Black & White Digital Photography – Book Review
I just finished reading The Complete Guide to Black & White Digital Photography
Overview
- SECTION 1 — THE BLACK & WHITE TRADITION (pgs. 8-67)
- This section lays the foundation for the rest of the book. Not only does the author provide a good historical perspective on the tradition of monochrome, but he explains how this tradition influences its usage today. Beyond the historical, he covers the basics of black and white photography, such as shape, structure, tonal nuance, volume and form, and texture.
- SECTION 2 — DIGITAL MONOCHROME (pgs. 68-137)
- This section provides specific techniques for creating black and white digital images. A large portion of this section is devoted to hue and saturation adjustments, the digital post-processing stage where you choose and fine-tune the brightness relationship between different colors in a scene.
- SECTION 3 — CREATIVE CHOICES (pgs. 138-187)
- Section three delves into the creative opportunities available with digital black and white post-processing. These were some of the topics covered:
- - thinking in black and white
- - midtones
- - high and low contrast
- - high and low key images
- - HDR, tone mapping, and tinting
- The author covers other creative options within this section’s fifty pages also.
- SECTION 4 — PRINTING & DISPLAY (pgs. 188-217)
- This is the shortest section and probably the lightest in terms of content. It provides useful information but is not as extensive as the others.
Critique
Pros –
First, and foremost, I liked how thoroughly and completely black and white photography was covered, without using overly complex terminology. From front to back, the book is well organized, contains complete and excellent explanations of concepts, and makes for easy reading.
I very much enjoyed the luscious black and white photos, especially in the book’s larger format. The blacks are deep and rich in their reproduction, and the whites are bright and lovely. The tonal range of the photos makes them a pleasure to view time and time again. These photos pull you in, and a few pages in my copy have nose smudges now.
Cons –
I enjoyed the book so much that I really hate to bring out its bad side, but integrity requires full disclosure, so here it is: The editing was substandard. In fact, I’d have to say that it’s rare to find a book of such a high caliber that is so lacking when it comes to editing.
Errors, though occasional, were annoying, like hitting road bumps while reading. Their frequency either diminished in the later half of the book, or I just got used to them.
Here are two examples of errors (italics mine):
- “That said, in raw conversion, a Brightness slider will raise vales within the black and white points, …” (page 100)
- “Even more to the point, this technique becomes particularly useful in outdoor photography in situations where there is a color contrats in natural lighting.” (page 114)
What makes these simple mistakes so irksome is that they mar the high quality of the rest of the book.
Summary
On a whole, I love the book’s content, its size, and especially its beautiful black and white photos. Unfortunately, the poor editing was a real annoyance. To me, it’s no different than a lovely book soiled by an ugly coffee stain. I would like so much to give the book a 5+, but the poor editing knocks it down to a 4+ on a 1-5 scale.
Regardless, Michael Freeman demonstrates a deep understanding of black and white photography and conveys this knowledge in an engaging way. In spite of the book’s occasional blemishes, I would still suggest picking up a copy if digital black and white photography interests you.
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Reader Comments (1)
I Love Michael Freemans books, Very informitive! You might like this magazine about black and white fine art photography.
http://www.adorenoir.com
Regards
Chris