Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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138 of 140 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I wish I had it when I first began photography, June 1, 2000
I am a rather serious photography hobbyist and semi-pro, shooting 35mm, medium format and large format, so I have little to gain from an introductory text like this one, but was searching for a book to give a friend who was having questions about working her 35mm SLR. I discovered a myriad of books purporting to be the one complete guide to photography. Some were as fun as, and laid out like, a dictionary - a disjointed collection of topics. Some were too technical. Some were too fluffy, and were little more than a collection of the author's photographs. I was looking for a book that was complete, fun, and just technical enough. After all, to get good photographs with an adjustable camera, you must know something about f-stops, shutter speeds, depth-of-field, etc.When I picked up this book, I knew that I found exactly what I was looking for. The book is well-written, and is profusely illustrated with color photos that not only show the results of photographic techniques, but also illustrate the techniques themselves, such as loading the camera. I found the book so engaging that I had a difficult time putting it down even though there was nothing new to me that I hadn't glean over years of reading about, and practicing, photography. It was fun to just look at the pictures. Had I had this book when I began, I would have known much more much sooner. I think my friend, Cathy, will enjoy it. She can read the parts right now that she needs to accomplish her purposes - proper exposure and using a flash - but will probably look through the rest of the book just to see the photos. If there were one book I would get as someone taking up photography as a hobby, this would be it. From there, I would get "The Camera" and "The Print" by Ansel Adams, and if you want to complete the collection or do your own printing, "The Print." Someone looking for even more technical information and/or interested in large format photography, would be interested in "View Camera Technique" by Leslie Stroebel.
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73 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books to learn or imporove your photography, December 15, 2001
The Kodak guide to 35mm Photography is probably one of the best basic books on photography on the market. Although I photograph free lance for Today's Photographer Magazine and American Image Press, I consider myself an advanced amateur. I wish that I had had this book in my hands when I started photographing. It would have saved me countless dollars of development expense and time on photographs that were not at all what I wanted.
The book covers all the basics of photography: exposure, shutter speeds, apertures, light metering, composition, depth of field, etc. It covers the subjects in a very easy to understand writing style. And when it comes to pictures, the book is literally filled with pictures, excellent pictures, showing the effect of various changes to camera settings. After reading the book (or any chapter in the book) you will better understand what you need to do to take those beautiful and moving pictures that elude the basic "snapshot" photographer.For a new photographer this is the place to start. After you understand the concepts in this book and have a good handle on them then it would make sense to move up to a good book on the zone system or learn developing or something similar. I've not encountered any other basic book that is as filled with good information and so many, many excellent pictures as examples of the concepts.
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48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just the right book for me!, September 2, 2000
First off, I bought this book after reading the review written by Mr. John H. Henderson, from Melbourne, Fl. I was exactly in the same situation he described about his friend. I gave it a try and I was not dissapointed. The book is just right for me as a beginner looking for the most appropriate foundation in Photography before becoming a more serious shutterbug. I needed to take good pics and avoid the Auto-Exposure traps and its unpredictable results. I wanted to have control over what I want from my camera and avoid my 35mm camera to end its life in the darkest corner of my room and replaced by a Point and Shoot. I bought this book to avoid that. Now I'm not afraid when pulling out my camera to shoot. The camera is now my allied, not my Pandora's box, and "Burning films" NOW makes sense to me. Shooting is now giving me satisfactions, not blurring frustations. This book will jump start yourself in photography. It will do for you the same it did for me. It is written in a "digestible" language, with a very practical approach. It is simple, well organized, generously illustrated and quite straight-forward. It will teach you how to get the pics you want, as a beginner, and it will set grounds for you to grow further in your hobby. Even though this book is not intended for the "Pros" and the Amateurs of the world, trust me, they probably have it always handy to brush up! . A word of caution: buy it before it goes out of print ! Good stuff doesn't last too long. Thank you, Mr. Henderson, for your advise about this book!
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