very subjective and idiosyncratic topic: you may like one thing, I may like something else. And if it's all subjective, merely a matter of personal preferences, tastes, and opinions, why bother writing a book about it? Most books on photography thread gently on this shaky, insecure ground, and their authors usually limit themselves to a few simple, predictable pointers: the rule of thirds, and golden section, with a particular emphasis on golden rectangle.

But Freeman quite clearly believes that, although ultimately each photographer makes their own choice about what composition works best for their photograph, good choices are those that are deliberate (not accidental), and informed by being aware of ALL the possibilities that are available. The Photographer's Eye will give any intermediate or advanced photographer a better awareness and grasp of choices that are to be made.

Freeman starts at the edge of the image (chapters about the frame) and moves inwards. Available formats, for example (4:3, 3:2, square, horizontal vs. vertical, etc.) are all carefully explored through numerous, and well-chosen examples. Unlike many books that show different images as examples of different formats, Freeman often selects one, single image and shows how its perception will change, depending on the selected format or compositional principle at play. In the chapters on framing I enjoyed particularly the sections focused on "going against the grain" or against the "natural direction" of an image, i.e., shooting typically "vertical" topics (e.g., a standing man) as horizontal frame, or the other way round (e.g., a sleeping man on a bench shot in a vertical format Freeman uses).

Gradually, the author moves inwards, discussing the content of photographs in the context of forms (curves, lines, etc.) and compositional principles (e.g., symmetry, or a very complete discussion and listing of types of contrast). The closing chapters go totally "outside" of the single image, considering the impact of external framing and space around the photograph (e.g., matting), as well as multi-image compositions (such as book or magazine spreads).

As some readers have correctly pointed out, some of the information has been published before in the author's own previous books, and in other sources; but here, all the observations have been systematically, and very elegantly brought together, in one comprehensive and complete volume.

This book doesn't read easily, or fast. It forces the readers to engage both sides of their brain, since paying close attention to the images is as important here as carefully reading the words. But it is well worth the effort, and the reward, in addition to access to the authors' extensive knowledge, is a new, different way of seeing things which in themselves are not new. For me, this is the function, and definition, of a master-class, and this book certainly deserves to be called that.

This is a good book for someone looking for a guide to composition theory in photography. It covers a lot of ground and actually teaches you compositional principles, however it's also really hampered by the mediocre writing style. The language just isn't very concise/clear, and at times you are wishing the author would get to the point instead of writing 10 convoluted sentences, which essentially say one thing. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything else close to this book available, so if you want to learn composition and design, this is probably your best bet at the moment despite the writing style.

Ok anytime you talk aboutPhotographic composition and rules for it, you get into a grey area since art is subjective by nature. What the author does here is show his photos and explain what composition techniques he used and why he thinks they work. The book is very comprehensive and offers numerous example. The print quality is excellent as it is in most Focal press book. If you want a book that explains photographic compositional theory and offers great examples to demonstrate the concepts, then this is the book you need.

I had been looking for a book on design for ages, since they tend to be expensive, I looked in second-hand book stores first, but it seems that all I found there was way too boring and tedious for me: starting with basic shapes only to build up to how to incorporate them into photography half way through the book at best. That could very well be the way to go for serious design/photography students, but I do not have time or interest in something that detailed and technical. I wanted a nice overview of the techniques that are available to a photographer, and not just a "follow the rule of thirds" kind of advice that you get from most online photography tips, but a more profound discussion on why the rule of thirds is even important, how it tends to affect the viewer, and when is it appropriate to break it.
And this book provides exactly that - a brief but concise overview of the most prominent design theories, based on the research on the way we see/interpret things. I am definitely not a design expert after having read this book, but I know as much about it as I need/can afford to learn at this point, being an amateur with no ambition to go pro in the observable future.
The illustrations in the book ARE extremely well-chosen and beautifully reproduced, which is not always the case in photography books, alas. They are a treat to look at.

To address some of the critiques voices here in the respect to this book:
1) No, it does not cover ISO, shutter speed and aperture, and you are better off buying the book by Peterson if that is what you need. I read Peterson first, about a year ago, and it felt right to read this book second, they are not in any way complementary, their focus is totally different, but combined, they provide you with a deeper understanding of what you do when you look through the viewfinder.
2) I find the book very well written. It's concise, clear and well-illustrated and I even found it a pleasurable read. I would definitely not say it is hard to read, it is not the most fun and light-hearted thing you'll ever read, but it's not fiction, it is technical writing, so it will hardly come as a surprise to you. It is definitely among the least convoluted technical books I've ever read.
3) As to "it adds nothing new to the matter"... Well, first of all, it IS a book that basically summarizes the last 100 years of research in the design and its perception, so it does not claim that it is ground-breaking and new!
Second of all, this is a valid criticism only for those who already have dozens of photography books and are looking for more (but then again, if that is the case, why are you even looking into Freeman? he is clearly not geared towards a seasoned pro). If this is your first book on design, as it was for me, pretty much EVERYTHING in this book is going to be new for you to a degree (yeah, I've heard of the rule of thirds before, but never read a detailed overview of how it came about and why).

I tend to think of photography as being composed of 2 things - the technical basis of photography and the art of photography.

The technical basis consists of all the equipment/technical things that are involved in making a picture. Things like f-stops, shutter speeds, ISO, aperture priority, etc.

The art of photography is all the other stuff. The stuff that isn't technical - things like the qualities of light falling on a given subject, the color of light on a subject, composition, picture elements, etc. Art is the stuff that is the most important for great photography, IMO.

The technical basis of photography is fairly straightforward to teach (and to learn), which explains why almost all photography books focus on that aspect of photography. It seems to me the art of photography is much more difficult to teach (or to learn), which is why there are so few books centered on this topic.

Michael Freeman's book is clearly centered on the art of photography. And while I love the content, his writing style often failed to adequately convey to me the meaning he was trying to express. I bought this book to help me better understand the art part of photography. I have struggled with this goal because Michael's writing style was difficult for me to read.

You should NOT buy this book, because I want to dominate the Photographic Art world by myself! It is a straightforward treatment of compositional principles as they apply to Photography. The book was cheap, the knowledge priceless. It would be nice if there was a workbook along with it, though. I will have to reread this book several times because the book is thick with rich content. Ever read a book that had only one or two concepts to contribute? This guy covers a lot of ground - and he does it effectively.

I have attended school and read many books on visual arts and photography. This book by far was one of my favorites. Although this topic has been done so many times before, this book in particular tends to be reader friendly and interesting. The chapters are rich with text, yet not overly written as to create reading bordum. The photo examples are clear and very easy to understand. When I purchased this book I was looking for something different than the usual redundant photography jargon manuals. I found myself reading slower and completely concentrating on the detailed concepts Mr. Freeman writes about. This is not a book you read with a camera in your hand, instead this is a book to help you understand the visual concept of design and composition when dealing with an empty rectangle (or square} to your eye. This book is for anyone that knows their camera, yet wishes to know more about what the thought process is before pressing the shutter release.Beware! You will find yourself reading this book twice.

I was led to this book via The Digital Photography School website and having bought many good photographic technique books, this is the first to explain why and what to do. It covers every aspect of the subject in a positively illuminating way. It doesn't just talk about the "Law of Thirds" it explains and shows why this rule helps your photography; it gives specific examples of everything it mentions and also what you can do about breaking the rules. It is highly readable, is not patronising, it is totally expanding. If you want to get the best results, get this.