Category: Photography
If you love a photographer, then you’ll want to print a copy of this list. These are the most wished for books on Amazon. This means there is probably a book or two on this list your photographer would love. Save yourself some time by using this list as a shopping list. Your photographer will love you for it.
1. National Geographic Image Collection by National Geographic, Michelle Anne Delaney, Maura Mulvihill (5.0 out of 5 stars)
Behind National Geographic’s worldwide reputation as a powerhouse of photography lies one of the finest, most extensive, and most unique graphic resources on Earth: the National Geographic Image Collection. For the first time ever, readers will plumb the fascinating depths of this immense archive from the earliest photographs collected in the late 19th century to the cutting-edge work of today.
2. The Digital Photography Book, Volume 3 by Scott Kelby (4.3 out of 5 stars)
This book truly has a brilliant premise, and here’s how Scott describes it: “If you and I were out on a shoot and you asked me, ‘Hey Scott, I want the light for this portrait to look really soft and flattering. How far back should I put this softbox?’ I wouldn’t give you a lecture about lighting ratios, or flash modifiers. In real life, I’d just turn to you and say, ‘Move it in as close to your subject as you possibly can, without it actually showing up in the shot.’
3. VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography by David duChemin (4.9 out of 5 stars)
A book for any photographer who’s ever felt compelled to combine their craft with the world of commerce and make the transition to becoming a vocational photographer. More like a sketchbook of ideas and wisdom than it is a system to get rich quick on photography, VisionMongers takes a look at the changing landscape of professional photography and the various journeys that can be taken to get there.
4. Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision by David duChemin (4.8 out of 5 stars)
A book about finding and expressing your photographic vision, specifically where people, places, and cultures are concerned. A personal book full of real-world wisdom and incredible images, author David duChemin (of pixelatedimage.com) shows you both the how and the why of finding, chasing, and expressing your vision with a camera to your eye.
5. The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman (4.6 out of 5 stars)
Design is the single most important factor in creating a successful photograph. The ability to see the potential for a strong picture and then organize the graphic elements into an effective, compelling composition has always been one of the key skills in making photographs.
6. The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 by Scott Kelby (4.6 out of 5 stars)
In Volume 2, Scott adds entirely new chapters packed with Plain English tips on using flash, shooting close up photography, travel photography, shooting people, and even how to build a studio from scratch, where he demystifies the process so anyone can start taking pro-quality portraits today! Plus, he’s got full chapters on his most requested topics.
7. The Moment It Clicks: Photography Secrets From One of the World’s Top Shooters by Joe McNally (4.2 out of 5 stars)
Joe McNally, one of the world’s top pro digital photographers, breaks new ground by doing something no photography book has ever done-blending the rich, stunning images and elegant layout of a coffee-table book with the invaluable training, no-nonsense insights, and photography secrets usually found only in those rare, best-of-breed educational books.
You don’t want to miss out on the rest of the list. Check out 10 Best Photography Books. I’m sure you’ll find something your photographer will love. And guess who gets the credit….you.
“I just love it. How did you know?”
The baby-boomers have become senior citizens and are discovering art at the same time. Senior art classes and programs are full of energetic individuals learning to express themselves through painting and drawing. Researchers say that art helps folks to cope with stress and trauma in their lives, as well as increasing self awareness. Art serves as a way to explore both the past and the present and previous training is not required. Seniors benefit from creating their own art no matter what their skill levels currently are. Studies suggest that regardless of specific skills, the practice of any form of art benefits social, physical and mental health.
Relationships are enriched with art and getting together with others in a program or class encourages socialization. The practice of art techniques begins to encourage the mind to see the world is new ways and provides a very unique and real sense of accomplishment and happiness. Art therapy improves the quality of life for seniors and depression fades away. A feeling of being in charge returns, along with an increased ability to make choices because there are countless choices to make in each work of art.
A ten-year-long study done at Columbia University Medical Center has associated a positive outlook with health benefits. Another two-year study of three-hundred seniors found that the art students had better health than those who did not participate, who also saw deterioration in their health. The active artists in the group were less depressed, used fewer medications, were less lonely, and had higher morale, along with being socially more active.
Many communities across the USA are reaching out to seniors, based on the above findings, to encourage them to discover the real rewards of creating a new art hobby in their lives. New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs has created a program to match seniors with artists on a citywide basis for a seven-month-long residency program to encourage artistic creativity. In Chicago, Mather’s-More Than a Caf offers painting and art classes for seniors. In Los Angeles, older adults are encouraged to participate in Art Festivals held in various locations throughout the city. In Atlanta, the Parks and Recreation Department has Senior Centers which offer a wide variety of art classes specifically for seniors to encourage the “growth of new brain cells and make you feel young and energized.”
When the younger generation views the artistic talents of seniors it changes the way they view their elders. They become more appreciative and begin to value and view them as mentors, tutors, teachers, advisors and creators who are eager to share the wisdom they’ve gained through long life experiences.
In the Village of Stone Mountain, Georgia there is one enterprising entrepreneur who has come up with a way to help his fellow seniors make a little money from their hobbies, too. When Les Scarborough discovered that the senior budding artists at a local retirement home were simply hiding their art work under the bed, he decided to open a gallery in the village specifically to share their art work and sell it.
Les features the artwork of seniors at the Clothesline Art and Fine Art Treasures Gallery, along with his own photography, in downtown Stone Mountain, GA. He turns their artwork into post cards, greeting cards, DVDs, coffee table books, and calendars along with gallery quality Gicle prints on canvas and fine art papers. Gicle is the ultimate method for producing stunning gallery quality fine art prints.
By Beverly Pereira Photography: Courtesy Tarun Tahiliani & The Singh Twins
Tarun Tahiliani’s Spring Summer 15 collection showcased at the Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2015 features motifs, imagery and colours inspired by the celebrated art of the British-Indian Singh Twins…
Fashion and Art are not exactly strange bedfellows. Think Andy Warhol’s portrait of Yves Saint Lauren or Warhol’s iconic flowers that played muse to Prada’s Spring 2013 collection. More recently and closer to home, Tarun Tahiliani has collaborated with the internationally acclaimed Singh Twins, whose works of art play muse to his Lakme Fashion Week Spring Summer -15 collection.
The London-born, Liverpool-based Singh Twins, Amrit and Rabindra, describe their work as -past modern’ as opposed to Post Modern, portraying their Indian and British identities through the application of eastern and western aesthetics. Using motifs that represent British Asian life, cityscapes and pop culture, their work is tinged with the personal and the political and can be viewed as a social commentary with tongue-in-cheek humour.
Hugely inspired by this melange, the designer launched a ready-to-wear fashion line at the Wills India Fashion 2014 in Delhi as an ode to the Singh Twins’ art. He has now crafted garments for the Mumbai Lakme Fashion Week that bring to life the Twins’ well-received Indian miniature paintings, detailed black and white drawings and digital mixed medium art that explores an exclusive relationship with their home city of Liverpool.
Tarun, himself, is known to skilfully blend the modern and the traditional and augmenting this with the Twins’ affinity for reviving the age-old technique of miniature painting and the juxtaposition of modern iconography has led to a range of digitally printed separates – kaftans, jewel tees, dhoti skirts, lungi skirts, leggings and dresses etc. Some colour palettes and elements have been creatively reworked by the designer to harmonise with the collection. The twins’ Wheel of Fortune has been incorporated as a whole on to a Tahiliani kurta, while decorative motifs from their black and white Aquarius have been reassembled and colourised within the design of another outfit. Silk kaftans, much like a vast canvas, allow the twins’ paintings to come through beautifully. Saris are rife with colours, featuring borders that carry Persian motifs borrowed from their paintings.
His menswear also features text vignettes, stylised clouds and waves, borders and decorative motifs from several of the twins’ works, offering fashion lovers an artistic take-away, proving yet again that the art and fashion are strong counter-influencers! click here to view images from the collection on indiaartndesign.com
Countless thrilling photography courses are being taught all over the world. Majority of the courses are based on the profession or type of photography. They vary from wedding photography course, fashion photography, portrait photography, couture photography, selective photography, creative photography as well as exhibition photography. The photography course is mostly trained by skilled as well as experienced individuals who have worked as photographers for several years and have created a place of their own. The photography course, specially those photography course that are taught in London, are usually very precise and also very challenging for the artist as the teachers aim to ingrain the process accurately in him so as to ensure that he is unfailing in the profession he has selected for himself.
Several things are taught in the classes where one goes to learn photography. Photographers are imparted with the knowledge of the angles upon which the photographs should be captured. They are also taught the ways of arranging the lighting according to which the photographs would vary. In cases where natural light is not completely available, those who learn photography are also taught how to make proper use of artificial lighting at that point of time so that the photographs come out well. The camera is sometimes positioned in such a manner that the photograph seems to have been captured in broad daylight; this is also taught to those who learn photography, something which several photographers even today fail to achieve.
Photography course all over London have been planned in such a way so as to fulfill all the necessities of the profession of photography. The genre of photography is immaterial, because in all cases the basics are always the same. The photography course have often been isolated in several parts. Each of them tackles a different subject and all the parts have been packed with concepts which would assist a photographer who wishes to specialize in sphere of photography.
The photography courses are usually designed in an extremely all-encompassing way and are based on completely relevant subjects. These assist the photographers to achieve that radical look in their photography. Nuptial photography is an extremely agile and swift process that also demands a lot of flawlessness and accuracy. Those who come to learn photography are trained to be exactly that. Portrait photography on the other hand is a test of the patience of a photographer. He needs to be extremely patient when capturing it in order to get the portrait perfected. The angle also has to be absolutely accurate. Fashion photography is mainly about inspiration originality as well as new position together with appropriate styling. There are several other aspects like make up, attire, and lighting. Those who learn photography are trained to perfection on this. Exhibition photography is nothing but a display of photography where people come and have a look at the photographs of a particular photographer.
There was a time not very long ago, say just 10 years ago, when we would buy and develop a roll of film if we wanted to take pictures. There were limited number of pictures that you could take and if you wanted to take many pictures you had to carry as many rolls and batteries.
Many rolls or frames would be wasted if the pictures were not of your liking; but you could do nothing about it. The money was wasted and you had to bear it. If you were a little careless then the entire roll could be exposed and thus go waste and you would be left with nothing. In the world of snap shooting, after Polaroid cameras, Digital cameras have brought about a revolution. They have completely revolutionized the way people take pictures.
Digital cameras can be called a computer accessory too because you can download the pictures in the computer and take out the print outs. You may email to any one that you wish to.
Deciding upon a digital camera isn`t easy. You need to research well. You should know what you need, what you are going to use for and what is available in the market. If you want to take pictures like a professional photographer you must know all that you can about tripods, external flash, lenses and filters.
Apart from taking still photographs, digital cameras also take video photography and capture sounds. Thus there are various categories of digital cameras like modular digital cameras for professionals and also video cameras. There are digital cameras too which are multi functional.
There is a large variety of digital cameras in the market and each one of them is different from the other. The prices vary according to the features inbuilt; hence if you are bound by a budget then it is not very difficult to select one. But if budget is not an issue then you need to select more carefully.
If you buy one with advanced features then it will be a waste of money and the same if you buy one which hasn`t got all the features that you are looking for. In any case, resolution is something that you must look out for. It must be what you need otherwise it will lead to wastage of storage space and processing power and of course money. In the beginning it was just 1 mega pixel but now it is above 10 mega pixels. This makes the picture quality superb!
If you intend to post pictures on the web or your computer or send them by e mails, a lower pixel resolution will work just well. You also don`t really need a huge capacity memory card. Even one with a small memory can perform all the functions.
There is software called Photoshop or Corel paint which allows you to make countless changes in the photos that you have taken. You may change or modify the background, and make many more relevant changes.
Digital cameras may use A size batteries or may have their own batteries which may be rechargeable. You may connect the camera to your computer via Bluetooth or Fire Wire Port. USB is another method of connecting it to the computer.
Thus there are quite a few benefits of using a digital camera and the world is fast turning towards it. The days of developing a roll are now history. The immediate gratification that you get on seeing the freshly taken pictures and the benefit of editing out the short comings make digital cameras a choice of the new generation.