Your Photos Stink!: David Busch's Lessons in Elevating Your Photography from Awful to Awesome

by David D. Busch

When it comes to photography, getting from awful to awesome can be as simple as shifting the camera a few inches, tweaking the exposure just a bit, or making a simple lighting change. The trick is to develop your eye and your photography skills by learning from experts, experimenting with your technique, and shooting lots of photos. In Your Photos Stink!: David Busch's Lessons in Elevating Your Photography from Awful to Awesome, veteran photographer and author David Busch shows you how to create awesome images over a wide range of subjects--showing flawed photos alongside their improved versions, with clear explanations of how the fixes were made. Covering techniques of composition, exposure, post-processing, and more, and featuring dozens of side-by-side examples of awful/awesome photographs from subjects like nature, travel, and city life, Busch teaches you to see the most common problems that trouble photographers and how to correct them. Get ready to step up your game, with Your Photos Stink!: David Busch's Lessons in Elevating Your Photography from Awful to Awesome.

Genres: Photography

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2014

Reviews

[Hapzydeco · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t be affronted by the title. For it's the authors' commentary on a collection of photos submitted an amateur photo group (the Cleveland Photographic Society) that really messes the bed. Their lack of detailed suggestions does not render a service to anyone with meager post-processing skills.

[Joanne Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is misnamed. I don't doubt that my photos stink. It is the subtitle I object to. It should be "Lessons in Elevating Your Photography from Excellent to Awesome." Many of the examples presented in the book are already excellent photos, and the tweaks suggested by the author just add the final flourish to bring them to awesomeness. I was disappointed in how many of the suggested tweaks were accomplished in image editing software. But the principles explored are worth reviewing periodically.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting concept, a wide selection of photographers have submitted photos that have been fixed up, showing the original and one or more fixed versions. There are short critiques for each photo. This book is a bit odd, it's not really a technique or instruction book and it's not an art book either. A nice read once, but not a keeper.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. I liked the format of the book and some of the tips were helpful. However after viewing the before and after images I did not see that the majority of the images improved that much. I was hoping for more things to avoid and better illustrations for what an expert feels an image should have to be more successful.