Jeff Wignall's "The Joy of Digital Photography"

My New Book: "Exposure Photo Workshop" Available Now

I'm pretty excited that my new book Exposure Photo Workshop (Wiley Publishing) has begun shipping from both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I spent the summer of 2007 writing and illustrating the book and, when I wasn't on photo trips, spent the summer sitting at my computer writing--watching the seasons change outside my window. A lot of tomatoes got left on the vine because I ran out of time to pick them!

But if exposure has been a photographic nemesis for you (as it has for most photographers--including the masters) then you'll like this book a great deal, I think. The book is probably the most comprehensive look at the subject of exposure that's ever been published. Starting with why exposure is so important to both the technical and creative aspects of photography, I cover everything from basic camera controls (aperture and shutter speed, as well as ISO and white balance) to how light meters work and the theory that is behind their use. All of this is written in very easy-to-understand terms (and the humor is as lame as ever).

I also cover exposure problems and how to solve difficult lighting and contrast problems, how to meter and exposure for different types of daylight and weather, taking well-exposed photos at night and how to get good flash exposures. The book is over 300 pages long and features more than 300 of my photos. Also, I'm thrilled to be using photos from three of my former students: Jennica Reis, Tom Callahan and Gavin Zau. You have no idea how cool it is to be illustrating one of your books with photos from former students and their photos are all world-class professional images. Jennica has several charming portraits of kids in the book, Tom has some amazing photos of hummingbirds in flight (wait until you see them!) and Gavin has some incredible travel shots from both China and India. And also, my old friend, co-conspirator and mentor Derek Doeffinger and good friend Doug Jensen each have several great photos in the book.

The book should be available at most bookstores and online everywhere! I'm hoping libraries will add it to their collections, too. By the way, in a future update I'll talk about how I shot the cover shot for the book.

Quick Recipes for Creative Fun: "Photoshop CS3 Photo Effects Cookbook" by Tim Shelbourne

One of unfortunate aspects of using Photoshop in your work every day--even (or perhaps, especially) when you've been at it like I have since the very first version back in the early 1990's--is that often you get so involved in correcting and retouching images for purely technical reasons that you start to forget how much fun the program can be on a completely creative level. That's why I am having so much fun with Tim Shelbourne's new book Photoshop CS3 Photo Effects Cookbook (O'Reilly; 2007). Shelbourne (a traditional "hand" artist for more than 20 years prior to going digital) has created a great book for rekindling your creative visual spirit--and it covers a lot of creative ground.

The book is very well organized into a "cookbook" style compendium that offers 53 different recipes for turning ordinary photos into very fun and creative images. Shelbourne presents a wide range of interesting visual tricks like creating woodcut effects, turning portraits into caricatures, simulating rain, simulating candlelight, adding water droplets (really fun!), adding rays of light to interiors and landscapes and even adding rainbows to your landscape photos. If you're ever bored with your images, this book will send you off onto a blissful journey of imagination.

Each of the ideas is covered in a quick step-by-step fashion in just a few pages and Shelbourne (unlike yours truly) wastes no words in explaining the techniques: what you get here are fast, easy-to-follow steps that take you from start to finish. Shelbourne uses some great photos and lots of screen captures of dialog boxes and toolbars so that you it feels like you're looking over his shoulder at his monitor. The layout of the book is clean and (thank you O'Reilly!) the steps are all numbered so that you don't get lost following the progression of the image (you'd be surprised how many publishers leave those numbers off).

The book is divided nicely into eight creative categories, including: Tonal and Lighting Effects (including tips on the new Black and White tool in CS3), Graphic Arts Effects (pen-and-ink drawing effects, for example), Lighting Effects (things like creating a star-filled sky), Natural World Effects (simulating sunsets, turning day into night), Traditional Photographic Effects (creating an Infrared look, for example, is nicely covered), Distortion Effects (how to clone with perspective), Texture Effects (creating wood, stone, metal and other surface textures) and Presentation Effects (some nice ideas for creating frame effects).

The book is probably aimed at a moderately skilled Photoshop user, but I would think anyone with a basic familiarity with Photoshop tools would find the book simple to follow. In fact, I would highly recommend the book to beginners because I think that when you're learning Photoshop it helps if you can see how the basic tools can be used to create exciting and fun visual effects quickly. And for someone like myself that has been using Photoshop for more than 15 years, this book is a really useful creative desktop reference for finding the fastest ways to add visual effects. I learned a neat trick for adding highlights to soft-focus images (pages 128-129) the very first time I opened the book and I've already used it several times. I wish I'd thought of this technique years ago!

A great book and, as I always say, any book is worth the price (in this case a bargain at $29.99) if you get a single nugget of creative help. In this case though, you'll get a ton of useful tips and ideas. For more on O'Reilly's great Photoshop and photo books, visit: www.oreilly.com

"The Joy of Digital Photography" Hits Barnes & Noble "Top 100"

I'm happy to report that my book The Joy of Digital Photography reached the #61 spot on the Top 100 books on the Barnes & Noble website this week--and not just among photo books, but all of the millions of books offered on the site. The book is currently on sale for $9.97 in the Barnes & Noble after-holiday sale (50% off!).

I got some great new books in the mail this week, so I'll post reviews in a few days--keep an eye out!  And Happy 2008! 

Brian Oglesbee's "Aquatique" is Published

I've been so busy finishing up my own new book that I completely neglected to write an entry here to announce that my good friend Brian Oglesbee's stunning first book Aquatique has been published. Since I recently reviewed the book on Amazon, I will just let you read that review here, but I will add this tought: if you are looking for a wonderful art book as a present for someone this Christmas/holiday season, let me give this my highest recommendation. This is the most beautiful photo book I've seen in decades. Here is the Amazon review:

I actually have two reviews in mind for this book: a shorter one and a longer one. I'll give you the short one first and then add more background on Brian Oglesbee and his book: When I was first studying photography I was fortunate enough to have a photographer for a father, and a mother that loved beautiful books. At Christmas I often got photographic monographs and histories and that created in me a lifelong obsession to own fine photo books. The thrill I got from discovering and exploring a new photo book--especially a monograph by a single photographer--was an experience I just loved. In recent years though fewer and fewer great photo books have been published--they're just too expensive and most (not all) publishers are after the fast buck with a cheap book.

That is why Brian Oglesbee's Aquatique is such a refreshing and inspiring book: it picks up the nearly forgotten torch of masterful photographic monographs and proves that it is still possible to create (and hopefully be financially successful with) quality fine-art books. This is a big, beautiful, superbly printed book that is incredibly fun to look at. It is, in fact, one of the most beautiful monographs I've ever seen and there isn't a thing about it that is less than perfect. If you have this book in your house, I promise that you'll eagerly sit every visitor down and share these intense images with them.

      

Michael Freeman's "The Photographer's Eye"

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!