Light and exposure are the most important elements in successful photography, and this stunning book deals precisely with them; in explanation, in text, and most of all in the photos. Exposure is made up of three elements: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, and the author explains each one in detail and more importantly, how they interact in a photograph, starting at the beginning level so that everyone can move ahead in the book. He also wants to demonstrate the extremes of what can be accomplished using the same elements of exposure in more unusual ways.
Later on in this book he turns his attention to light, more specifically how the direction from which light is coming affects the photo, and then what to do with flash, low light situations, and noise. Again the explanations are clear and helpful.
However, Harold Davis primarily teaches from his photos, each of which demonstrates a different situation and correspondingly different settings. They are carefully chosen. Apparently his goal is to expand your thinking, and he certainly succeeds. It is not that he expects you to imitate his macro photos, for example, but he wants you to know that you can. You don’t have to stay on first base.
The greatest value of this book comes from studying the photos and the lengthy detailed explanations he gives about his intent in a given photograph and how he went about deciding what settings to use. He describes the settings he tried and the variations he used before he came up with the photos that he chose for this book. We the readers are able to get into his mindset and see his thought processes at work, and these are the features that make this book so outstanding. This is a book to be studied, not just read.
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