The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography - Book 1 (Ansel Adams's Guide to the Basic Techniques of Photography) (Paperback)

by John P. Schaefer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"If the serious photographer could have but one book on the subject, by all odds, this would be it. Superb".

-- Photographic Society of America Journal

Product Description
Arguably the best book yet written for those wishing to pursue photography seriously, Basic Techniques of Photography, Book 1 has been completely revised and updated in order to keep pace with fast-moving technological advances in the field. The revised edition includes more than fifty new illustrations, offering still greater clarity in presenting Ansel Adams legendary approach to photography.

Since its publication in 1992, The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography, Book 1 has sold more than 100,000 copies and is used in many introductory photography courses. This revised edition offers new information on: -variable-contrast papers -digital cameras and view cameras -the Advance Photo System

Book 1 is organized to present the principles of black-and-white and color photography to a broad range of photographersfrom the serious beginner to the advanced amateur. It draws extensively on the philosophy and techniques of Ansel Adams, the best-known writer/teacher of photography of all time, and is profusely illustrated with Adams own work as well as that of other photographers. Adams technical writings were famously difficult to understand. However, in Book 1, John Schaefer skillfully interprets Adams words, theories, and art as a foundation for a more clearly written, understandable, and actively up-to-date guide to creative photography.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch; Rev Sub edition (April 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821225758
• ISBN-13: 978-0821225752
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #113,820 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book ON Adams, not BY Adams., August 30, 2001

By	Bob Carpenter (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

Although I loved this book, and knew what I was buying, Amazon's attribution of this book to Ansel Adams is misleading. This is a book about Ansel Adams' technique, and his zone system in particular. It's not a book by Adams. If you want Adams' own take on the basic techniques of photography, check out his three books: The Camera, The Negative, The Print, as well as his book of case studies, The Making of 40 Photographs. It takes a lot of nerve to write a book like this when Adams has already done a bang up job of it himself. Surprisingly, Schaefer's effort doesn't pale in comparison to the master's own. Plus you have the advantage of a single book rather than Adams' three. Schaefer provides an excellent guide to Ansel Adams' zone technique, with great illustrations. And despite a bit more attention paid to color photography than in Adams' own books, it still seems like an afterthought.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book uses a good blend of instructional methods., September 3, 1999

By A Customer

This book is an excellent choice for beginning photographers as well as more seasoned photographers who wish to review the basics. This book covers a wide variety of techniques, as well as providing information about the history of photography, cameras, and film. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in taking up black-and-white or color photography as a hobby or as a career.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars *whew*, September 1, 2003

By	raboof "Lauren in Tokyo" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This book has everything, and then some. It will take you from not knowing anything to being a quasi-expert in a fairly short amount of time.

That said, it is pretty dry. Very textbookish in form, the book is difficult to read straight through. This is made more palatable by the extreme depth that the book goes into for each topic that it discusses.

Starting with the differences in photo gear, the author leads the reader through selecting a first camera to selecting a lens to selecting a film and finally the development of the negative and print. The book is exhausting in its depth and breadth.

Much time was spent on Adams' Zone system and its usefulness in taking beautiful photographs. This focus throughout the book really drove home the importance of exposure.

The pictures used in the book are fantastic and the personal accounts of some photos by Adams himself are very interesting.

The only thing that I felt was skimped on was the process of selecting a shot. Adams was a large-format photographer so he wasn't able to make the hundreds of shots of a scene that a 35mm photographer could make, so it was important for him to select his shots carefully. More text space devoted to Adams' method or instinct for finding shots would have been the final piece of information that would have made this a complete guide to photography.

It wasn't easy reading, but I learned a lot and was able to immediately use the information in the book to improve my own photography.