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Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography
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by Stephen Johnson
Sales Rank: 28772
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List Price: $39.99
$26.39
At Amazon
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Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc. August 1, 2006
Language: English
ISBN-10: 059652370X
ISBN-13: 978-0596523701
Product Dimensions:
9.8 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
Product Description
"We are in the Stone Age of digital photography. We've figured out how to make some tools, but it is just now beginning to dawn on us what we might do with them. I've often been frustrated at the concentration on the technical aspect of digital photography with so little discussion of the aesthetics and heart behind the image making. This book is essentially a distillation of what I've been teaching over the last 25 years."
Master photographer Stephen Johnson has been taking beautiful landscape photography for decades, and teaching others the practical art of image making since 1977. While he started out with traditional film camera techniques, Johnson is widely recognized among his peers as a pioneer of digital photography. Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography chronicles his ride on the bleeding edge of this medium's evolution, and provides a practical in-depth introduction to digital photography that offers the latest techniques for beginning and experienced photographers alike.
What sets this guide apart from other books on the topic is its approach and execution: This isn't a Photoshop book, although Photoshop has its place within the book; it's a book that a master teacher and photographer creates after a lifetime of showing others how to understand and make great photography. With 5 color photographs throughout, including black/gray duotones, and 715 illustrations reproduced with a 200 line screen, Johnson's book covers everything from:
The basics of digital photography Film camera techniques vs. digital Practical approaches of the filmless photographer Techniques of the digital darkroom A photographer ™s digital journey Photography, art and the future
This is a holistic work (and method for teaching) that embraces the state of photographic tools and techniques, blended with suggestions and experiences on why I make photographs, Johnson says. At its best, photography rides that crest where technology and art intersect. But the deepest engagement that photography can bring remains its ability to capture and hold a moment before the lens. In this age of digital manipulation, that fundamental fact must be remembered.
About The Author
Stephen Johnson is a photographer, designer and teacher. His photographs have appeared in numerous publications including American Photo, Audubon, Life Magazine, Landscape Magazine, Pacific Discovery, Sierra Magazine, U.S. News and World Report and The New York Times, to name a few. Internationally recognized as a digital photography "pioneer," Johnson's photographs are part of the permanent collections of many institutions including the Oakland Museum, the Getty, the City of New York, Apple Computer, and the National Park Service. Also known as a masterful educator, he has been running a workshop program 25 years, and has helped to build a wondrous portable digital lab, the "Magical Digital Bus". Among his many awards and recognition for his groundbreaking work was his induction into the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2003, grants from the NEA, Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, California Arts Council, Adobe, Apple and many others.
Customer Reviews & Comments
This is a truly fascinating book. Rather than just another How-To book on digital photography, the author takes the reader on a journey through a history of "digital imaging", shows how the same principles of "classic" photography apply to digital photography today, and examines what the future may hold. According to the author, we are still in the stone age of digital photography--we are only now becoming aware of some of the tools that are available. He speculates, "just imagine what the future holds". Digital photography actually has its ancestors in the cathode ray tube, the television, and even radar. Rudimentary sorts of digital cameras were used in the Voyager space programs. In any case, the digital camera you use today owes a great deal to these early ancestors. Understanding this history is important, so that the workings of modern digital cameras is understood. While digital photography does not use a darkroom per se, as in classic photography, a computer running Photoshop can act as a digital darkroom. In this section, the author discusses some of the common techniques used in a "digital darkroom". Interestingly enough, many of these techniques have a direct counterpart in classic photography. It is fascinating to see so many similarities. Finally, there is a very interesting discussion on photo doctoring, ethics, and what the future may hold in this regard for digital photography. In this section, the author shows a doctored photo of President Clinton shaking hands with an alien (courtesy of the Weekly World News), and even more insidious, a doctored photo of John Kerry and Jane Fonda together at an anti-war rally (the photo of John Kerry was taken in 1971; the photo of Jane Fonda in 1972). Through these examples, it becomes clear what a huge moral responsibility photographers shoulder. This was a great book--not only to read about some of the history of photography, but to also see a master at work on his own photographs. This is one of the most insightful, interesting, and educational books I have read on digital photography, or even photography in general.
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Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography
List Price: $39.99
Available from Amazon
Price: $26.39
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