Customer Reviews

Photographing Arts, Crafts & Collectibles: Take Great Digital Photos for Portfolios, Documentation, or Selling on the Web (A Lark Photography Book)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This gorgeous book is a must have for anyone who wants to use a digital camera to maximum effect. Not only are the pictures fabulous, but the instructions and explanations are so simple and straightforward that even someone like me can understand them. I can design beautiful jewelry, but I could never understand how to take a decent digital picture. Now I can. When I first launched my website, I was fortunate to find Steve Meltzer to take my pictures and I've used him exclusively ever since. The first thing people say is how great the photos are and nothing is more important than good photos. Steve is a great photographer, but also has the gift of explaining his craft in a way that anyone can understand. I highly recommend this book. I've already bought six copies and plan to give it as Christmas presents to all my friends who own digital cameras whether they're beginners or pros.

As I searched for books to learn more about how to use my digital camera and create the best photographs, I happened upon this gem of a book. It is a mixture of the art, the fun and the simple and complex information on digital photography. The illustrations and photographs are very helpful to understanding how to create the best digital photographs.
The very best thing about the book is that appeals to the beginner, the average user and to the professional. It also explains in a very clear and simple way the jargon and technical aspects of digital photography.
This is a great book for anyone who wants to learn how to use and get the best pictures or the person who wants to become a professional digital photographer.

As a professional fiber artist creating both 2 and 3d work I have been struggling for years to find a good resource to help me not only understand how my digital camera works but how to use it to take high quality pictures that I know it has the ability to. This book is a fantastic guide to taking photos of of artwork created in any medium whether it be jewelry, sculpture, wall art, fiber, glass or wood.

The book opens with a nice easy to read and understand overview of digital photography. Types of lenses and cameras are followed by an explanation of image types, aspect ratio's, focusing systems, white balance and more. The chapter on light and the digital studio covers everything from the fundamentals, color temperatures, direction and quality to types of light, light modifiers, measuring light and what color background to use when.

Then the book moves into how to set up and take your photographs with separate chapters for both two and three dimensional artwork. Artists who make 2 dimensional fiber art will find the section on lighting fabric as well as photographing quilts particularly helpful. The chapter on 3d objects covers ceramics, glass, sculptures, jewelry, wearable art and objects that light up. Learn the best way to light and photograph tall objects, short ones and pieces with shiny surfaces.

This book is an invaluable guide for any artist, no matter what medium they work in, who wants to take better photos for juried show submissions, their website, portfolios or brochures.

I had the opportunity recently to hear the author, Steve Meltzer, speak in person at a local art gallery. He gave a day-long presentation for local artists on how to photograph their work for applying to juried shows or selling on the Web. It was a great day of learning and Steve was a wonderful teacher! Afterward I bought his book and it goes into more depth than what he could cover in the class. I sell a wide variety of goods on eBay, plus I photograph some of my own artwork and artwork for friends and family. The most helpful part of Steve's book for me has been the short chapters on photographing particular types of items, such as ceramic plates, ceramic sculpture, stained glass, glass plates, and so on. I also appreciate Steve's overall attitude that digital photography should be fun and that you can just keep trying different approaches until you get it right. He's a great guy both in person and in his writing!

I was hesitant about purchasing this book because I am a painter, and it appeared that the book was geared more toward crafts. However, I recently purchased a Canon SX10 digital camera, and the information about digital cameras alone was worth it. I am not an expert in photography by any means, so it was helpful to learn about digital cameras and to learn about the setting in my camera and how to utilize them. While the section covering 2D art is small, it still provided some of the most valuable information to date I have received. This, combined with the helpful information about studio lighting and set-up, has made this book extremely useful. I have no doubt that my photos of my artwork will improve dramatically. I highly recommend this book to artists (even 2D artists) who need assistance taking better pictures of their work, and who cannot afford professional photography services.

While I think the book had some good general examples and images and the topics they used to cover the subject matter was good, I think the meat of the book was VERY general. This being a how to book I expected some very specific information that I could work with.

I already have a soft tent, lights and a Nikon D300 but I am a novice for sure. I was looking for some good information/examples on specific types of lenses, camera settings in different situations. His answers came out very soft/general. It was very much like he was afraid to be held to his answers. If your a subject matter expert than be the expert and teach.

In short, I was looking forward to the arrival of my copy Photographing Arts, Crafts, and Collectables to improve my current abilities but it came up very short.

Disclaimer: My wife says I have very high expectations so may want to take that into consideration when reading this.

This is a wonderful book for those who wish to photograph their work in the most professional way possible. Mr. Meltzer takes you gently by the hand, assumes you are starting from scratch and gives an outline of the various types of digital cameras, how they work and compares them to film cameras -- all in an easily understood way. He then goes on to talk about other equipment, lighting, a bit of colour theory and different methods of photographing. If you need help photographing your art, this is the book to buy!

This book is very useful for learning how to photograph smaller items very well for whatever reason. My only warning against it is that much of its content may be above the heads of those who do not at least already possess a thorough amateur knowledge of photography. Howevever, I did have this knowledge already.

This is without a doubt one of the best books I've ever purchased. Not only is the subject covered in great detail, but the best kept 'secret' of this book is that the first 71 pages is a wonderful guide to digital cameras & digital photography in general. I'm sure I will be referring to this book often as I photograph jewelry & collectibles and so should you. Now stop reading this and go buy it already!

If you're new to photography this is the book for you. If, however, you know your way around your camera, this book won't teach you much. I was hoping for specifics on lighting but the gist of what I read was "try this and if it doesn't work, try something else."