The Ansel Adams Guide : Basic Techniques of Photography - Book 2 (Paperback)

~ John P. Schaefer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The continuation volume to the highly successful Basic Techniques of Photography: Book One, this profusely illustrated manual offers a contemporary guide to Ansel Adams' brilliant approach to creative photography.

Expanding on the fundamental principles of photography presented in Book One, this volume enables the committed amateur or student photographer to advance to higher levels of creative expression. Book Two offers essential chapters on exposure and development, including what is perhaps the clearest, most effective explanation of Ansel Adams' remarkable Zone System ever written.

Dr. Schaefer goes on to explain and demonstrate the most important approaches to printmaking for those interested in darkroom and digital work, including such alternative printing processes as cyanotypes, salt printing, platinum/palladium printing, and gum printing. The theory and practice of color photography and printing are explained, and a thorough introduction to digital imaging is featured--all illustrated by numerous examples of work by Ansel Adams and many other photographers. Basic Techniques of Photography: Book Two is a "must-have" for anyone who wants to improve their skills as an image-maker.

About the Author

John P. Schaefer is the author of An Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography (L,B, 1992), which is now in its sixth printing with over 70,000 copies sold to date, and an annual sale of over 7,000 copies. In 1975, as president of the University of Arizona, Schaefer was instrumental in founding the Center for Creative Photography, which houses the archives of Ansel Adams. Schaefer is the president of Research Corporation and a trustee of The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Ansel Adams (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821219561
• ISBN-13: 978-0821219560
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #208,291 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Curiosity - Buy It Used, September 2, 2004

By	K. Tanaka (Midwest USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a beautifully printed curiosity / collector's item.

Contrary to the book's title you won't find much useful information about photography in this book. Most of its pages are devoted to arcane and obscure film print development techniques. While many of these techniques are interesting and can produce fascinating results, let's face it; do you really want a book that teaches you how to print a black and white film photo with pasta sauce and Epsom salts?! If so, this is the book for you!

The rearmost 1/4 of the book is cursorily devoted to digital image processing. Note that this book dates back to 1998, absolutely ancient by digital standards. So although the basic concepts presented are good the changes to the digital scene have rendered the digital material basically useless. Which is probably fine with the author (note that that's NOT Ansel Adams), as I could almost hear him hissing as he wrote that section of the book.

I bought this book at a bookstore (what's that?) and it was shrink-wrapped in plastic. So all that i could learn about it was in the blurbs on the cover...which are very misleading.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Riddled with errors but still worth the price., February 16, 2007

By	ZoneIII (USA) - See all my reviews

I posted an in-depth review of this book previously but, for some reason, it did not show up here so I will try again. However, this time I will be more brief. This book is excellent but, like the other two books I have by Schaefer, it is riddled with technical errors. There's no excuse for that. The experienced photographer may catch most of the errors but the student probably won't and that could cause some real problems. The section on film testing, for example, has many serious errors.

I find it a bit irritating that Schaefer literally plagiarizes Ansels photography series of books. By that I mean, Schaeffer lifts whole pages, text, illustrations, etc. Some pages even have the same font styles as Ansel's books. If you took away what has been taken from Ansel's books, this book would be a lot slimmer. I have no idea why Schaefer doesn't simply speak for himself. It's fine to make references to Ansel's writings and photography but to copy it is another thing. But the one good thing about that is that the parts that are copied from Adams are at least correct.

This book has large sections on alternative processes. For someone really interested in those processes, the information doesn't have enough depth. However, it is a good overview of those techniques.

The sections on digital imaging are downright funny although that's not Schaeffer's fault. They are so out-of-date that the reader should get a good laugh from them. This book should have stuck with traditional photography because digital photography is changing so fast that it is more suited for periodicals.


If you use this book as a reference for film testing, etc., be very careful. There are so many errors that they can lead you seriously off the path. I have made so many corrections in my book that I might as well have written it myself. I cannot understand why Schaefer didn't have someone proof-read it. And some of the errors are glaring! But if you can identify the errors, you will find some very useful information. Just be careful. It can be very hard to spotin some cases and it could lead to costly mistakes.

All that said, I still think this book is a good addition to my photographic library especially since it is all marked up now with my corrections.

4.0 out of 5 stars Dated but Requisite Reading, October 20, 2008

By	Arthur H. Cooper "TDC Genesis" (Mobile) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is dated but sould be read by the aspiring professional and serious amateur. The digital stuff is dated but the rest is required. Many outstanding artists/photographers shoot film/slide media in full format 35mm, medium format or large format. If you fit the descritors above you need to know Ansel Adams work and techniques. When you can photograph in digital color as well as Ansel Adams shot in black and white, you are remarkable!