* Covers basics relevant to all forms of photography
* Includes images from legendary artists
* Introduces photographic theory
A must have for aspiring photographers, Henry Carroll’s “Read This if you Want to Take Great Photographs” is an expansive photography book that covers the foundations of photographic theory and skill. It includes a curated selection of images from some of the past masters of photographic form, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Fay Goodwin, Sebastião Salgado and many more, as illustrations of the concepts.
An especially versatile and useful introduction to technique, this book may just be the cure for the bad photograph. And in today’s world where photography is more ubiquitous than ever before, thanks to the proliferation of digital cameras and even moreso the smartphone camera, it’s never been more necessary to have some idea of how to take a good picture.
Once, photography was a specialist skill, and it required a professional’s or at least a dedicated hobbyist’s patience. Now that it’s so easy to take a photograph, it’s still somewhat special and rare to be able to take a great photograph. While an iPhone or even today’s digital SLRs make it easy to point and shoot, they can’t teach you compositional theory or how to chose your frame and draw the eye to a compelling focal point.
Some of the topics covered in the book are mainly important if you’re using a camera with some manual controls — it covers the basics of how to chose your shutter speed, ISO sensitivity (on digital cameras) and choosing the right aperture for the desired focus and available light, for example. But other topics, such as color and framing, are just as relevant if you’re looking to take better photographs with your smartphone.
Whether you’re just posting on Instagram or shooting pictures to frame up in your new home, there’s never been a better time — or better book — to brush up on your camera skills.
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