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The Perfect Photo: 71 Tips from the Top
"Perfect" is a purely subjective term when it comes to art. A journey toward the perfect photo is a journey without a defined destination. There are photographs that are technically perfect and others that stand out because of their message or composition. Although the perfect photo remains a matter of taste, it is still something every photographer strives for.
With this volume, Elin Rantakrans and Tobias Hagberg provide the beginning to intermediate photographer a wide range of practical tips that cover capture, composition, and editing—all with the aim of helping you achieve better photos. Each concept is illustrated with beautiful, inspiring images.
Our Use 7 of these 70 tips and you will be a 10% better photographer. Try it!
With this volume, Elin Rantakrans and Tobias Hagberg provide the beginning to intermediate photographer a wide range of practical tips that cover capture, composition, and editing—all with the aim of helping you achieve better photos. Each concept is illustrated with beautiful, inspiring images.
Our Use 7 of these 70 tips and you will be a 10% better photographer. Try it!
- GenresPhotographyNonfiction
128 pages, Paperback
First published August 13, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 20, 2018
Mainly basic brief tips. Pretty good photography. Quick read.
September 30, 2011
Obviously, The Perfect Photo is mis-named. At a mere 128 pages, this is a pocket book and it is not attempting to be the modern day counterpart of Ansel Adams series on photography or Photography by London and Upton. But what is it? It purports to be a set of simple tips for any photographer, regardless of equipment. However, while the tips are indeed the classic ones that every photographer needs to learn, this book is harder to use for the beginner than it needed to be. It tries to be all things to all people, but it is not enough for a knowledgable photographer, and it skips information that a novice would need to be able to use the good advice effectively. So it fails to deliver to anyone.
The format of The Perfect Photo is similar to what other photographers who are also columnist have used, a set of short articles each on a single subject organized topically. The problem is that while the book is probably best for novices who have not learned these methods, the articles are aimed at photographers with a particular type of equipment, Full Framed system cameras, which are the high end of photography equipment. For example, many of the chapters discuss the use of features that would not exist on point and shoots or compact cameras such as white balancing or the manual controls for aperature and shutter speed. And it does not discuss the work arounds that those who have gotten good at working with these types of cameras have developed to compensate.
More egregarious are the issues with sensor size. While everything they discuss is in terms of Full Frame sensors (24 x 35 mm), they acknowledge something called a half-frame camera. But there is nothing marketed as 'half-frame camera'. There are the digital cameras with APS-C sensors (ranging from 13.8 x 20.7 mm to 19.1 x 28.8 mm depending on manufacturer), there is the four-thirds system, (17.3 x 13 mm) and a few other proprietary formats that are used by a single manufacturer. But none of those is 17.5 x 24 mm , which is presumably what half-frame would be. And while it does mention a few equivalent focal lengths (e.g. that a 50 mm lens will cover the same area on a 'half-frame sensor' as a 75 mm lens on a full-frame camera), they don't go the obvious next step of saying that you can multiply by a factor of approximately 1.5. Even this discussion is not until Tip 22. So in multiple discussions of lens focal length, the novice would not have noticed that there was an issue and they needed to mentally adjust the discussions of what wide-angle, normal or tele-photo are.
And this is my complaint about this. Each tip is oriented towards the novice photographer who is just getting serious and needs to start somewhere. But the individual essays almost require a base of knowledge of photography and the workings of the equipment to understand it fill in the missing details.
Rocky Nook (publisher) offerings seem to be finding replacements for the teaching of photography technique that are useful for the digital age. And this book seems like it was to meant to be the slim fieldbook for the novice who is just starting the road to being serious. But while each tip is good in itself, it needed an editor's hand to pick its audience and focus on it to properly fill this niche.
Disclaimer: I received a free electronic copy of The Perfect Photo as part of the O'Reilly Bloggers program.
The format of The Perfect Photo is similar to what other photographers who are also columnist have used, a set of short articles each on a single subject organized topically. The problem is that while the book is probably best for novices who have not learned these methods, the articles are aimed at photographers with a particular type of equipment, Full Framed system cameras, which are the high end of photography equipment. For example, many of the chapters discuss the use of features that would not exist on point and shoots or compact cameras such as white balancing or the manual controls for aperature and shutter speed. And it does not discuss the work arounds that those who have gotten good at working with these types of cameras have developed to compensate.
More egregarious are the issues with sensor size. While everything they discuss is in terms of Full Frame sensors (24 x 35 mm), they acknowledge something called a half-frame camera. But there is nothing marketed as 'half-frame camera'. There are the digital cameras with APS-C sensors (ranging from 13.8 x 20.7 mm to 19.1 x 28.8 mm depending on manufacturer), there is the four-thirds system, (17.3 x 13 mm) and a few other proprietary formats that are used by a single manufacturer. But none of those is 17.5 x 24 mm , which is presumably what half-frame would be. And while it does mention a few equivalent focal lengths (e.g. that a 50 mm lens will cover the same area on a 'half-frame sensor' as a 75 mm lens on a full-frame camera), they don't go the obvious next step of saying that you can multiply by a factor of approximately 1.5. Even this discussion is not until Tip 22. So in multiple discussions of lens focal length, the novice would not have noticed that there was an issue and they needed to mentally adjust the discussions of what wide-angle, normal or tele-photo are.
And this is my complaint about this. Each tip is oriented towards the novice photographer who is just getting serious and needs to start somewhere. But the individual essays almost require a base of knowledge of photography and the workings of the equipment to understand it fill in the missing details.
Rocky Nook (publisher) offerings seem to be finding replacements for the teaching of photography technique that are useful for the digital age. And this book seems like it was to meant to be the slim fieldbook for the novice who is just starting the road to being serious. But while each tip is good in itself, it needed an editor's hand to pick its audience and focus on it to properly fill this niche.
Disclaimer: I received a free electronic copy of The Perfect Photo as part of the O'Reilly Bloggers program.
April 9, 2015
I agree with other reviewers in that the substance of each of the topics of this book is light and given the light treatment of each topic, I suspect the intended audience is for beginner photographers. But there are spots where it does seem to imply that the reader has some knowledge already and as another reviewer commented, seems to assume the reader is a DSLR user.
Still, I find the book does serve a purpose. Each of the 70 tips presented, is done in a format where a problem is stated with a solution. For example "Maximize your flexibility - Using zoom lenses" or "Controlling contrast - Using portable reflectors", to name two. Then under each of these topic headings a short (2 to 5 paragraphs) discussion of the tip follows. So I find the 70 tips to be useful for the beginner or early intermediate DSLR user. They give a framework of suggestions for solving each of the problems presented. The drawback here though is the discussion following each tip headline is light and gives less detail a new user to that idea might need or want. So for many of the tips a person new to using that tip might well require further research and reading to implement it fully. Though, with some tips, I think the discussion is sufficient.
Finally, I think that author Rantakrans does achieve something of what her title implies, i.e. to solve or deal with the 70 problems and/or situations, using the hardware presented to deal with them. This isn't a "Nikon vs Canon" or a "Sekonic vs Gossen", i.e. its not about the best brand to buy of anything. It IS about how specific hardware can solve specific problems or provide missing capability. To that end, I think its a good start.
Still, I find the book does serve a purpose. Each of the 70 tips presented, is done in a format where a problem is stated with a solution. For example "Maximize your flexibility - Using zoom lenses" or "Controlling contrast - Using portable reflectors", to name two. Then under each of these topic headings a short (2 to 5 paragraphs) discussion of the tip follows. So I find the 70 tips to be useful for the beginner or early intermediate DSLR user. They give a framework of suggestions for solving each of the problems presented. The drawback here though is the discussion following each tip headline is light and gives less detail a new user to that idea might need or want. So for many of the tips a person new to using that tip might well require further research and reading to implement it fully. Though, with some tips, I think the discussion is sufficient.
Finally, I think that author Rantakrans does achieve something of what her title implies, i.e. to solve or deal with the 70 problems and/or situations, using the hardware presented to deal with them. This isn't a "Nikon vs Canon" or a "Sekonic vs Gossen", i.e. its not about the best brand to buy of anything. It IS about how specific hardware can solve specific problems or provide missing capability. To that end, I think its a good start.
September 7, 2013
I have three cameras ... a Canon point-and-shoot that is usually in my purse, a Nikon D5100 DSLR along with some lenses, and a Nikon CoolPix (that's in between the two) that I use often. Needless to say, I take a lot of pictures. Gord and I took some classes last year to learn how to (1) use our cameras in other than auto mode and (2) take photographs, not just pictures.
I'm still an amateur and like reading photography books to see what professionals take pictures of and how they do it.
This book is divided into the following chapters:
* Camera equipment
* Broaden Your Knowledge, the Easy Way
* Capturing the Best Light
* Composition
* Impressive Landscapes
* Portraits
* Bringing Movement into the Equation
* Effective Use of Flash
* Starting out in the Digital Darkroom
Yes, there are 71 tips but they are only a couple paragraphs each. It doesn't get into how to do anything ... it basically says something can be done and then you have to go look for another book to show you how. This book is marketed to the beginner to intermediate photographer ... I didn't find there was a lot of substance.
I wouldn't recommend this book.
Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2013/09...
I'm still an amateur and like reading photography books to see what professionals take pictures of and how they do it.
This book is divided into the following chapters:
* Camera equipment
* Broaden Your Knowledge, the Easy Way
* Capturing the Best Light
* Composition
* Impressive Landscapes
* Portraits
* Bringing Movement into the Equation
* Effective Use of Flash
* Starting out in the Digital Darkroom
Yes, there are 71 tips but they are only a couple paragraphs each. It doesn't get into how to do anything ... it basically says something can be done and then you have to go look for another book to show you how. This book is marketed to the beginner to intermediate photographer ... I didn't find there was a lot of substance.
I wouldn't recommend this book.
Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2013/09...
April 13, 2014
Meh.
I learned a couple of new things, got a couple ideas, jotted down a couple things to Google further. But (despite liking this as I was reading the initial tips) I have to agree with the other commenters. It's a weird mix of very technical and very basic. For my personal needs and level of knowledge, it really didn't work: the tech stuff (flash lighting and camera/lens stuff) was too technical, and the composition stuff was generally too basic.
Oh well. I'm glad I read it...getting a couple of new ideas is never a bad thing.
I learned a couple of new things, got a couple ideas, jotted down a couple things to Google further. But (despite liking this as I was reading the initial tips) I have to agree with the other commenters. It's a weird mix of very technical and very basic. For my personal needs and level of knowledge, it really didn't work: the tech stuff (flash lighting and camera/lens stuff) was too technical, and the composition stuff was generally too basic.
Oh well. I'm glad I read it...getting a couple of new ideas is never a bad thing.
June 2, 2014
I've been a for-pleasure photographer for years and years but still find collections of tips to be valuable (the best, to my mind, are the volumes Scott Kelby has put together). This book of 71 tips is a mixed bag (there were 9 that I found interesting) and seems most oriented to the beginner. In it's favor, this book discusses and defines basic concepts, acknowledges the use of many types of cameras and editing software, and includes some nice photos.
December 15, 2016
This is an easy to read yet informative book. The information is quite basic, though. If you're very advanced in your photo skills and education, you might not get much out of this book and may just find everything too simple. But I learned a few new tricks that I'm looking forward to trying.
November 20, 2014
good tips to keep in mind
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews