Camera & Craft: Learning the Technical Art of Digital Photography

Camera & Craft: Learning the Technical Art of Digital Photography

by Andy Batt, Candace Dobro, Jodie Steen
Released September 2014
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781135041366

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Book description

#2 on Photo.net's list of Best Photography Books of 2014!

To create successful imagery, you need to balance technical know-how and aesthetic vision. In Camera & Craft, we deconstruct photographic principles in new ways to help you think through your process. Together with nine guest photographers, we explore photographic practice and follow up with inventive exercises and demonstrations that challenge you to engage with your tools—all with the goal of helping you work more creatively. Along the way are conversations with our guest photographers that address each topic, from how the professionals work with clients and models to what they think about as they look through the viewfinder.

Here’s what you’ll find inside:

  • Advice and insights from professionals working in a variety of fields, from photojournalism and portraiture to fine-art, landscape and commercial photography

  • Technical explanations about how photographic tools work—so you can connect knowledge to your practice and work more instinctively and creatively

  • Key steps for improving digital workflow

  • Innovative exercises at the end of each chapter as well as on our companion website that encourage you to experiment with and understand the photographic process—from learning how far you can push your camera’s sensor to exploring the effects of neutral vs. creative color

  • Interviews with technical and creative experts about developing skills and making images that matter

This book is part of The Digital Imaging Masters Series, which features cutting-edge information from the most sought-after and qualified professionals and instructors in the photography field. Based on the progressive curriculum of the Master of Professional Studies in Digital Photography (MPS DP) program created by Katrin Eismann at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City, these books are the next best thing to being in the classroom with the Digital Photography Masters themselves.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Table of Contents
  7. Foreword
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Preface
  10. Introduction: Our Photo Experts
    1. Holly Andres, Fine Art and Editorial Photographer
    2. Kim Campbell, Portrait Photographer
    3. Stewart Cohen, Director/Photographer
    4. Jeff Conley, Landscape and Nature Photographer
    5. Carli Davidson, Animal Photographer
    6. Bruce Ely, Newspaper Photojournalist
    7. Craig Ferroggiaro, Photographer/Retoucher
    8. Toni Greaves, Documentary Photographer/Photojournalist
    9. Sol Neelman, Commercial, Editorial and “Weird Sports” Photographer
    10. About Camera & Craft
  11. 1 Prerequisite: Photo 101
    1. The Camera Is not a Photographer—You Are
    2. Philosophy: Put It on Manual
    3. Manual Mode Isn’ t Pretty—At First
    4. Exposure Basics: Shutter Speed, F-Stop and ISO
    5. Controlling Time
    6. Learning to Focus Like a Camera
    7. Taking Control: Metering and Histograms
    8. White Balance = Color Control
    9. Any Camera
  12. 2 It’s Your Viewfinder: Interviews with the Pros
    1. See What’s Happening
  13. 3 Your Digital Skeleton
    1. Raw All the Way
    2. To DNG or Not to DNG
    3. Media Card Management
    4. Featured Interview: Rachel Jerome Ferraro, Photographer and Educator
    5. The Importance of Image Workflow
    6. Renaming
    7. Backing Up and Archiving
    8. The Simply Paranoid DNG + Lightroom Workflow
    9. Digital Workflow
    10. A Plan
  14. 4 Creative Control: Using Your Lens
    1. Each Lens Has Its Own Personality
    2. Which Is the Right Lens for You?
    3. Stuff for the End of Your Lens
    4. Technical Control: Understanding Your Lens
    5. Lens Problems and “Miracle” Lenses
    6. Sometimes Problems Are a Good Thing
  15. 5 Light Becomes the Image
    1. CCD or CMOS: A Two-Party System
    2. Analog to Digital: Photons to Pixels
    3. The Photosite: Mother of All Pixels
    4. Mosaics at Work
    5. The Analog-to-Digital Converter
    6. Bit Depth
    7. CCD Vs. CMOS: Deep-Geekery
    8. Noise and Speed
    9. Noise Rescue: Keeping Up
    10. Featured Interview: Jim Christian, Author of Noise Ninja and Photo Ninja
    11. Noise-Removal Tools
  16. 6 Exposure: Controlling the Light
    1. What Is Good Exposure?
    2. In-Camera Metering that You Control
    3. Leveling Up to a Handheld Meter
    4. Digital Exposure
    5. Dynamic Range
    6. Featured Interview: Jodie Steen, Co-Author of Camera & Craft and Owner of 127 Productions, Inc.
    7. Histograms and Image Archetypes
    8. Camera Neutrality: Picture Styles and Raw Data
    9. Correcting Exposures
  17. 7 Your Color in Control
    1. Color Is a Choice
    2. The Standards: 3200K and 5500K
    3. Tint It!
    4. Balanced Icons
    5. Neutral Color—How Do We Get There?
    6. Creative Color—Stop Worrying!
    7. Enter the Dragon: Color Management
    8. Applied Color Management: Jodie Steen, Owner of 127 Productions, Inc.
  18. 8 Pre-Pro/Shoot/Deliver: Interviews with the Pros
    1. Featured Interviews: Therese Gietler, Producer
  19. 9 Guest Photographers: Photos and Advice
  20. Bibliography
  21. Index

Product information

  • Title: Camera & Craft: Learning the Technical Art of Digital Photography
  • Author(s): Andy Batt, Candace Dobro, Jodie Steen
  • Release date: September 2014
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781135041366