A photographer is not a painter is not a photographer… though both are creating the same thing: images. If you’ve ever done both, even at the same time, you might have experienced the difference just the same way as Freeman puts it:
“…while a painting is built up from nothing, out of perception and imagination, the process of photography is one of selection from real scenes and events.”
Then again, it’s not as simple. Painters draw from real scenes, and photographers use Photoshop, and more often than not a capture is used just as a sketch for the final work. There isn’t anything bad about the painter-like attitude of many photographers since working on your own images can be an insightful process.
After all, a frame is a frame, and when it comes to the nuts and bolts of what’s happening inside this magic rectangle, Freeman delivers a lot more than just the basics from frame dynamics, design schools and graphic elements. You might not always share his conclusions, but his factual build-up provides enough brain food to get you thinking about the rules of good and bad images, beyond taste and ‘the eye of the beholder’.
Yet the last 3 chapters of his book are the ones that make this book rather extraordinary (Composing With Light And Colour, Intent, Process). Here it’s the experienced pro whose knowledge is way above intellectual monotony. There are not many books out there that make it a bit easier to actually understand photography, and Freeman takes you a few steps further down the line, without any pro lingo but with a lot of images that, in this instance, really speak their share of words.
The other day I was arguing with a fellow photographer about the old question whether or not knowledge deflects creativity. Reading Freeman’s book, I’ve come to think again about this notion. Design and composition surely are a kind of reverse engineering of human perception, but they are also an artificial mindset ruled by the art establishment of the time.
Freeman however, lets you look – and see beyond the breaking points of photographic rules; for him, making use of the image frame
“depends on two things: knowing the principles of design, and the experience that comes from taking photographs regularly.”
And on your audience, not least, or your clientele. And to get a sense of what makes and keeps the viewer looking at your images, is the actual value of this book. Certainly, Freeman doesn’t go into much detail at this point, but at the end we know there lie the secrets of ‘good’ photography.
[J]
Michael Freeman
The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos (Amazon UK)
Published by ILEX 2007; 192 pages;
I have rebooted my blog and as you can see, it's still a little under construction. It will be back in shape soon though... The Jonahh Blog is going to be about things I feel are interesting, remarkable or extraordinary (more here). 
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Look And See
A photographer is not a painter is not a photographer… though both are creating the same thing: images. If you’ve ever done both, even at the same time, you might have experienced the difference just the same way as Freeman puts it:
“…while a painting is built up from nothing, out of perception and imagination, the process of photography is one of selection from real scenes and events.”
After all, a frame is a frame, and when it comes to the nuts and bolts of what’s happening inside this magic rectangle, Freeman delivers a lot more than just the basics from frame dynamics, design schools and graphic elements. You might not always share his conclusions, but his factual build-up provides enough brain food to get you thinking about the rules of good and bad images, beyond taste and ‘the eye of the beholder’.
Yet the last 3 chapters of his book are the ones that make this book rather extraordinary (Composing With Light And Colour, Intent, Process). Here it’s the experienced pro whose knowledge is way above intellectual monotony. There are not many books out there that make it a bit easier to actually understand photography, and Freeman takes you a few steps further down the line, without any pro lingo but with a lot of images that, in this instance, really speak their share of words.
The other day I was arguing with a fellow photographer about the old question whether or not knowledge deflects creativity. Reading Freeman’s book, I’ve come to think again about this notion. Design and composition surely are a kind of reverse engineering of human perception, but they are also an artificial mindset ruled by the art establishment of the time.
Freeman however, lets you look – and see beyond the breaking points of photographic rules; for him, making use of the image frame
“depends on two things: knowing the principles of design, and the experience that comes from taking photographs regularly.”
And on your audience, not least, or your clientele. And to get a sense of what makes and keeps the viewer looking at your images, is the actual value of this book. Certainly, Freeman doesn’t go into much detail at this point, but at the end we know there lie the secrets of ‘good’ photography.
[J]
Michael Freeman
(Amazon UK)
The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos
Published by ILEX 2007; 192 pages;