I’ve decided to review a few of the books I’ve read on Photography. I selected Understanding Exposure
I was made aware of this book by a friend at work who had read it. She told me that it was a good book if you could get past some bragging by the author about how much he had made on certain images. As a consequence I was predisposed to dislike the book when I bought it.
Understanding Exposure is not specifically about either film or digital photography. Instead it provides guidance about light that applies in either environment. Bryan’s images are quite good and demonstrate his points well.
The author begins by aptly defining exposure and discussing aperture, shutter speed and ISO sensitivity. He shows with images the differences to be expected and talks about how light and darkness can be managed for correct exposure and for creative exposures. Once the basic definition is cared for, he moves on to an entire section on aperture. In this section Mr. Peterson discusses some principles to help guide you when making certain types of shots.
From aperture the discussion moves on to shutter speed. He shows and explains the basics about capturing and freezing motion and then moves on to creative uses for shutter speed.
The next, and largest section, of the book is dedicated to light. In this section Mr. Peterson explains the importance of light, the effect of shooting with light at various positions (front, back, side, etc.) and how exposure metering can be used creatively. Using a system he calls “the sky brothers” and their “cousin Mr. Green Jeans” Bryan expertly guides you through a series of explanations of creative metering. I found this section absolutely inspiring. After reading it I went around with my Nikon D50 set to spot metering and practiced exposing images to highlight the details I wanted rather than those the camera selected. I had a blast doing this and recommend it highly–though I have to say that I don’t use it a lot in actual practice. It’s nice to understand it for those times when it can be put to good creative use nonetheless.
Near the end of this section, Bryan does a good job of introducing night and low-light photography. On this issue however, I have to say I have learned more from Ken Rockwell than anyone else. Ken is the king of what I call “just before dark” shots.
Finally the author closes the book with sections on special techniques and filters and film vs. digital.
Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson
–Larry
