Photography

by Barbara London, Jim Stone, John Upton

This best-selling introductory photography text teaches students how to use the medium confidently and effectively by emphasizing both technique and visual awareness. Comprehensive in scope, this book features superb instructional illustrations and examples in its clear presentation of both black and white and color photography. London offers extensive coverage of digital imaging and the latest technological developments, such as Web page design and formatting photos on CD-ROMs.

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction, Reference, Design, Textbooks, Film

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Barbara London (1936-) was a photographer.

Reviews

[Anda]

Without a doubt, this is the best book ever for photography. Begins with "how to load film" and runs through every minor detail you could ever care to know. Then, it ends with a lovely recap of photography history. This book is hefty, weighing-in at about 10 pounds (not a real measurement) and 500 pages (real page count, yes). It's also 14x14 inches in size. I think the current editions are a couple hundred dollars, so buy a used one. This is the 7th edition and I guess it's as good as the current ones. Thanks to my husband for an awesome wedding gift (that I just got around to reading, 9 months later)!

[Stephen]

THE book on photographic. I don't rate it 5 stars because of the $100 price, and the need for more updating with current use of software and digital photography.

[Jessica]

An immensely detailed and very helpful book. It's name is quite apt as in many respects this tome feels like the alpha and omega of photography (from a technical aspect, of course). The chapters are well written, concise and easily understood. With a subject as detailed as photography it can be quite overwhelming to broach for the first time, but there is nothing in this book that made me feel over my head.

I borrowed it from the library to augment my photography class, but as soon as I am financially able I will add it to my collection. It is well worth owning.

[Daniel Golden]

A good book about the basics of photography, but it usually doesn't go into enough detail, and it's retardedly expensive. They could have left out a few of their giant glossy photographs, and gone into more detail about what f-stop means (e.g., what's the lowest f-stop a lens can have? Why?). I thought I would use this book as a reference, but once you read it once, you pretty much know everything.

[Phyllis Burstein, DePaul Art Education]

Should be on every photography teacher's bookshelf. The newer versions include digital photography, from a traditional photographer's perspective. Make sure you have the most recent version of the book as digital photography is constantly changing. (I would not recommend this book for the teacher who does an occasional photo lesson in an Art I class.)

[Sheri]

Excellent book for anyone wanting to learn about photography.

[Jennifer]

An excellent general overview of the photography process from its beginnings through to digital.

[Lindsey]

Great for beginning film photographers! Easy to read and understand.

[Mike]

I read this on recommendation from Marc Leroy’s popular online photography class. While I did black and white photography in school, and developed photos in the dark room - this book has the best explanation I’ve read on how cameras photographic process works, and how the various settings like shutter speed, ISO and aperture work together.

[Shazia]

Great book on manual photography for beginners.

[Natalie]

This is an incredibly comprehensive book on film and digital photography, albeit a bit difficult to lift.

[Mel]

I am just starting this book but it looks amazing. So much information and beautiful examples provided. Looking forward to reading this book.

[Sabina]

..really one of the best book on photography I read!..
..full of interesting tips and trick for a passionate beginner like me!..
..a must-read!..

[Joe]

Very comprehensive book on photography. I haven't read very many modern day books that explain the "zone" system in such detail. I'd give this a 5 star but I feel that it went a bit too deep into the "chemistry" component of film photography. It's good to know the basics but I feel that the chemistry section needed to be written in a book all by itself. It was explained in detail but I feel it went too far for the context of this book. Also there is an error in the "inverse square law" section so beware...

[Amari]

This is a marvelous historical reference book with perfectly illustrated, clearly stated explanations of basically every question or concern a photographer could have. Far preferable to googling, this book is incomparable in any edition. The new ones are always expensive, but the old ones are filled with all kinds of wisdom we'd do well to keep in mind when taking photos. Extremely highly recommended for photo enthusiasts of all levels.

[Sana KM]

A good read for anyone starting out with photography. It provides a solid base for understanding the basic principles (which makes all those wheels and buttons on your new DSLR less intimidating). I would've loved to see more about composition and less about film processing and darkroom. But that’s the point of the book: it touches on almost every aspect of photography with a moderate amount of detail. A good starting point for beginners.

[Clyn]

This is a college photography textbook and teaches the basics of photography. It covers all types of cameras, all sorts of media, and goes into many things that a digital photography hobbyist will not find interesting or even relevent (hence the 3 stars). It does provide a solid base for understanding the principles of photography, and in that sense , is very good. I would definitely recommend it for beginning photographers--just skip the parts that don't apply to your hobby intentions.

[Greg]

everything you need to know about 35mm and digital photography

gives you the basics, and much more.

[Erika RS]

This is a textbook so it has fairly shallow coverage of many topics related to photography. Having picked up photography in bits and pieces throughout the last few years, some parts were really useful and other parts more review. You could probably get a lot of the same information without reading a full textbook, but if you enjoy reading textbooks, getting the wide perspective this book gives is useful.

The one thing I have mixed feelings about is that, since this is an older edition of this text, it covered both digital and film photography. The sections on film photography were interesting, but I mostly skimmed them because, realistically, I'm never actually going to do it.

[Farid Hassanpour]

Comprehensive, right amount of detail, for beginners to moderately advanced.

I was looking for a book to help me with digital photography which is new for me. I had gotten into photography several years ago but did not advance in two days. Once I started on the sport I went through it completely. It had a lot more than just a photography for me.

[Manuel Arismendi]

Es un libro técnico de fotografía. Está muy bien explicado. Si te gusta la fotografía ya sea de cualquier nivel y entiendes inglés escrito vale la pena. Este libro cubre todos los aspectos. No se si existe una versión en castellano.

[Anatolii]

A good book with many useful illustrations. It covers a variety of topics, from how to develop film to the differences between printing approaches. Sometimes too detailed, but if you read only the essentials, it is very useful. Only a video would be better.

[Sil Azevedo]

Excellent intro book for photo students about to enter the darkroom.

[Jessica Monte]

Wonderful textbook to outline the historical, technical, and artistic elements of photography.

[Moonpome Nano]

We called it the Upton & Upton. Textbook from college, a sentimental attachment.

[Rebecca Martin]

Very comprehensive. I wish I would have read this book when I started my photographic journey; I learned mostly by trial and error.

[Ray Dunsmore]

A very good resource of information and advice for the beginning photographer - including quite a bit on film development and printing methods.

[Star Shining Forever]

Very informative book, and very wide-ranging. It mainly covers film and digital cameras, but also has info on old cameras. It has great basic info and tips on photography, which is what I used mostly, as this book was for my online photography course. The non-applicable parts I just skipped. Covers history of photography and famous photographers too.

[Puja]

great introduction to photography... when friends approach me on wanting to learn more about their camera - this is what i hand 'em.

[Boy]

Look for the examples for color film grain (ISO 100 & 1600) on page 83. I took those pictures! Wow... flowers...