The Photographer's Playbook features photography assignments, as well as ideas, stories and anecdotes from many of the world's most talented photographers and photography professionals. Whether you're looking for exercises to improve your craft--alone or in a group--or you're interested in learning more about the medium, this playful collection will inspire fresh ways of engaging with photographic process. Inside you will find advice for better shooting and editing, creative ways to start new projects, games and activities and insight into the practices of those responsible for our most iconic photographs--John Baldessari, Tina Barney, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Jim Goldberg, Miranda July, Susan Meiselas, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth, Tim Walker and many more. The book also features a Polaroid alphabet by Mike Slack, which divides each chapter, and a handy subject guide. Edited by acclaimed photographers Jason Fulford and Gregory Halpern, the assignments and project ideas in this book are indispensable for teachers and students, and great fun for everyone fascinated by taking pictures.Jason Fulford is a photographer and cofounder of the non-profit publisher J&L Books. He has lectured at more than a dozen art schools and universities and is a contributing editor to Blind Spot magazine. Fulford's photographs have been featured in Harper's, the New York Times Magazine, Time, Blind Spot, Aperture, and on book jackets for Don DeLillo, John Updike, Bertrand Russell, Jorge Luis Borges, Terry Eagleton, Ernest Hemingway and Richard Ford. His published books include Sunbird (2000), Crushed (2003), Raising Frogs for $$$ (2006), The Mushroom Collector (2010) and Hotel Oracle (2013).Gregory Halpern received a BA in history and literature from Harvard University and an MFA from California College of the Arts. His third book of photographs, entitled A, is a photographic ramble through the streets of the American Rust Belt. His other books include Omaha Sketchbook and Harvard Works Because We Do. He currently teaches at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

    Featuring more than sixty cats, these irresistibly adorable and downright hilarious photographs are sure to keep you turning the page for more.The book includes a message from Carli about the importance of animal rescue and adoption, outtakes from the photo shoots, an explanation of how she got the cats to shake, and a roster with the names of all the cats photographed.With more than 130 photographs

    Whatever other technical skill is involved, if the formal organization of an image is lacking, there is little to hold the interest of the viewer. But what makes a winning composition? Is it about following the rules-or about breaking them?Basics Photography: Composition is divided into six core chapters that cover everything the beginner needs to know to improve their composition, including the basics of composition, exploring the formal elements, how to organize space and time, learning the real world 'rules' and, beyond that, how to use the ideas presented in the book to create original, compelling images. The book is illustrated throughout with photography to inform the mind and inspire the eyes.Includes work by:Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, James Nachtwey, Martin Parr, Marc Riboud, David Hockney, Duane Michals, Harry Callahan and John Darwell, and many more.Includes the following subjects:The basic rules of composition, including viewpoint, perspective and scale; the formal elements, such as point, line, shape, form, texture, pattern, tone and color; how to organize space using frames, balance and space; capturing the passing of time and specific moments, the decisive moment and sequences; applications of composition, featuring landscape, still life, portraiture, documentary, the figure, action and sports, fine art and advertising; finally, finding your own view and the specific considerations of digital imaging.

    In MY IDEAL BOOKSHELF, dozens of leading cultural figures share the books that matter to them most; books that define their dreams and ambitions and in many cases helped them find their way in the world. Contributors include Malcolm Gladwell, Thomas Keller, Michael Chabon, Alice Waters, James Patterson, Maira Kalman, Judd Apatow, Chuck Klosterman, Miranda July, Alex Ross, Nancy Pearl, David Chang, Patti Smith, Jennifer Egan, and Dave Eggers, among many others. With colorful and endearingly hand-rendered images of book spines by Jane Mount, and first-person commentary from all the contributors, this is a perfect gift for avid readers, writers, and all who have known the influence of a great book.

    Everywhere you look, from group photos, to school graduation or sports portraits, to magazines, movie posters, and DVD covers, chances are, you ve seen compositing. In "Photoshop Compositing Secrets," Matt Kloskowski takes you through the entire process behind creating convincing, well-executed, and captivating composites. You ll see how to create images that run the gamut from real-world portraits for corporate, graduation, or group photos to sports portraits, templates, and collages, and even the surreal, dramatic composites that clients clamor for. You'll learn: One of the most important secrets to compositing: how to master selections in Photoshop (yes, even wispy hair), What background color, and camera and lighting setups work best for compositing, How to move a subject from one background to another, and the Photoshop lighting and shadowing techniques to make it look real, And all the Photoshop tips, tricks, and special effects you need to pull off a convincing, professional composite. No matter if you're a professional, an aspiring professional, or a hobbyist, "Photoshop Compositing Secrets "will sharpen your skills and open up a whole new avenue of photographic expression in an easy-to-understand way that will have you creating your own composites in no time.

    Forever Frida celebrates all things Frida, so you can enjoy her art, her words, her style, and her badass attitude every day. Viva Frida!

    She has photographed rarely seen sites from domains including: science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature security and religion. This index examines subjects that, while provocative or controversial, are currently legal. The work responds to a desire to discover unknown territories, to see everything. Simon makes use of the annotated-photograph's capacity to engage and inform the public. Transforming that which is off-limits or under-the-radar into a visible and intelligible form, she confronts the divide between the privileged access of the few and the limited access of the public. Photographed with a large format view camera (except when prohibited), Simon's 70 color plates form a seductive collection that reflects and reveals a national identity. In addition to this monograph, there is also an exhibition of Simon's work opening at the Whitney Museum of American Art in March 2007.

    In Until Now, Geddes takes us behind the scenes to find out what she was thinking when she captured these images, her 113 most-favorite photographs. Her text also provides a background to each photograph and helps readers understand how this artist and her subjects work together.Consider, for example, Geddes' comments about the shot she captured in 1991, which she titled "Rebecca": "She didn't want to hold the tulips, and she didn't want to sit on the chair-there were too many other things to be done. How do you get a 14-month-old to sit still' Show her the jelly bean, and then put it down her trousers."From signature photos of newborns to touching interactions between parent and child to enthusiastic poses from older children, this gift-size hardcover edition of Until Now gathers together Geddes' most revealing and compelling work. Whether she's posing babies in the garden or in the studio, Anne Geddes' deep affection for babies and children is obvious in the award-winning images she creates.

    Writers Tony Scherman and David Dalton disentangle the myths of the great pop artist from the man he truly was, and offer a vivid, entertaining, and provocative look at Warhol’s personal and artistic evolution. Drawing on brand new sources—including extensive new interviews and insight from those who knew him best—Pop offers the most dynamic, comprehensive portrait ever written of the man who changed the way we see the world.

    Why entrust your memories to hastily taken snapshots--or worse yet, none at all? Let professional photographer (and mom) Me Ra Koh help you capture the moments with 40 beautiful "photo recipes" anyone can do, with any camera. Telling your baby's story in pictures has never been easier!

    His astonishing large-scale color photographs of the landscapes of mining, quarrying, railcutting, recycling, oil refining, and shipbreaking uncover a stark, almost sublime beauty in the residue of industrial “progress.” The implicit social and environmental upheavals that underlie these images make them powerful emblems of our times.This handsome catalogue of the first major retrospective of Burtynsky’s work features essays by Lori Pauli, Kenneth Baker, and Mark Haworth-Booth, as well as a wide-ranging interview with the artist by Michael Torosian. The book includes sixty-four color plates.

    Following the death of his mother, photographer Phillip Toledano was shocked to learn of the extent of his father's severe memory loss. He started a blog on which he posted photographs and accompanying reflections on his father's changing state. Through sometimes sad, often funny, and always loving observations, we follow Toledano as he learns to reconcile the elderly man living in a twilight of half memories with the ambitious and handsome young man he occasionally still glimpses. Days With My Father is an honest and moving reflection about coming to terms with an aging parent.

    On Being a Photographer has become one of the most popular books ever written with practical advice for photographers.

    Inspired by a unique artistic vision grounded in the deliberate irrationality of Dada and the incongruous vision of Surrealism, Ray created a gallery of striking photographs: unforgettable images that etch themselves into the mind and transform our perceptions of reality. This beautiful large-format volume reproduces on coated stock a rich selection of these works, created amid the intellectual and artistic ferment of the 20's and 30's.To achieve his remarkable effects, Ray experimented with various techniques: over and under exposure, shooting through different fabrics, superimposing images, and zeroing in on tiny details. In his words: "The removal of inculcated modes of presentation, resulting in apparent artificiality or strangeness … is to be welcomed." To preserve the full dramatic impact of his ground-breaking work, Dover has carefully and painstakingly reproduced these photographs from a rare gravure edition. The photographs are divided into 5 groupings:Photos 1–24: general subjects (still lifes, rooms, landscapes, cityscapes, flowers)Photos 25–42: female figures, mainly nudesPhotos 43–66: women's faces (including Gertrude Stein)Photos 67–84: celebrity portraits (Ray, Dalí, Tzara, Sinclair Lewis, Joyce, Eluard, Breton, Derain, Braque, Matisse, Picasso, and others)Photos 85–104: rayographs, "cameraless" compositions created by resting objects on unexposed film Also included in this edition are acclamatory texts by Eluard, Breton, and Tzara in the original French with English translations; a German text by Rrose Sélavy (pseudonymous) with English translation; an Introduction by Ray with French translation, and a portrait of Ray by Picasso.Today, Ray's individual photographs command high prices on the collector's market. Indeed, the original edition of this book sells for hundreds of dollars. The publication of this inexpensive Dover edition thus allows photographers, artists, designers, and students of art and photography an unparalleled opportunity to savor and study these iconoclastic masterpieces. Most of the photos are full page, or nearly so, and reveal the profoundly original vision of a man for whom the violation of convention was "far preferable to the monstrous habits condoned by etiquette and estheticism."

    For these women, a church hat, flamboyant as it may be, is no mere fashion accessory;  it's a cherished African American custom, one observed with boundless passion by black women of various religious denominations. A woman's hat speaks long before its wearer utters a word.  It's what Deirdre Guion calls "hattitude...there's a little more strut in your carriage when you wear a nice hat. There's something special about you." If a hat says a lot about a person, it says even more about a people-the customs they observe, the symbols they prize, and the fashions they fancy. Photographer Michael Cunningham beautifully captures the self-expressions of women of all ages-from young glamorous women to serene but stylish grandmothers. Award-winning journalist Craig Marberry provides an intimate look at the women and their lives. Together they've captured a captivating custom, this wearing of church hats, a peculiar convergence of faith and fashion that keeps the Sabbath both holy and glamorous.