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3rd out of 50 books
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22 voters
The Negative (Ansel Adams Photography #2)
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) produced some of this century's truly memorable photographic images and helped nurture the art of photgraphy through his creative innovations and peerless technical mastery. This handbook - the second volume in Adams' celebrated series of books on photographic techniques - has taught a generation of photographers how to use film and the film develop...more
Paperback, 265 pages
Published
June 1st 1995
by Little, Brown and Company
(first published 1981)
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I wouldn't be able to say "i've finished reading this book'. This series: "the Camera", "the Negative", and "the Print" is a Bible for darkroom printer, so I go back and forth to this book.
Because it is rather on the technical side for me (I have never taken a photography class or read a photography book, other than my camera manual [Panasonic DMC-FZ50]), I wanted to review the chapters I've read thus far for myself, and I figured while I was at it, I might as well begin a long book report. Although Adams discusses film photography rather than digital, most elements are also applicable to digital photography (and you'll have to forgive me for skipping over those that are not).
Chap...more
Chap...more
This is the most brilliant book I've read in quite a while, and it's not even a book-to-be-read in the traditional sense. It details, in lucid writing and with the help of countless photographs, Ansel Adams' philosophy of photography. It's all in one word, pre-visualization - but what would you really know if you read that word?
The book deals almost exclusively with black-and-white photography and mentions color only in passing. It was written before the advent of digital. Nevertheless, it would...more
The book deals almost exclusively with black-and-white photography and mentions color only in passing. It was written before the advent of digital. Nevertheless, it would...more
Another book by the master of black and white photography. If you are curious about the NEGATIVE and how to perfectly expose your photographs with EXTREME precision, this is your book. The famous ansel adams ZONE SYSTEM is fully explained. The zone system makes this book necessary to black and white photographers. A must read after "the camera".
The best of the Ansel Adams books I own, even if most of this material is better found on the internet. A lot of the chemicals and materials covered aren't really available anymore, especially the thick emulsion films. Good coverage of the Zone System though.
Love this book but unfortunately school reading has halted my investment in this read, but will make time for Ansel Adams... one of my favourite artists of all time.. Timeless beautiful awe-inspiring photos.
Oct 12, 2007
Gwen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
photography enthusiast
Shelves:
photography
Of the three Ansel Adams books, I find this one to be the most helpful. I was suprised at this because the technology of photography has changed so much since it was introduced.
Most of the book does not (unlike the first book) focus on the mechanics of the actual negative, but it relies on how light interacts with it. So it goes over the zone system - every photographers joy and bane - and then natrual and artifical lighting situations. For all practicallity, this will be the most helpful of the...more
Most of the book does not (unlike the first book) focus on the mechanics of the actual negative, but it relies on how light interacts with it. So it goes over the zone system - every photographers joy and bane - and then natrual and artifical lighting situations. For all practicallity, this will be the most helpful of the...more
Film may becoming obsolete, but this information will help with understanding how digital cameras emulate film, if you know what you are doing.
In the preface, this book is referred to as a 'master class in book form'. Indeed it is. Invaluable information from a master with film photography.
Learned more from this book than any all the other photo technique books combined.
This is the second in Adams' series on photography. It was written before the advent digital photography, yet it is still worth reading. It can be a bit technical and geeky, and one can quickly scan over much of what pertains to the chemical processing. More importantly, Adams gives a thorough presentation of his Zone System, which he came up with 40 years earlier as a solution to figuring out exposure. For that alone, this book is a must read.
He admits he's a creative scientist early on, which is fine by me, since photography is barely an art and photographers are the least likely to become artists. The photos inside are pristine, but you'll never find them in wall calendars or on t-shirts with his deified name underneath in some heavily serifed font. This is real photography. This is search and destroy. Voila.
Sep 08, 2009
Shawn
marked it as abandoned
Got this from the library. It looks like it's a bit too skewed to film (of course, it's Ansel Adams). I was hoping it was more of a composition technique book, but a lot of the book looks like it talks about film development/lens filter technique. I'll know more about it when I get into it.
As near a bible as there can be in photography, Ansel Adams' definitive treatise on how to expose and process negatives properly. The basic principles still apply in digital formats.
Though almost everything I now shoot is digital, this is a must read for all wannabe photographers. Adams will enter your soul as you practice.
Good info about exposure, but the technicality can be a drawback at times.
May 14, 2013
Joel
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Craig Dyni
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May 08, 2013
Stilakos
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May 04, 2013
Marika
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Apr 30, 2013
Chaza Chahine
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Though wilderness and the environment were his grand passions, photography was his calling, his metier, his raison d'etre.
From: Ansel Adams, Photographer
More about Ansel Adams...
From: Ansel Adams, Photographer
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