BetterPhoto Q&A
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Beginning Photographer

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February 27, 2001

This will take some self discipline for self study. Your daughter will need to study both the artistic (composition) and the technical (how to go about creating the desired image). Five excellent books I've read that can help:

(1) "How to Take Great Photographs With Any Camera" by Jerry Hughes, Phillip Lane Publishing, Dallas, Texas, 1992-1999 ISBN: 0-9634348-9-6. This book is one of the best I've seen for beginners with heavy emphasis on composition techniques and plenty of photographs to demonstrate them.

(2) "The Complete Photographer" by Andreas Feininger, Prentice-Hall Inc.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1965, Library of Congress 65-12017. This is an old book you will most likely find in a library or get from a used book dealer who can search for it. Andreas was a photographer for Life Magazine, and it discusses very wide range of technical topics.

(3) "The Camera" by Ansel Adams. There have been many reprints of this and it's still in publication. Required reading for serious college courses in photography. This book contains advanced technical topics. Any bookstore should be able to order it for you.

(4) "The Negative" by Ansel Adams. Same comments as for "The Camera," it's the second volume of his trilogy.

(5) "The Print" by Ansel Adams. Same comments as for "The Camera" and it's the third volume of his trilogy. This one is of use if you have your own darkroom, are processing the film yourself, and making your own prints.

There's only so much you can get by reading books. She will need to define projects for herself and shoot film regularly to try what the books contain, and develop skills at finding a good composition and "visualizing" what the final image will look like when she makes the photograph.

Keep encouraging her. Not everything she tries will work out, but the blunders are something to learn from if they are analyzed for why they didn't work. Excellent photography is not simple, it's complex. Gaining experience and perfecting techniques is as important as studying them in texts, and excellence will eventually come with time and making photographs.

-- John

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March 01, 2001

Does she plan to go to college and study photography? If so I wouldn't stress too much about it now. Just tell her to keep shooting and experimenting.

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March 04, 2001

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March 04, 2001

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March 23, 2001