Michael Freeman is one of my favorite photo-book authors and
photographers and any time he puts out a new book I order it
automatically. His newest book The Photographer's Eye is the
most ambitious and nicely illustrated book on composition and image
design that I've seen in a long time. Freeman starts
out the book with the traditional design topics--filling the frame,
dividing the frame, frames within frame, etc. And he covers basic
design ideas like balance (an excellent and often ignored topic),
dynamic tension, rhythm and many other topics. But the real beauty of
this book are his chapters on offbeat but extremely valuable topics
like "Intent" in which he talks about the reactive vs planned
composition, conventional or challening design themes and simpe vs.
complex designs. The book also has a great chapter on the "Process" of
creating design that includes some excellent case studies on situations
that he has encoutnered and also, importantly, how art directors took
his compositions and then used them in layouts. Freeman talks about
knowing the publication you're shooting for and how to compose for
their needs--avoiding or planning for the gutter in a two-page spread,
for example. This is a great book for both beginner's and pros and it will make a great holiday book gift.
Coming Next: Brian Oglesbee's Aquatique is published--and what a beautiful book it is!
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