| Alexander L. Belikoff より:Review by Alexander L. Belikoff for Rating: For those impatient enguoh: if you are to buy one book that would teach you photography this should be the one. This book has survived seven editions and it has enguoh information to make your head hurt. Needless to say, this book does not offer a silver bullet that would make you Ansel Adams, but it has enguoh information to build a solid technical foundation upon which you could leverage your creativity.Make no mistake: this book is first and foremost about film photography. While there is a somewhat obligatory chapter on digital photography, it is hardly more than a very brief introduction. The rest of the book implies film photography (needless to say, that information on exposure and lens is generally applicable to both film and digital photography techniques).Furthermore, the book is seriously geared toward black and white photography. There is plenty of information about the color process but it feels complementary to the narration.On the negative side, there are only a couple things to note:- Having so many precise instructions, this book ought to have an appendix containing all data in one place (from reciprocity failure correction numbers, to N+2 development time increase, to film processing checklists). It is a shame, the book doesn't have such a reference chapter.- The price of the latest edition is way too steep. While I am far from suggesting sacrificing quality for lower price (as unfortunately so many other books do), I still think that the price has risen way too high compared to older editions.All in all, it is an excellent basic reference. It is unlikely to be the only book on your shelf, but it will definitely be an extremely useful one while you are mastering advanced photography. Bottom line: buy this book now.
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