Sometimes finding inspiration is the hardest part of doing something creative. Take photography, for example. You have a camera, perhaps the fancy digital SLR with all the bells and whistles. But no high tech machine is going to make you compose and organize the parts of a good, high quality photo. That is still a very human task and one that is also a matter of personal taste. In the recently released third edition of Learning To See Creatively, Bryan Peterson strives to educate readers in composing good photos.
Learning To See Creatively could easily be considered a coffee table book. The large glossy book is color from cover to cover. Broken into sections focusing specifically on design, composition and light, Peterson fills the book with lots and lots of photographs. Each photo includes an anecdote on how the photo was taken and what techniques were used. The stories offer significant insight into how other photographers work and provide things you can try yourself. The book also includes exercises to help expand your creative eye, so to speak, in addition to techniques to try and things to consider when you get behind the lens.
Even taken just as a book of photography, Learning To See Creatively can be enjoyed by simply flipping through the pages to take in the pictures. Photographers with an innate sense of creativity – people who are willing to take chances and are not interested in the rules of what you “can” and “can’t” do – may not get much out of this book. But for beginners unsure how to get started now that they have got their camera or more intermediate photographers looking for some extra inspiration for taking interesting and high quality photos this book could help provide a jump start and an extra push in the right direction.
I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. All opinions expressed are my own. This post contains affiliate links.
