after finding the craft&vision website I quickly decided to try out a few of the ebooks, I mean when the promo for the books says “improve your craft, buy less gear” that sounded good enough to me, plus they are only $5 each.

the first ebook I read was the “below the horizon” by dave delnea (http://www.davedelnea.com/), after reading that I quickly decided that I needed the entire series (at 20% off by the way). This lead me to the “vision in motion” ebook, and then the rest have been easy to pick up and read. These books on the whole are a quick read, offer some great photographic inspiration, and are entertaining. Please do yourself a favor and check out a few. (the 20% off I mentioned above is a great deal, you have to buy more than 5 but hey, 5 at 20% off makes it only $20, or the whole set of ebooks so far for $64)

after reading most of the ebooks (more specific reviews to come later) I grabbed and quickly read the three black and white series ebooks by Andrew S Gibson (http://www.andrewsgibson.com/). Because I have always been a fan of the unique nature of black and white photography, I found these books fascinating. 

In the first of this three ebook series, Andrew introduces us all to the most important part of photography, vision. Vision is very important to the craft&vision people, so important it is part of the name of the site! Andrew takes us through such topics as: the art of black and white, learning to see in monochrome, the different elements of black and white photography (this section holds the bulk of the book and is wonderful at describing the different sections, importance and ways to use the different elements of a photo), the all-important topic of light and finally the subject of the photo.

These sections are detailed out with examples of each idea he is talking about. These examples are the final product of his work and are excellent. In book two of the series Andrew goes into detail on the technique for creating the photos he uses in the books.

All in all, book one is great and a necessary introduction to the art of black and white photography.

In book two Andrew moves from the topic of vision to the topic of craft. This book is the how, where the first is the why. I enjoyed this book very much as it opened my eyes to some of the different techniques for creating stunning black and white photos.

Book two opens with a recap of the importance of vision from book one. The author shares how he created a darkroom when he started taking photos and some of the techniques used to do what photoshop can do with the lights on! In the intro andrew says something that I love, he says:

I work on my photos individually in Photoshop. I don’t use programs like Lightroom or Aperture to batch process. I prefer to select my best photos for conversion to black and white and to work on them individually, giving them the care and attention required to bring out the best in them.

I back this up by trying to minimize the number of photos I take in the field. If I look through the viewfinder and don’t like what I see I don’t take the photo. I’d prefer to return when the light is better or look for a better subject, rather than take photos that don’t excite me.

This is awesome! We as designers, hobbyists, photographers, etc. constantly hear we are to use apature, or lightroom to process pictures. now I do and will continue to use lightroom to process pictures, but I love how Andrew is approaching the world of digital photography like it is that of film. The line, “if I look through the viewfinder and don’t like what I see I don’t take the photo,” is something I strive for but don’t have the experience to know exactly what I am seeing in the viewfinder. Good advice though in our digital age, be sure you are taking photographs and not snapshots.

The rest of this book teaches us all the “how-to” of some of the black and white conversion and toning techniques Andrew uses to create his art.  He takes us from the original color photo through the steps to achieve the polished final piece.

This book ends with Andrews conclusion and reflection on an Ansel Adams quote “ the negative is the equivalent of the composers score, and the print the performance.” What a powerful quote to the distinction between taking the photo in camera and the processing of the photo in to art in photoshop.

The third in this black and white series of books by Andrew S Gibson is entitled “the magic of black and white – part III – nine photos.” This book takes un to the more advance, and more subtle techniques used by Andrew to craft his vision of the photos he has captured. He shares with us nine photos and the process he used to take them from basic black and white conversion and toning to the full and complete work of art.

There is nothing that is rocket science here, but with the topics of Toning, Split Toning, Exposure Blending, Textures, and the creation of Diptyches and Triptyches covered, this book is packed with content and inspiration. There is enough art presented to put this book on your coffee table, but also enough nerd speak to keep it with your photoshop books. The author navigates this fine line with skill.

In the end, this third book is my favorite of the three, but that is only after reading all of them. I'm not sure this by itself will leave each reader with the same feeling, so be sure you read them all as parts one, two and three of the same larger book.

all three of these books the author shares with us the EXIF information on the photos presented, so be sure to take with you the knowledge you gain from these series of books the next time you are out making photos.

Do you have a comment about this review, or a comment about your response to these books, please share with the group!