Composition

Somewhat torn on this book. I feel for something which claims to focus on composition, it spends too much time talking about large amounts of expensive photography equipment.

While ISO, aperture, depth of field, etc have a part to play in photography, the author spends a lot of time on these subjects and not very much dealing with lines, form, color, texture, point of view, and other elements of true composition. And while these elements are spoken of, we often get a voodoo answer of “you just get it when you get it”. The book never really covers the exact elements of composition. They are alluded to, but we're never really told what they are. The author mentions that sometimes its ok to break the rules, but we're never really told what the rules are (other than don't stick the horizon in the middle of the picture) and other than a couple example pictures, we never really learn anything about when and why it is a good idea to break the rules.

I do have to add, the author did spend a good amount of time discussing point of view/position and how moving the camera, even just a little bit, can make a significant different in the quality of an image.

A pet peeve of mine on most books on photography, even the ones aimed at amateurs, is that everyone has access to not only a semi expensive DSLR, a myriad of expensive lenses, and often not just one but multiple bodies. In this specific case, composition is a subject that can be used and explored with any equipment, be it the simple camera of your phone to professional grade DSLRs.

Overall, this isn't a bad book, and many of the photographs are lovely, but I really came away with very little new knowledge. As an amateur, I should be able to walk away with more than I managed to get.