Learning to Photograph - Volume 2: Visual Concepts and Composition

By Cora Banek and Georg Banek

The two volumes of the Learning to Photograph series give students and interested amateur photographers essential information about technique and design as well as an understanding of the big concepts of photography. Beginning and advanced photographers alike will find the content instructive, thoroughly explained, and effectively illustrated, making this book a useful resource for readers to develop their own craft.

This second volume addresses the topics of visual design and composition. The authors describe various methods of visual design and how you can use these methods effectively. You will learn which techniques to use to design your images while at the same time training your photographic eye. You will develop the ability to support the message of your subject purposefully, hone your photographic style, and analyze your own work and the work of others competently.

The striking images and informational graphics not only illustrate the concepts at hand, but also make the lessons visually pleasing and offer useful examples for readers to mimic in their own work.

Topics include:

• Visual perception
• Composition, shapes, and lines
• Managing light
• Color and its effects
• Sharpness, blur, and movement
• The interplay of visual design elements
• Image analysis and evaluation

The previous volume in the Learning to Photograph series addresses cameras, equipment, and basic photographic techniques.

• Language: English
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781492000129

Cora Banek

Born in 1981, Cora has been photographing since 2002. Her craft is unique in that she almost always has the finished, edited image in her mind when she releases the shutter. She opts to shoot infrequently but with great intention and purpose. Cora's visual language is clean and quiet. She likes light, bright images featuring harmonious, subtle, and desaturated colors, and she is a borderline perfectionist when it comes to designing her images. Her award-winning photography has been exhibited in international competitions. Cora's diverse photographic interests include portrait, beauty, fashion, nude, erotic, and floral photography. Top quality color management is a part of her daily craft, which she produces consistently for initial exposures, fine-art prints, and everything in between. Professionally trained in the cultural sciences, she works as a freelance graphic designer and photo editor for exacting photography publications. Together with Georg, she also works as a writer for magazine and book publishers and develops concepts for educational materials about photography. Her contract work ranges from stylish arrangement and ideal lighting for product photography to portraits and aesthetic nude and erotic images. She directs the contract photography curriculum for the artist's workshop at Artepictura. Additional information can be found at artepictura-atelier.de.