Pinhole Photography, Second Edition [Paperback]

Eric Renner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999 | ISBN-10: 0240803507 | ISBN-13: 978-0240803500 | Edition: 2

Pinhole Photography is both an entertaining illustrated history and a practical handbook for this unique photographic technique. This revision of the successful how-to guide and illustrated history of pinhole photography has been expanded to include a new chapter on zone plates, as well as expanding the chapter on current work in pinhole photography. Many new illustrations and refinements throughout the text bring the book up to date.

In this digital age, more and more photographers are rediscovering traditional artistic methods. Detailed, easy-to-read chapters explain how to create pinhole cameras and images and how to manipulate pinhole images using a variety of photographic techniques.

*A new edition of the successful how-to guide and history of pinhole photography -Includes many new images and a new chapter on zone plates

*The definitive book on pinhole photography by one of the world's foremost authorities

*Beautifully illustrated with more than 180 color and black and white photographs and line art

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Pinhole cameras make intriguing, somewhat diffused images, with great depth of field. If you've wondered how to make these images, you'll be fascinated by this book." - Popular Photography (Review of First Edition)

Book Description

More camera varieties, supply info, and advice from practicing artists on this timeless technique! --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 2 edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240803507
• ISBN-13: 978-0240803500
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #684,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful historical resource, not a "how-to" book., December 5, 2004

By 

Robert G. Hartley "buddhabob070" (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pinhole Photography (Paperback)

When I first received this book, I was a bit disappointed. I'm just starting out in pinhole photography, and I wanted my hand held while learning the ins and outs of this new skill. This book doesn't do that. After it sat around for a few days, I picked it back up and started actually reading it. What the book DOES, is give you a wonderful historical perspective of this most unusual and artistic art form...because that's what pinhole photography is, an art. Photography in general, especially digital photography, is SO controlled and SO exact, that it's lost a lot of it's magic. While certain scientific aspects of pinhole photography can exert a meaningful amount of control over the subject at hand, in it's heart of hearts it is still a wild and free spirit making images however and wherever it desires. Where else can you make an image by putting a piece of film in your MOUTH and using your lips as the aperture? Where else can you make a camera out of a shopping bag, a purse, a hole in the ground, a red pepper? (Dark red works best by the way.) This book gives you all these examples along with rich and varied historical perspective into this most fascinating aspect of the photographic world. If you are a serious pinhole photographer (...or have intentions of being one), you owe to yourself to read this book. It's not a "how to" book by any means, but it is a "where you came from" book of the 1st degree.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The 'bible' of pinhole photography, December 10, 1998

By 

Gregg Kemp (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pinhole Photography (Paperback)

If you only buy one book on pinhole photography, this is the one to get. It provides the background, the basics of how to do it, and plenty of examples of the diversity and richness of expression within this area of photography.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ultimate history and reference, March 3, 2005

By 

Sam Hunter "SamHunter42" (Harrisonburg VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pinhole Photography, Third Edition: Rediscovering a Historic Technique (Paperback)

Fabulous book. I, like other reviewers it would seem, got a bit bogged down in the early chapters that cover the history and science that led to pinhole photography. I just really wanted to get to the "how to make a pinhole camera" part. However, having read all the other chapters, when I did get to the "how to" section, I now understood the physics behind the technique, and was therefore able to design a camera to do exactly what I want it to do - a clever way to get you there. The book is also loaded with diagrams and photos, both of equipment and of actual photography. Highly recommended.