Introduction
I've often thought about writing a book on Photography having spent most of my life with a camera in my hand. The opportunity came when I was approached by expertphotography.com and asked if I would write a book about photography composition. Josh, the founder, said he loved the variety of work that I had completed over the years and thought my experience would be great to share with like-minded photographers.
The Process
The time was March 2020, lockdown, when everything was closed and all my jobs were put on hold. An ideal time to write! Fortunately, the weather was so warm I was able to get up early and spend every morning in the garden typing away on my laptop along with my adviser, Daisy. She's famous in her own right having appeared in a Sony image I shot for Xperia Mobile Phones. See here!
The idea for the book was to cover all topics on photography composition including rule of thirds, how to use colour, aspect ratio and direction of light. The book was to be a complete guide to photography composition to help all photographers but in particular anyone starting out in photography.
As a full time photographer I usually shoot images for specific reasons whether that's products for websites, portraits for PR or Travel images for magazines. I usually concentrate on the finished image discarding any images that don't work or aren't composed to mine or my Clients liking.
Writing a tutorial book about composition you need images that show the right and wrong way of shooting so your readers can "see" the difference.
Having shot for 20+ years professionally not to mention the years previous, I naturally have thousands of images in both film and digital formats. I had to find photographs to illustrate each section on composition so trawling through all these images took a very long time!
However, in the end, I managed to cover every topic with suitable images.
The Book
It took around 3 months to write and I have to thank the Editors and Graphic Designers from Expert Photography who've created a truly amazing book out of my simple document.
So what's included?
The book is 330-pages long, richly illustrated and covers 134 compositional rules covering subjects like placement of your elements, Light direction, colour temperature and hints and tips for Landscape, Portrait and Still Life photography.
Cheat Sheets
It also comes with 50 cheat sheets on the most important topics which fit easily to your mobile or tablet ratio for quick reference. These are extremely handy when out and about for a quick check!
When I first started out in photography I read heaps of books and magazines about photography and I also made a lot of mistakes but gradually over the years my composition technique improved through conscientious learning and practice. Many years later I'd now like to share all this knowledge with you. If you're just starting out or been at it for a few years I'm sure there will be something for you in this book. Follow this link to see what it covers and buy with the special offer that's available while it lasts.