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The Photographers Eye: A graphic Guide: Instantly Understand Composition & Design for Better Photography
Instantly understand composition & design by deconstructing successful photos to see how they work.
Taking a new look at composition, Michael Freeman explores the visual mechanics of photography in its own native terms. Each section is organized into discrete units that articulate a working method for communicating particular ideas and capturing certain subjects. The result is an approachable, easy-to-understand course on successful composition and design.
Taking a new look at composition, Michael Freeman explores the visual mechanics of photography in its own native terms. Each section is organized into discrete units that articulate a working method for communicating particular ideas and capturing certain subjects. The result is an approachable, easy-to-understand course on successful composition and design.
- GenresPhotographyNonfictionArt
192 pages, Paperback
Published September 3, 2019
About the author
Michael Freeman
310 books132 followersLibrarian note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Michael Freeman is a professional photographer and author. He wrote more than 100 book titles. He was born in England in 1945, took a Masters in geography at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and then worked in advertising in London for six years. He made the break from there in 1971 to travel up the Amazon with two secondhand cameras, and when Time-Life used many of the pictures extensively in the Amazon volume of their World's Wild Places series, including the cover, they encouraged him to begin a full-time photographic career.
Since then, working for editorial clients that include all the world's major magazines, and notably the Smithsonian Magazine (with which he has had a 30-year association, shooting more than 40 stories), Freeman's reputation has resulted in more than 100 books published. Of these, he is author as well as photographer, and they include more than 40 books on the practice of photography - for this photographic educational work he was awarded the Prix Louis Philippe Clerc by the French Ministry of Culture. He is also responsible for the distance-learning courses on photography at the UK's Open College of the Arts.
Michael Freeman is a professional photographer and author. He wrote more than 100 book titles. He was born in England in 1945, took a Masters in geography at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and then worked in advertising in London for six years. He made the break from there in 1971 to travel up the Amazon with two secondhand cameras, and when Time-Life used many of the pictures extensively in the Amazon volume of their World's Wild Places series, including the cover, they encouraged him to begin a full-time photographic career.
Since then, working for editorial clients that include all the world's major magazines, and notably the Smithsonian Magazine (with which he has had a 30-year association, shooting more than 40 stories), Freeman's reputation has resulted in more than 100 books published. Of these, he is author as well as photographer, and they include more than 40 books on the practice of photography - for this photographic educational work he was awarded the Prix Louis Philippe Clerc by the French Ministry of Culture. He is also responsible for the distance-learning courses on photography at the UK's Open College of the Arts.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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July 5, 2025Me gustó mucho. He estado leyendo sobre composición. El autor es un fotógrafo famosísimo y el libro tiene muchas fotografías muy bonitas, y cada una viene con una explicación desde el punto de vista de la composición y técnica. Definitivamente me abrió mucho la mente, pero siento que tengo que releerlo, al menos algunas partes puntuales que no me quedaron muy claro.
November 9, 2023
If you didn’t major or minor in photography, and you care about understanding it better and want your resulting photos to more closely resemble your intentions, this book is probably worth a read.
This book was just right for me.
My formal training in photography was limited to one college elective probably listed as “Photo 101: Intro to Black & White Photography,” whereas the vast majority of my improvement has come from shooting tens of thousands of photographs in the two decades since.
I’ve improved in several ways, but have largely been doing my own thing, experimenting in attempts to recreate effects I’ve seen in others’ photos, or happening upon an unfamiliar effect by chance.
I was in need of this book. It was refreshing and enriching to have an author explain in simple and concise terms the many concepts of photography that I’d previously only half-understood or didn’t understand at all.
And the way Freeman uses example photos to walk the reader through each of the concepts was simply wonderful, but also inspiring to see some of the places photography can take a skilled practitioner of the craft.
This book was just right for me.
My formal training in photography was limited to one college elective probably listed as “Photo 101: Intro to Black & White Photography,” whereas the vast majority of my improvement has come from shooting tens of thousands of photographs in the two decades since.
I’ve improved in several ways, but have largely been doing my own thing, experimenting in attempts to recreate effects I’ve seen in others’ photos, or happening upon an unfamiliar effect by chance.
I was in need of this book. It was refreshing and enriching to have an author explain in simple and concise terms the many concepts of photography that I’d previously only half-understood or didn’t understand at all.
And the way Freeman uses example photos to walk the reader through each of the concepts was simply wonderful, but also inspiring to see some of the places photography can take a skilled practitioner of the craft.
December 23, 2024
I read this book for my work to understand shot composition for the documentaries I will be working on in 2025. This book provided a simple brief overview of a lot of different photography shots to look for. From using lines, patterns, and repeated items to sequencing shots, overlaying images, and looking at color, the author truly gives the reader a wide variety of photographic elements to keep an eye out for.
June 27, 2019
Concebido por um fotógrafo consagrado, propõe-se a tratar temas básicos da fotografia com foco mais na imagem que no texto. Para fotógrafos amadores, essa abordagem mostra-se mais amigável para a compreensão de conceitos essenciais. Além das fotos que exemplificam o conceito, há gráficos e diagramas que complementam a explicação textual.
January 21, 2020
Worth the shelf. It's a great book for any photographer.
December 20, 2020
The graphic illustrations are excellent and illuminating. The commentary is free from jargon and pretense. Definitely a book I will buy (after having looked at it through the library).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews