50 Lessons for Stronger Photographs – The Visual Toolbox

Another book from Craft & Vision, they are coming thick and fast but at only £9.40 for so much useful information and inspiration a bargain

“These are the lessons I wish I’d learned when I was starting out.” – David duChemin  if David says this then it really means something, he is a world beating photography teacher read what this man says and improve your photography

 

 

The Visual Toolbox is packed with lessons about the tools of the photographic language – the camera, the lens, and the more important stuff like visual language, composition, and learning to see. Most of those lessons are accompanied with real-life, honest-to-God assignments to get you out there learning how to make stronger photographs, not just learning to use a camera.
The Visual Toolbox is 201 pages long: a big, gorgeous, PDF eBook, filled from front to back with the stuff that will make you more comfortable with the tools of your craft and more fluent with the language of this art. It’ll take you past images that are sharp and well-exposed, to photographs that are alive and say something.
View the Table of Contents.
Lessons include topics like isolation, scale, balance and tension, abstraction and expressionism, seeing light, understanding visual mass and energy, using negative space, using your lenses more expressively, exploring the effects of perspective on your image, and so much more. Then it’s your turn and if you’re looking for practical hands-on ideas to really solidify this stuff, those are there too.

 

Check out more about this book here

Free Photography ebooks from Craft & Vision

We really do think that the Craft & Vision books are exceptional value, the best way to improve your photography is by learning more about the subject. You probably come on our courses but you might want more to fill the times when we are on holiday, maybe you just don’t live in Oxford (poor you) so our courses are not possible for you. If you want a taste of these really brilliant ebooks there are some which are free for you, go here to grab a couple Have a look at some of the other titles while you are there

 

Sharp Shooter Proven Techniques for Sharper Photographs new ebook

Do you wish your pictures were a bit sharper, is it your eyes or your camera or worse your techniques that let you down.

This new ebook from the Craft & Vision stable has all you need to achieve sharper pictures. Sharp Shooter by Martin Bailey

This is an exciting resource for photographers looking to discover new techniques and tools for making stunning images! Sharp Shooter is a 36-page PDF and it’s a great edition to your digital library. Martin, in his usual clear and concise fashion, covers the gamut on the subject—from hand-holding techniques, stabilization, and what makes an image sharp in the first place, to macro-sharpness, depth of field, focus stacking, sharpening for final output, and more.

Excerpt

“Center, Manually Selected, or All Focus Points: Whether your camera has 9 or 61 focus points, you choose which to focus with. Many people favour the center focus point, because it’s often the most accurate and simply because it’s in the middle. Also, using all of your focus points with automatic selection can lead to the camera focusing on the wrong part of the scene. Another option is to either use just one or a small group of focus points, but select something other than the central group. Let’s explore when and why you might use these various methods.”

 

 

 

 

36 pages for £3.50 about 10p per page, bargain, get yours here

Lightroom 5 Unmasked new ebook

From those wonderful people at Craft & Vision there is a new Lightroom ebook aimed at LR5 The previous edition for LR4 was invaluable and although LR hasn’t undergone the major changes it did from 3 to 4 if you have 5 buy this now

 

 

A Complete Guidebook to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

Lightroom 5 Unmasked is a resource like no other. This PDF is full of high-resolution screenshots, step-by-step instructions, and the tips, tricks and ideas that make digital darkroom work productive and more enjoyable.

At 356-pages Lightroom 5 Unmasked is 13 chapters deep, covering everything from an introduction to Lightroom and non-destructive editing to full discussions and detailed instructions of the Library and catalogs, to every tool in the Develop, Map, Book, Slideshow, Print, and Web Modules. Download the Table of Contents.

This massive eBook also includes an amazing collection of 69 Cases which provide context and insights on the smaller topics that often get overlooked (nine more cases than the previous edition). These additional insights put the tools and features into context, helping you learn and apply what you read along the way. Every module is covered in-depth, even third-party applications and plugins are tackled head-on. Lightroom-to-Photoshop integration is also included.

At about £12.50 for more than 350 pages it is a snip

Get your copy here

Lightroom 4 – Podcast with Piet Van den Eynde

Matt Brandon talks with Piet Van den Eynde about his recently released Craft and Vision eBook titled, “Lightroom 4 Unmasked.”  Piet shares his expertise and all kinds of tips and tricks he has discovered for Lightroom 4. Hear the podcast here

 

Time Lapse Photography – Podcast with Dave Delnea

In this month’s podcast, Matt Brandon speaks with Vancouver-based photographer Dave Delnea about his newest Craft & Vision eBook, Timelapse: An Introduction to Still Photographs in Motion. Matt & Dave discuss the details of timelapse photography, and the nuances of stitching those still images together to create a movie. Hear the podcast here

PHOTOGRAPH: ISSUE THREE

This magazine from Craft & Vision, the third in the current series is jam packed with fascinating articles, for $8 it is a bargain.

A Digital Quarterly Magazine for Creative Photographers

Issue 3 is packed with incredible portfolios and Q+As—this time from: Hengki Koentjoro, Dave Delnea, and Kevin Clark. And there are the usual great columns from people like Martin Bailey, Nicole S. Young, Kevin Clark, and John Paul Caponigro, as well as a featured article from David duChemin about his recent work in Northern Kenya.

Craft and Vision Free ebook

We love Craft & Vision ebooks, they are so full of pertinent and useful information, are lavishly illustrated and are so damn cheap. This one goes one better, it is FREE

More Great Ways to Make Stronger Photographs – This 45-page PDF eBook is completely free, consider it a random act of kindness to the photography community we so passionately serve. Inside you’ll find articles by 6 Craft & Vision authors, and 9 unique ways to improve your photography. You’ll also discover an exclusive promotional offer, we call it theC&V Starter Kit, where you can save USD $16 and get four amazing products.

Get this really great new ebook here for FREE

A Digital Quarterly Magazine for Creative Photographers

Over at OSP Towers we really like the ebooks and other output from Craft & Vision, not only are they exceptional value but also expertly written and lavishly illustrated. All of the books, you can see them by clicking the link to the right, have something valuable to say and you would learn technical and creative skills for less than a cup of coffee. Now they have a quarterly magazine and here is the information.

The newest issue of PHOTOGRAPH—a digital quarterly magazine for creative photographers—is now available!

This is a gorgeous, ad-free magazine full of great photographs from exceptional photographers, and articles from photographers and authors who understand that this is not only a technical pursuit but an artistic one and write as much from the heart as they do from their expertise.

Issue Two includes featured portfolios and interviews with Martin Bailey, Andy Biggs, and Chris Orwig, as well as articles from some of my most trusted colleagues on topics like composition, post-processing, inspiration, editing, printing, and yes, even gear. Curious about what’s inside? Download the table of contents. See more sample spreads.

You can purchase Issue Two of PHOTOGRAPH for USD $8 by clicking any image above, or by visiting Craft & Vision. As with everything we offer we aim to knock the content out of the ballpark and do so at exceptional value. So we’re offering a one-year subscription for $USD 24 – that’s four issues for the price of three.

I really believe the best way to learn photography is to study exceptional photographs, and to listen to voices that not only know the craft, but practice the art of photography. I hope PHOTOGRAPH inspires you the way it has already inspired us.

– David duChemin

Learn Lightroom 4 ebook

I am regularly asked if we run a course on Lightroom and it is something we plan but if you can’t wait for our return from Australia to OSP towers you might want to buy this very cheap ebook and get started yourself. I have always been super impressed with Craft & Vision books and have bought just about everyone they put out. They are full of excellent technical detail, inspiring ideas and are beautifully illustrated.

LIGHTROOM 4 UNMASKED
This is a complete guide to Adobe Lightroom 4 and we know you’ll love diving into this beefy book. At 312 spreads this PDF is full of high-resolution screenshots, step-by-step instructions, and the tips, tricks and ideas that make digital darkroom work productive and more enjoyable. If you’re looking to learn Lightroom 4 and need a resource to help you do that quickly, or you’ve just upgraded and need to get up to speed, this is a great value.

This rather expansive ebook with 312 pages costs just £12 or $20, get further details and purchase here