This is a superbly fashioned instruction course for those who want to go beyond photographic snaps and start to think about what makes a photo particularly remarkable. Although it won’t provide a simple formula to turn you into a photographic expert, what it does do is provide a series of ‘assignments’ focusing of particular aspects that can be explored to both enjoy getting deeper into the photographic experience, but also moving beyond the snapshot. Ten Photo Assignments looks to aspects such as lighting, macro-photography, exposure and the various ways that the components of a good digital camera work together to create the image.
The author takes you through a recipe-based approach, laying out the specific components that you will work within each of the ten chapters, then combines these with a straightforward objective. The sub-exercises in each assignment lead you through constructive hands-on examples that build towards the objective. This is a particularly useful approach as it allows for a nice self-paced approach. The chapters are augmented with comments that look at the individual steps and explore what you should be finding through doing.
You have to commit to this book and it also requires a fair bit of photographic equipment to engage with it properly. However, the results are quite profound and this is a super mini-course in moving your photography from purely amateur, point and snap to beginning to consider more sophisticated composition and a more professional approach to your creative art.
This is not a manual intended for the casual user and as such, I would aim it towards someone who is engaged in the photographic art and familiar with the various aspects of manual management of your camera. I would highly recommend this book to just such a person.
