The Joy of Photography

by Eastman Kodak Company

New Technology makes 35mm cameras extremely easy to use, with autofocus, autoexposure, dedicated flash, and many other electronic features. Yet photographers still need their creativity to make great pictures, and know-how to select useful tools. The Joy of Photography is your best guide to all these topics. It explains how to get the most from automatic camera functions and when to turn them off. You’ll find complete guidelines on lenses, filters, and other accessories. And this is the only guide to explore the makings of an individual photographic style.Well-known professionals Galen Rowell, Annie Leibowitz, and Joyce Tenneson have provided portfolios of their work and discussed how they developed their distinctive style. Many other famous photographers are represented throughout the book, including Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Jill Krementz, as well as unique award-winning shots taken by amateurs.The Joy of Photography will inspire you with more than 600 photographs, in color and black and white, illustrating tested advice on the most common photographic challenges:

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Reference, How To, Art

302 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Francesc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un clásico de la literatura fotográfica. Aunque está ya totalmente desfasado, es necesario comprender la base para avanzar en la técnica fotográfica.

A classic of photographic literature. Although it is already completely out of date, it is necessary to understand the basis to advance in photographic technique.

[Danijel Mitrovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of photography techniques, with valuable tips and excellent presentation. If you're a beginner it's an excellent place to start.

[haven ⋄ f (hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

better for film cameras but has some good points. various parts are outdated but the core theories/practices around photography are included. got it bc i liked the cover's font.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I skimmed through The Joy of Photography at first and did not like what I saw, but I decided to give it a shot anyway because the table of contents looked promising. It was organized and seemed to suggest that the sections were going to be straightforward instructions.

Unfortunately, everything is written in a vague manner. The section dealing with Photographing People, for example, advises to look for striking facial features, or pay attention to the subject is dressed, or perhaps the way they strike a pose.

There are too many conditionals in each section -- the advice is too spare and, well, everything depends on other things.

There were plenty of pictures to look at, but they looked dated, and not the greatest examples of composition or of technique. Sometimes we want to use blurred or out of focus subjects for a purpose. Most of these pictures just looked out of focus.

I think there is good advice buried within each section but none of it is a clearly stated as I would like. This is not my style of learning. I think you have to combine the words and "get" the pictures to really dig into what is happening with this book. Not for me.

[Jason Cobill · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a beginning photographer, this book rocked my world. I've since been buying them up at garage and church sales to present to friends.
Even though it pre-dates digital imaging, the fundamentals presented and demonstrated in this book amount to a master class on not just using your camera, but -seeing- the world with a photographer's eye. Highly recommended for developing (har har) your photography skills.

[Nathan Baugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was far better (in my opinion) than the last photography book I read. Throughout reading it felt like it was just continually adding tools to help with photography without being stale and flat. I will definitely be referencing this book a lot!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good info here for the beginner as well as those wishing to shoot film.

[Ilya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a useful photography reference, thought it's quite outdated, so there's nothing here on digital photography. What makes a good photograph hasn't changed though!

[Najat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read as a course of Photography diploma at Penn foster. It was so helpful. Also, I understood many things I missed when I captured many photos.
I think that if you're interesting at photography and how to take photos with great composition and light, you'll read it <3

Honesty, I didn't read all but I will =p

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

My hobby is taking pictures with an old fashioned 35mm SLR camera and spending time in the darkroom. For me, this book was delightful to flip through, it was a review for me of good composition, angle and etc. I also liked the part about lenses.. But I couldn't help notice that it was a bit dated.

[Steve Bernacki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good general knowledge book about the techniques of photography. Also there's a lot on developing and printing for those who shoot film.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The one that started it all. (For me).