Photos with Impact [Paperback]

Tom MacKie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

A fascinating look at how this top photographer produces impact full, contemporary images. Practical commentary covers composition, lighting, colour and form & filters, as well as digital photography. Practical instruction is accompanied by 200 stunning colour images, encompassing a worldwide collection of landscape, architectural and travel subjects. Mackie helps readers to see subjects that others might miss, and to simplify images down to their basic elements, as well as exploring the use of strong colours and shapes, lighting and filters.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tom Mackie was born in Philadelphia and spent the first five years of his career as an industrial photographer in Iowa. He then began photographing landscapes in the western United States and since settling in the UK in 1985 has established an international reputation, and received numerous awards, for his remarkable landscape, travel and architectural photography. He lives near Norwich, England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: David & Charles Publishers (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0715315064
• ISBN-13: 978-0715315064
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,862,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Photos, Fair Instruction, July 6, 2004

By 

Conrad J. Obregon (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Photos with Impact (Paperback)

I've recently gotten the feeling that publishers have decided that photography instruction books sell more than books of photographs. "Photos with Impact" has helped me develop that feeling.

Tom Mackie is one of the world's top landscape photographers and has won many awards for his work. The pictures in this book all have impact.

This is not a book about techniques. The author presumes that you know how to take a competent photograph. What Mackie says he wants the reader to do is to learn how to see. He says that he will try to explain what he saw, and how he formed that vision, when he took a photograph that had impact, with the hope that the reader will be helped to find his own unique compositions. His chapters deal with light, designing the image, color and form, and enhancing the image, with a brief coda on the equipment he uses. He is quite comprehensive in his discussion of each of these topics, and if the reader studies each paragraph closely, he may learn something about composition. For example Mackie almost always uses polarizing filters to intensify colors and urges the reader to do the same. He is also not afraid to use other color filters to achieve his goal, and the reader may become convinced that there is no truth in a photograph, so one should always do what it takes to make an exciting picture.

My problem is that while the pictures have impact, Mackie's writing doesn't. The text just didn't hold my attention, although perhaps as I go back over the pictures, I?ll start to extract some new directions for my own work.

There is no doubt that the most difficult thing to teach any photographer is how to develop vision. Amongst recent books though, I've found Brenda Tharp's "Creative Nature & Outdoor Photography" to embody better instructional material. Tony Sweet's "Fine Art Nature Photography" with Sweet's dramatic pictures and brief comments about what he was trying to achieve and the tools that he used to reach his goal are quite instructive because of their pithiness. Niall Benvie's "Creative Landscape Photography" can force one to examine some of the underlying assumptions about the subject matter itself that effect the ultimate picture, and Freeman Patterson's hoary "Photography & the Art of Seeing" can still provide exercises for the unselfconscious to find their inner vision.

With company like that, Mackie would have to do more than present his own photos with impact to create a first class instructional manual. He would have to spend as much time thinking about teaching as he does about taking pictures.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational, April 18, 2004

By 

Damian P. Gadal (Santa Barbara, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Photos with Impact (Paperback)

I found this to be a very insightful and inspirational book!

Filled with stunning example after stunning example that make you pause in awe, this is a straight forward and well written book that belongs in the serious photographer's reference library.

I refer back to this book often to keep focused on effective use of colour and composition, which I try to incorporate into my photographic endeavors.

If you're looking for material that is rewarding and makes you want to run out and shoot - this publication suits the bill!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't expect to recreate these images w/o some serious equipment., February 1, 2008

By 

Dan K "DPK" (NY Metro) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Photos with Impact (Paperback)

I only can give this book 3 stars based on the fine pictures. All the pictures were shot with medium format gear. You can't get these images with you're DSLR and certainly not your point and shoot.

If you would like to buy a book to view some great pictures...buy this one.

If you're an amateur and think you can recreate these pictures, think again unless you have $$$$$ lots of money as medium format gear is not cheap.

This book should be titled Photos with IMPACT...that you will probably never recreate in your lifetime.