Customer Reviews

Tony Sweet's Visual Literacy: Photography Workshop

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I brought this DVD at Tony Sweet's New Hampshire workshop. You will get a lot of help and information watching the lessons, But what I found to be of great benefit is the first section of the second disc. Tony covers many of his own photos and teaches the approach and mindset of each photo as he took them. Then goes on to explain how to capture the effects for everyone to experiment with later in the field. This section is worth the price of the DVD alone.

I have now watched this section 3 times and recorded many of his methods in my notebook that I always carrying around in my car to read and reference when Im out shooting in the field. This DVD is a great tool that will help get you to the next level artistically.

Best of Light .
Michael J. Skelton

I've always been a fan of Tony Sweet - he's got a unique eye and creative style that help to improve my creativity.

Tony Sweet's Visual Literacy is an intimate look in the field with Tony to learn how one of Nikon's Legends approaches a variety of opportunities.

This is a two DVD set. The first DVD takes the viewer along with Tony for a multi-day shoot in the Smokies in the Spring of 2008. Tony visits Cades Cove, Roaring Fork, Greenbrier, Tremont, and Clingman's Dome to create images at some of the prime locations in the park. Having been to the Smokies many times, these locations were very familiar. But it was interesting to see how Tony worked the locations and the lighting.

Here's an example of how the DVD flows. At the Ogle cabin in Roaring Fork, Tony goes to a familiar composition and talks you through his thought process for composition. Tony creates multiple compositions to work the site with everything from long lenses to close ups and IR and talks you through everything he is doing and why.

The second DVD takes the viewer into the studio to explore a variety of close up and macro techniques for florals. Then the DVD covers the editing process, the commercial side of professional photography, and the gear Tony uses in the field and the studio for photographs, editing and printing. I found the section about photographing flowers in the studio a little slow, but worth it to pick up important nuggets.

Each DVD has extra features that are worth a look. The Extra feature of the first DVD puts you in the car with Tony while he scouts locations in Cades Cove. Buckle your seat belt!

This is certainly one of the better purchases I've made. I own several of Tony's books, and have spent a great deal of time in the Smokies at these locations. But there is something about seeing these locations and the thought process of a great photographer at work. What's more - Tony is just a nice guy - intense about his craft but genuinely interested in helping those who view this DVD set.

The first DVD shows Tony trudging around the Smoky mountains and taking pictures. He described the shootings sporadically, as pro photographers would speak to advanced students. Some shootings were described better than others. How he managed lighting to deal with shadows and to enhance textures was instructive. I learned that #10 Magenta filter can be used to give a bit of life to fog, and the variable ND filter made by Singh-Ray can close down the light all the way to 8 stops, and is a great tool for taking blurry flowing water pictures.

I liked the first part of his second DVD much better. In this section, Tony analyzed some of his successful pictures. He made quite useful comments about mistakes in composition, lighting and editing. That is visual literacy proper. It was also interesting to watch him describe his equipment collection.

This DVD set is meant for somewhat advanced students of photography (which I am), but it does not do very well in addressing the usual questions of this group of photographers. So I give three stars.

I found these DVDs to be outstanding. I have watched both discs three times in the two months I have owned them. He doesn't do any remedial teaching; it assumes you have more than a surface understanding of exposure, metering, light; if you do not you will likely be frustrated and not rate the DVDs very highly. I have seen a number of DVDs and sat in workshops and Tony is a natural teacher. He doesn't take himself too seriously and isn't one of these prima donna photographers ; he is very down to earth and just wants to take great photographs. I HIGHLY recommend this DVD.

Fun video, sweet's an interesting guy... I'm sort of an intermediate photographer and I learned a few things from this video. I very much like the fomat, kinda like hanging out with a "friend," taking photos!

If you're an advanced photographer, you would probably still enjoy the video but maybe not learn too much. I certainly recommend it, and would buy a volume two if they come out with one.

As I am watching this DVD set from Tony Sweet I'm wondering why everyone who ever wanted to teach anything didn't do it this way. Maybe it's because not only does Tony have a prodigious gift as an artist but a unique ability to communicate how he does it and an infectious enthusiasm that is palpable. On this DVD he covers a full range of topics from the most esoteric and technical (his knowledge of lenses, filters, tools and techniques is encyclopedic) to the most mundane (be careful walking on the wet rocks because you can get hurt) or (just because it's not raining doesn't mean water won't drip on your filters from the overhanging trees). Tony is a seasoned professional who is a combination of artist, photographic business man and Renaissance man and philosopher. If you want to know how a brilliant artist thinks and how to bring the results home, this is a video you should study. The videography is also beautifully done and consistently enhances the experience. I've never seen anything quite like this and really do wish there was a similar product for everything I'd like to learn.

Just arrived in the mail today all the way from the U.S. and have watched both dvd's already. I'm still only a beginner but am searching for as much info as possible, and like another reviewer says, it's like you are right there with Tony, what i really like is the location he made this dvd, instead of going to the Rockies or Grand Canyon, or some place like that, where they're the only place like that in the world, he chose the Smokeys. I'm from Australia which has plenty of places you can find that might be simular to Smokeys, with nice mountains, running rivers with rocks and moss on them, forests with nice old buildings, parks with picnic tables and nice trees, and he shows how you can take nice photo's anywhere.. One of the things I found most interesting though was the second dvd where Tony goes through alot of his photo's when he was beginning, and tells what he did wrong and what he would change now.. and then also goes through some other great photo's on his pc and explains about each.. I could have sat there all day watching this.. He also shows his whole kit, with lenses, filters and different camera's he uses.. I found the whole dvd very entertaining and helpful, and highly recommend it to anyone, beginners or professional..

I live in the UK and I enjoyed watching this video, as there are some fairly good tidbits of info in there, that is if you are advanced enough in the use of photographic jargon, to understand what he is talking about. And, unless you mainly want to shoot waterfalls with eight second exposures, using $400 filters (only available in the US, so add import duties as well for everyone else). Or how to make blurry green and white abstracts using a lens baby combined with a filter that you cannot buy(?) he had one hand made just for him. Then this DVD is of little use to you.

As you would expect, Tony being one of the people at the top of the commercial photography pile, he has access to more lenses, kit, filters and gadgets etc, than your average photog could ever dream of being able to afford, including a second high spec camera converted to infrared use only, with which he took about three images.

But if you are that advanced photographer with a large wad of spare cash burning a hole in you pocket, then this video is just right for you (although if you are, I suspect you would already have all this kit), but for the rest of us mere mortals, I would not recommend it for anything other than aspirational purposes.

UPDATE: Well, I took the plunge and bought the filters, had them shipped over to the UK and took the very large and painful hit in the groin for the import duties ($160 I think it was - thank you Gordon!). Took some shots (so so), then some more (mmm, not too bad) until finally, what do you know, I am making some really quite stunning images. Watched the video several times more and even contacted Tony directly (who was more than happy to chat with me via email - which was very nice of him and he even liked some of the images I sent him - so not too shabby...).

So with what I have learnt from the DVD and the lift it has given my photography, I am going to happily upgrade my 2 star rating to 4 stars. I still cannot give it 5 stars, as I still think the average amateur photographer is not going to be able to afford this kit, and without it the DVD is not going to be much help to them. But if you can afford it and you are obsessed with all things photographic, then I would advise you to dig deep and buy it. But if you are on a really tight shoe string budget, then I could not give the same recommendation.

Tony has a new DVD out called "Visual Artistry" which of course I will buy and which I imagine will severely hurt my pocket once again, but then I remember some advice I once overheard someone say in a book shop, when looking at buying a very expensive book on how to become a Buddhist, he looked at the book in one hand and the money in his other hand, as he weighed up what he should do "what the heck, you only live once!" he said to himself as he headed off to the till to buy it.

Tony Sweet's Visual Literacy: Photography Workshop DVD is a very informative work. The package comes with two DVDs. One DVD take you on Photo shoots in the Smokey Mountain area. The 2nd DVD takes you through the post processing process using Photoshop® and plug-ins. The photo shoots are good and informative, providing the viewer with an insight to Tony's approach to capturing the impressions of the moment. He uses Nikon® equipment but his approach applies to any equipment that you may have. He demonstrates the practical use of "bracketing", and other visualization techniques to make the shot and planning the posting processing process. He demonstrates how he takes a somewhat boring subject of an uninhabited home and made it interesting and turned it into a great shoot.

DVD 2 provides many techniques to add "zip", "pizzazz" and "pop" into the shots. His also has a "show & tell" shows all of the equipment he owns. I found very informative and enlightening. The presentation is this very detailed and informative. This is an excellent companion to his other DVD-Visual Artistry.

You will enjoy these informative DVD presentations and worth the cost.

Tony is a true master of his craft and watching him in this video his passion for teaching photography is obvious. I have long wanted to attend one of his many workshops he does, but due to my location and money I have never had the opportunity to do so. This video is the next best things as he you get to see how he goes about his shots while listening to him tell you why he chooses to take a shot this way or with a certain lens over another.

He also goes into his equipment. Many books and help guides do this, but Tony does so in a way that you don't feel like he is endorsing anything specific. He uses Nikon, but as a Canon user I felt I could get very nice shots with what I have now and ideas for pieces I might want to get later as funds allow.

The first part of disk 2 Tony shows us some of his earlier photos and the thought process behind them. His critique of them are invaluable and well worth the price of the DVD alone. It's great to see someone you look up to in a field point out flaws they did. It's like "Wow, he's made the same mistakes as me. I have hope after all!" lol. Of course he also shows some of his newer stuff which is just breathtaking.

Anyone looking for a DVD to help improve their nature photography cannot go wrong with this purchase. I will defiantly be buying some more from this collection by Master Photo Workshops.