Mastering Composition: The Definitive Guide for Photographers

The book is well laid out, with well-chosen photos used as examples for his topics. I normally get bored reading photography books because it’s more of a person saying how they did whatever they did this specific time for this specific thing. I know that serves a lot of people well, but for me it’s sooo specific that it’s easy to lose attention for it. This book is general enough to be immediately useful, but not so general that it’s low value.I just highly recommend this. I’ve been making photos from intuition and was somewhat worried that becoming too versed in the mechanics might take away the intuition or “Magic.” But now that I’ve been learning the “why” behind photo construction, I’m one hundred percent thankful for this book and don’t feel like it took away ANY of that natural creativity or vision away; it gave me more ways to be creative.

thought provoking examination of composition.

I have an inflexible rule. Don't buy composition books. Edward Weston said, "Composition is the strongest way of seeing." My way of seeing may not coincide with your way of seeing. In other words, an image, whether it be a painting, a drawing, or a photograph, that pleases or interests me in some way is the best composition of that image and that subject., for me whether I made that image or not.Now this book. If you have any interest in becoming a better image maker, you need this book. It doesn't give you data, (f-stop, exposure, etc.) but beautiful images illustrating a rule or concept that the author has presented.Besides snippets of historical, scientific or art information that are interesting in themselves. Such as the origin of the Rule of Thirds. He discusses the Fibonacci sequence and golden ratios, golden spirals and other visual impacts.Read the other reviews. I am at a loss as to why anyone would give this book a negative review.. One reviewer said none of the images gave him a "wow". Well, this is not a picture book. Every image illustrates a concept or principle or rule discussed in the text.

It’s a very interesting book with mathematical points of view and clear rules about photography. But if you know the basics there’s no need for this book.Great for beginners

Same old, same old. If you are an experienced photographer this book is a rehashing of what you probablyalready know.

I am a new photographer and most of what I have learned has been from books. This one is one of the best I have read. The information is clear and easy to follow. I learned so much about composition that I can now put into practice. I would highly recommend this. I read it cover to cover and now have it as a reference for the future.

The content is there. The knowledge is evidently spread through out the book. But it feels like the author went to a thesaurus for each word, and replaced it with a higher vocabulary choice. That’s cool and all but WHAT IS THE POINT! Feels like you are reading a school text book which gets boring fast. There is so many other books similar that are more engaging and interesting.

For those of you that wants to know what it takes to be a renown photographer you have to understand the psychology of how people see. If you have taken a class in "Intro to Psychology" you will enjoy this book. The author breaks it down to simple terms on how this is achieved. I learn a lot about composition from this book that I didn't take into consideration before. Like neutral space and balance in a photo. It has changed my view on compositions considerably. I didn't know I was already using this idea in architectural photography, but for some reason the concept didn't carry over into landscapes with me. Now I have a better idea on how to convey the message I want to create when I photograph the ocean or desert and how other people will see my work as opposed to what I see.

I love this series of books. They cover most genres of photography and develop your skills then leave you with a handy sized refresher while you consolidate knowledge. This one doesn’t disappoint

I've read dozens of books on photography and a few of them were supposed to deal with composition exclusively. Unfortunately too many authors seem to think that whoever reads their books is a total photography newbie so they go through the basics of photography before devoting a few chapters to the instructions pertaining to the title of the book. Not this time. The author only writes about composition and how to make good use of it from start to finish. There's not a lot of filler either. The author goes through many different compositional concepts and how it affects the viewers response and then accompanies this with perfectly chosen images to illustrate his point. The lessons are easy to understand and easy to apply and will make anyone who reads this a better photographer. This is definitely one of the better books on composition out there.

Really good overview on all aspects of composition. The kind of book I could read over and over. Some of the images were not as good as others, but the author does state that he's trying to get a point across, not wow us with his best shots. I appreciate that.

Desde mi punto de vista este libro ofrece una excelente interesante introducción a la composición de imågenes en el cuadro de una fotografía. La composición se puede entender como similar a la sintaxis en el lenguaje. Uno ha aprendido a usar el lenguaje sin aprender sintaxis, pero cuando estudia un idioma nuevo estudia su vocabulario y su sintaxis para aprender a expresarse en el.idioms,, esto mismo ocurre con la expresión en fotografía, conocer la manera de componer, sus componentes y las pautas o reglas de composición no es la meta, pero es un modo de aprender el arte de expresarse fotográficamente que es lo que se pretende.

Good review of composition rules with inspiring photos.