How to Make Good Pictures
Subtitle: An entertaining, authoritative handbook for anyone who takes pictures
Edition: 31st.
Publisher: Eastman Kodak Company of New York
Published: 1965
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 192
Subjects: Photography
Genres: Fine arts
First sentence: This isn't a book about cameras, per se. If you're one of those who regard them with the same passion others lavish on hi-fi components or Model T Fords, you'll suffer no scarcity of volumes that probe and praise their mechanical wonders. But in this book, cameras are regarded strictly as a means to an end and that end is pictures, the kind of pictures most people snap—pictures of their children and family, of the places they visit, and of the things they do.
It isn't an especially technical kind of book, because, for most of us, technicalities and fun don't necessarily mix. It simply points out some of the features which make good pictures superior to run-of-the-mill pictures and suggests ideas for shooting good pictures with the least possible fuss and expense.
The type of pictures it explores are snapshots—all kinds of snapshots of many different subjects. Is there a baby in the house? We have a whole section devoted to "Snapshots of Babies." As baby grows, you'll want to refer to the section on "Snapshots of Children." Another section will show you how to take the best snapshots of Mom and Dad, and other grown-ups. The section on flowers will help you to enjoy your garden year-round in your pictures. Going on a trip? The section on "Vacation and Travel" will help you to make the most of your picturetaking opportunities. Do you have a pet? Like sports? Or, is scenery your camera's prime target? This book contains helpful hints on taking better snapshots of all these things.
We also talk about taking snapshots indoors with flash, photoflood, or existing light. In case you're one of the people who likes to know about the technical side of things, we included several sections for you toward the end of the book. One is on how color films work and another is on the technical workings of photography.
And of all snapshot ideas, here is the one that will be most valuable in providing you with a reputation as an expert photographer. Nobody's pictures are all good. Even the most practiced professional turns out some poor pictures. He just doesn't show them to anybody.
Description: Most people really like the pictures they snap. Many are bothered, though, by a nagging suspicion that they could do even better, but that the price of increased proficiency would be lota of money, lots of intricate equipment, and lots of wrestling with technical complexities.
This isn't so and How To Make Good Pictures proves it. In all of its 192 pages there's hardly a word that would confuse a rank beginner. It is a book devoted to the premise that the easy way is usually the best way and that a panoply of gadgetry may swell the ego, but won't necessarily improve either the fun or the results of snapshooting.
To advance this idea, it first outlines the basic essentials of making sharp pictures and a few of the little tricks that turn a sharp picture into a really good one. Then, there are extensive sections full of well-tested ideas for obtaining better black-and-white and color snapshots of babies, children, adults, animals, scenery, flowers, sports; of special events and vacations; and on trick photography.
Its chapters on indoor shooting" cover not only the conventional means but some extremely easy ways of snapping fine Pictures by the natural, existing light. In addition, it explains the workings of exposure meters, color films, and just what
happens inside film to create a picture.
This entirely new, up-to-date edition of the world's most popular book on picture taking will help almost anyone with any kind of camera get more pleasure and satisfaction out of his photographic activities. Its more than four hundred illustrations, many in full color, alone provide enough good snapshot ideas to keep most people profitably occupied for a long, long time.
Table of contents: class: section