Michael Freeman’s The Photographer’s Eye is my favorite book on photography. I read it at the beginning of this year and it changed the way I think about composing photographs. Wait, that’s not quite right. Before I read this book, I didn’t really think about composing at all. I took photographs when I liked what I was looking at, and I had no real idea of how to make my pictures stronger beyond get closer and rule of thirds. I didn’t even really understand what the word composition meant. It was just a term vaguely synonymous with pretty pictures. (Can you tell my background is math & science?)
The Photographer’s Eye is seventy concise lessons in the elements that make up a well-composed photograph. Most lessons are just a two-page spread with a few paragraphs of text, several high-quality photographs, and excellent captions. This book teaches more through its photographs than through its words, so be prepared to take time and explore the photos. In most cases, the words provided just enough context to help me “get it” when I studied the photos. In rare cases, the text is too terse and I’d be left confused (such as the lesson on Dividing the Frame – how can I use the golden ratio in photographs?), but the majority of the lessons struck the fine balance between getting me to understand the concept and leaving me hungry for learning even more.
The Photographer’s Eye even gets the details right. The book is beautifully produced. The paper is high quality, pages lay open easily (important when trying to see the details of photos that get close to the gutter), the photographs look great, and the page layout makes it easy to soak in lots of information on each two page spread.
You could skip this book if you’ve got a good background in art. However, if you’ve come to photography through some other route, get this book. It’s done more to improve my photographs than anything else I’ve read, bought, or tried.
This is a just a playground picture of my kid. I really like it, though, for the repetition of curves, the contrast of silver & black, and the exaggerated perspective from my wide angle lens. I even think I achieved some interesting dynamic tension with Alex’s eye line going to the lower left, but the repetition of curves pulls the to the lower right corner. Before reading The Photographer’s Eye, I wouldn’t have even had those concepts in my head. So I doubt I would have recognized the possibility in the scene, and therefore I wouldn’t have balanced precariously on the top of the climbing structure to get the shot…
I have this book but havent had the time to really sit down and absorb it. Thanks for the review, looks like I need to kick my butt into gear and read the damn thing!