FOCUS
LIGHT READING
26 RANGEFINDER November 2017
Color Compositions and Co.
BY JIM CORNFIELD
#girlgaze
How Girls See the World
by amanda de cadenet | rizzoli | 272 pp.
Here’s the offspring of an eponymous
social media phenomenon, #girlgaze,
a movement “celebrating how female-
identifying individuals see the world.”
evidently they see the world as mostly
populated by other women. The collection
that runs through these remarkable pages
is an alternatively touching, humorous,
sexy, angry and sometimes heartbreaking
vision of nothing more or less than pure
femininity. It is a major standalone document of the phenomenon
of womanhood, and for that reason, it’s an idea mill extraordinaire
for every photographer. The contributors to #girlgaze were
brought into this remarkable creative sisterhood in part as a
reaction to gender inequities that still persist in the creative
world. This outreach and the amazing new talent it’s unearthed
are definitely worth watching.
price: $47 |
rizzoliusa.com
one Face Fifty Ways
The Portrait Photography Ideas book
by imogen dyer and mark wilkinson
ilex—an imprint of octopus publishing group | 160 pp.
This sprightly little book is probably not
destined to spark a creative revolution
in portraiture anytime soon, but it is, in
its way, historic. It’s the brainchild of two
british online photo mavens, and it delivers
on the promise of its cover blurb— 50
portrait ideas wrapped around one
versatile, fresh-faced model—each of them
a different and instructive take.
The model is Imogen Dyer, by turns
glamorous, girlish, assertive and silly. She’s currently the star
of popular You Tube channel Weekly Imogen and models for
her cohost and partner mark Wilkinson. As a compendium of
beautifully staged portrait ideas involving posing, lighting,
makeup, hair styling, backgrounds, camera angle and attitude,
this book is a superb resource. It’s also your entrée to this
remarkable duo whom you’ll find at weeklyimogen.com
price: $16.99
octopusbooks.com
PHOTO © BRYAN PETERSON/REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM UNDERS TANDING COLOR IN PHOTOGRAPH Y:
USING COLOR, COMPOSITION, AND EXPOSURE TO CREATE VIVID PHOTOS , BY BRYAN PETERSON, PUBLISHED B Y
WATSON-GUPTILL, AN IMPRINT OF PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE LLC.
Understanding Color in Photography
Using Color, Composition, and exposure to Create
vivid Photos
by bryan peterson, with susana heide schellenberg
watson-guptill | 144 pp.
Tireless photographer/educator bryan
Peterson is apparently leaving no stone
unturned in his crusade to make good
photographers out of the rest of us. And it’s
clearly having some effect; every couple
of years, another new volume is added to
Peterson’s copious how-to library, always
to stellar reviews by newbies and veteran
shooters. He’s coaxed us into understanding
exposure, composition, close-up photography,
the digital world, shooting with flash, manipulating shutter speed,
and on and on. Now he trains his laser on the subject of color, with his
signature exactitude and diligence.
Understanding Color is vintage bryan Peterson. His detailed
approach and no-nonsense language are especially helpful in dealing
with a subject like color. Two central chapters shape the strong
suit of this book, where Peterson shows us how to use color as a
compositional tool, and he breaks down some cerebral notions about
color into practical photographic advice. He uses the “color wheel”
to demonstrate how analogous colors and complementary colors
form cohesive bonds in the palette of an image. And the chapters he
spends on the psychology of color—covering every waypoint on the
visible spectrum—are a series of nonstop revelations. Peterson clearly
enjoys the power of high-chroma images and it shows in the lavish
photographs that illustrate this book. Another welcome appearance
by Peterson, as usual, just when we thought we knew it all.
price: $26.99 |
tenspeedpress.com
In his recently
released book,
Peterson unpacks
another photographic
fundamental in ways
that are anything but.
Images like these—
both graphic and
powerful—illustrate
Peterson’s fresh take
on color shooting, in
particular composing
with color, at which
he’s clearly something
of a master.
