How to learn photography skills and recommend photography books?

I believe many people will have an impulse when they see beautiful photos. I don't know when I can take such beautiful photos. No one is born to take these photos, many of them are learned. Believe me, as long as you master these skills, you will soon become a master photographer. Now the most basic thing is to read basic books quietly!

For photography learners, the first thing they need is technical help. However, such good books are rare. Because of the practicality of photography, the best technology lies in the first-line photographers. They are busy taking jobs to make money, and only people in the third and fourth lines do training and education. This is the case all over the world, and so is most of China's translations.

For example, in Bu Guang's book, the photos taken by the author are so poor. Is their technology credible? The most mainstream and entry-level cloth light in fashion circle is large-area soft light. I think a reliable lighting book should first talk about soft box or reflective umbrella, and how to use a lamp combined with soft box or reflective umbrella to do basic portrait lighting. But these books should first introduce Rembrandt light, which is a kind of light that is difficult to use. They tell you how wonderful triangles are, but they don't remind you how difficult the shadow next to your nose is to control. Too dark, too dirty, too emotional, too picky, not suitable for women, not suitable for Asians. I think their ability and taste are seriously out of touch with the cutting edge.

Books outside technology play a key role in broadening horizons, cultivating tastes and understanding photography in depth. But I wouldn't recommend books like On Photography and Bright Room. People who meet the art circle occasionally talk a lot and are often educated: you don't need to look at theory to engage in art, and you can't engage in art by looking at theory. On the other hand, I often see some students in Zhihu who look like Xiao Bai solemnly telling others that On Photography is a must-read for beginners.

I think people have confused two concepts: comment and theory. Learning photography should first look at the history of photography rather than theory. Even the history of photography is an introduction. First of all, we must face the first-class works. We need to know what people have done in history, accept their inspiration, and at the same time, we should work behind closed doors to see what new things we can do. In essence, the history of photography is a kind of comment. When we want to know about contemporary photography practice, we should also look at relevant comments. But "On Photography" is closer to theory than criticism, and "Bright Room" is completely theory. The difference between the two is that comments are aimed at concrete practice, while theory takes practice as the argument of theoretical discourse. The most important thing for theoretical researchers is self-proof, and in practice, they extract the parts that are suitable for theoretical logic. The core of these two expositions lies in thinking about the nature of photography. I don't deny that these two books are very good books in this field. Under another theme, I will also recommend it. But I still think the theory book has more practical recommendations.

Generally speaking, there are not many good books, but over the years, I have accumulated a few worth sharing.

Modifier class:

This is the related book on my shelf. I recommend these two books:

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆

I read this introductory book. Its advantage is that it is developed through various practical cases, rather than giving you the buttons on the popular interface first. As for the curve, I saw its flexible application. But I think its good degree is limited, but other books are too bad. I don't know about the publication in these two years. Maybe there are better books. Besides, it should be out of print. You can look for it on Taobao.

Recommended index: ★★★★★★★

It is also out of print, but it is highly recommended. Just served watercress, 9. 1 min. The author is definitely a professional and intelligent person, and the whole book is well-structured and step by step. There are also some unknown secrets. I remember a section about how to add particles. I studied it and told it to a first-line photographer. He was very helpful.

Keep moving

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆

There are several tricks in it that are quite good. I use it to sharpen the following two pictures-Guo Tao and his son Xiaoshi. Yes, "Where is Dad going?" It wasn't filmed yet.

In addition, I recommend these two books, which are very impressive, but not very good to read.

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆

These are on my bookshelf. But unfortunately, it is almost not recommended. I hardly have a book, The Light of Photography in America, and I only recommend a section about texture. There is also a book called "Photography Lighting Innovation Course", which is relatively thick, so it is more advanced than other books.

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆

You can only find other ways to learn lighting, and it is not recommended to watch teaching videos. I have been to a David Howie before, and the experience is quite bad. Maybe there is a better one now.

Finishing is a craft that can only be learned in the workshop. Foreign schools are better, so the first way is to study abroad. The other is to be an assistant to a first-line photographer. My experience is quite special. When I was in a magazine, I worked with domestic first-line photographers, so I learned the principle of lighting. When I want to shoot, I combine the works of foreign photographers and study the lighting style by shooting tidbits. About this, I will write an answer about the recommended website in a couple of days.

Posture class

There are about two or three books on the market, all of which are amateurs and are not recommended.

I have learned a set of methods to learn pose systematically, which is the theme of a section in my portrait series Live. Here is a preview. Recommended index: ★★★★★★★

Photography history class

Recommended index: ★★★★★★★

Solemnly recommend. But because of translation problems, I went to Taobao to buy the Taiwan Province version. This book is an extension of the six-part documentary "BBC Photography Romance". You can watch the documentary first and then read the book. Documentaries are also wonderful, just like books: they are not told according to time clues, but through themes. This in itself constitutes a critical vision of practical history. This book began with the invention of the camera, so the proportion of introducing contemporary photography is not high. Just add the following books:

Recommended index: ★★★★★★★

You also need to purchase the Taiwan Province version. This book is not as good as The Spirit of Photography, but it is also very good. It also takes the theme as the structure and divides the ever-changing contemporary photography into seven theme categories. If you want to do artistic photography, you can find the category you are interested in after reading it, and then continue to learn more, collect information and establish personal clues about the history of photography. Or you just want to know what puzzling contemporary photography is doing, then read this one.

Keep moving

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆

After reading The Spirit of Photography, I feel unsatisfied. You can get more historical materials through this book. In fact, another voluminous History of World Photography is also good, but the photography mentioned in that book is not only artistic photography, and it is not worth recommending in terms of space.

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆

After reading This is Contemporary Photography, if you feel dissatisfied, you can read this one. There are still a few books to read, so I won't talk about them here.

Art history class

Classical art is not very recommended. If you have to read it, choose an art history of Zhan Sen or Gardner. It is recommended to look at modern and contemporary art, which is "quick success and instant benefit", but as far as creative practice is concerned, the closer to history, the more valuable it is.

Recommended index: ★★★★★★★

Regarding modern art, I am surprised that I have never seen anyone recommend this book. This is almost the most beautiful art history I can imagine. It was written and expanded by Robert Hughes for a BBC TV series. Although it is written for the public, the depth does not shrink and it is full of fun. The language of discussion is a beautiful long sentence. Although there are problems in translation, I can still feel the density and freshness of thinking. Sometimes it is very sharp, from which we can see his ethical critical position on the maintenance of modernist elite tradition. There are a series of successful but kitsch models in the pedigree of modern and contemporary artists, and Robert Hughes is full of ridicule for them. He cited andy warhol as an example: "No artist in the 20th century was taken seriously, except perhaps Sado Wadali, who spent so much time and skill to impress others", "He started with commercial illustration and ended with commercial illustration".

I am interested in his critical position. I searched online and saw that Jeff Koons was "flattering and clumsy and offensive to art, like a Baptist selling swamps in Florida." "If it weren't for him, you can't imagine how corrupt American culture is." The funniest thing is that he said damien hirst: "Are sharks dangerous? In 2007, the number of people killed by sharks in the world was 1. In contrast, houseflies are the real vicious murderers. Maybe Hearst should grab one and sell it in a magnifying glass. " I find the author charming.

This book should be out of print, and the binding is very poor. I bought two books and opened them soon.

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆

At present, there is no good translation of contemporary art, which was recommended by Yi Ying. The phenomena introduced are numerous and confusing, but there are few comments on the outline. Physical books are expensive. You can buy an e-book on Amazon China.

interview

Recommended index: ★★★★★★★

After reading this book, I was shocked by all kinds of unique martial arts in contemporary photography, and also expanded my imagination of photography artists' shooting content and technical boundaries. The candidate for the interview is very good, not an old face at all. The interviewer has a high ability to talk with people, and she also wrote a beautiful preface to discuss the relationship between the artist's self-world and public space. Recommended!

Recommended index: ★★★★★☆.

Alec (male name)

It is said that Soth is a shy man, but he is very talkative when it comes to his works. This book can be read in combination with his works. All kinds of inspiring comments, such as his saying that his works are prose and poetry.

comment

Recommended index: ★★★★★☆.

I like Woodman's works, and there are several in-depth comments on her in this book.

theory

Recommend some theoretical books to everyone. These books are recommended because they refer to relatively new contemporary photography works, such as photographers like jeff wall and Thomas Ralph. I think it is of reference value to understand the specific practice of contemporary art photography.

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆

Recommended index: ★★★☆☆☆