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Analog photography books


atournas

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.... The term refers to the sensor, which is definitely digitized as opposed to the film's sensitive surface which is "continuous" or "analog". It is now an established term, although somewhat misleading.

 

I hope this settles the matter. And, by the way, I am a physicist and I speak Greek.

 

Paul

 

I disagree with You Paul:

There is an number of sensoric items, called "pixels" in the digital Camera. They will recieve light or not = digital on/off

An in the film's sensitive surface there is a number of silverhalogenide crystals: If exposed, they are "on", if not, they are "off", in my opinion this can be called digital too.

 

I dislike the new created term "Analog photography". Even if so many use it unscrupulous, it's not correct in my sight.

Let's call it "film based photography"!

 

kind regs

Thomas

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I dislike the new created term "Analog photography". Even if so many use it unscrupulous, it's not correct in my sight.

Let's call it "film based photography"!

 

kind regs

Thomas

 

Yes, of course, no problem.

 

Paul

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Perhaps there should be a sticky at the top of the forum page for recommended reads.

 

I totally agree with that. Incidentally, there is a short text which I have always found to be worth a hundred photography books when it comes to inspiration; it is the introduction in Robert Frank's THE AMERICANS by Jack Kerouac.

 

Paul

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post exposure - ctein (free on his website! Ctein Online-- Post Exposure Sample)

 

the darkroom cookbook - steve anchell

 

35mm negs and prints - y. ernst satow

 

mortensen on the negative - william mortensen

 

color photography - henry horenstein

 

night photography - andrew sanderson

 

polaroid transfers - kathleen carr

 

the book of alternative photographic processes - christopher james

 

primitive photography - alan greene

 

seeing is believing - errol morris

 

light readings - a. d. coleman

 

why photographs work - george barr

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  • 1 year later...

I'm re-discovering this thread and astonished that it didn't run very long... It would really deserve more contributions and a sticky to keep it afloat for all interested in film photography.

 

To start reviving it, I'll propose my recent reads, mostly from one author, the late David Vestal. I made first contact online, e.g. through the archive pages of the photo technique magazine, 'Vestal At Large'. I find his style and knowledge to be very inspiring.

 

Now I'm reading (diagonally, for the moment) David Vestal's "The Craft of Photography", published in the early 1970s (several editions, Harper). Wish I'd seen this book when I started with photography. Vestal takes you in a hands-on and straight forward way through the entire process of exposing, developing and enlarging b&w film images. Except for the latest enlarger light sources, multigrade paper and more recent films and chemistry, everything seems to be there.

 

Another one that just arrived in the mail is "Leica Manual - The Complete Book of 35mm Photography", by Douglas O. Morgan, David Vestal and William A. Broecker, 15th edition from 1973 (Morgan & Morgan). This looks like a masterpiece and certainly does contain many...

 

Both can quite easily be obtained second hand, online (not so much on the auction site, though).

 

Cheers,

Alexander

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I'm re-discovering this thread and astonished that it didn't run very long... It would really deserve more contributions and a sticky to keep it afloat for all interested in film photography [...]

Cheers,

Alexander

 

Over this time since I posted that list, generously augmented by other members, I came across a number of other books of merit. The following one is a treasure for starting portraitists (and more):

 

- TRAIN YOUR GAZE by Roswell Angier.

 

However, I also came to accept that texts about photography written by critics or philosophers or whatever they call themselves are occasionally leading the reader away from what a practicing photographer feels about his/her work. The only inspiring read of relevance I have found are critical books on the history of photography and I'd like to mention two of my favorite texts:

 

- PHOTOGRAPHY by Ian Jeffrey, and

- THE PHOTOGRAPHY by Graham Clarke.

 

Paul

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I'd like to mention [...] :

 

- THE PHOTOGRAPHY by Graham Clarke.

 

Paul

 

Apologies for the typo, the correct title is "THE PHOTOGRAPH". I would much prefer Graham Clarke himself running mad at me for this, but unfortunately he is no longer among us.

 

Paul

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So many books, and I have none of them.

 

I couldnt offer comment on my collection, except they all bored me to sleep.

 

Can anyone offer one or two outstanding, non-coma inducing books that would be helpful for the likes of me? I'd describe myself as having an excellent grasp of the workings and basic technicalities of the camera, but I'm compositionally . . . Probably obtuse.

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Further to the political sub theme about the semantics of "analog" vs. digital, I have a perfect solution to offer that anchors both poles of the continuum with conceptually coherent antonyms. I give you:

 

Natural versus Unnatural!

 

Now there's a proposal calculated to offend no one.

 

;-)

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So many books, and I have none of them.

 

I couldnt offer comment on my collection, except they all bored me to sleep.

 

Can anyone offer one or two outstanding, non-coma inducing books that would be helpful for the likes of me? I'd describe myself as having an excellent grasp of the workings and basic technicalities of the camera, but I'm compositionally . . . Probably obtuse.

 

Hi Brenton,

 

The first book that comes to my mind is Comme un roman or The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac... It starts with "You can't make someone read. Just as you can't make them fall in love or dream..." The second thought is that in the short articles by David Vestal I mentioned earlier, he says something like "beware of those who studied composition"... ;)

 

When I started in the late 1980s, I received the whole TIME/Kodak series as a gift (including a volume on composition, I think), over a couple of months. I read that but it wouldn't stick well (except a page on the rangefinder camera, I guess :D). The first book on the matter that I bought was Andreas Feininger's Feininger on Photography. I probably absorbed more of that, maybe also because I'd chosen it myself, but also beacuse I had been soaked before...

 

If you don't find reading about photography enjoyable, look at Feininger's pictures... And at pictures at large, not just photographs, any kind of pictures... An image you enjoy may be composed in a way that's of interest to you.

 

Cheers,

Alexander

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So many books, and I have none of them.

 

I couldnt offer comment on my collection, except they all bored me to sleep.

 

Can anyone offer one or two outstanding, non-coma inducing books that would be helpful for the likes of me? I'd describe myself as having an excellent grasp of the workings and basic technicalities of the camera, but I'm compositionally . . . Probably obtuse.

 

"Composition" can be seen as a set of rules, in which case some appropriate reading might help compile one. But I suspect a compositionally great photograph is the effortless outcome of a talent; for that, no reading will help.

 

Perhaps what you need is inspiration. The lists in this post won't offer much. Why don't you try the type of books conspicuously absent from the lists--the work of great photographers, WITHOUT comments from outsiders. What about Peter Henry Emerson and William Klein, to mention two extremes?

 

Paul

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But I suspect a compositionally great photograph is the effortless outcome of a talent; for that, no reading will help.

 

Possible but not very likely, I'd think. It takes painters a good deal of work to arrive at compositionally great paintings; I would not expect it to be any different for photographers.

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A book I bought this year (eventually, I had to wait several months for a second printing) is Here, Far Away by the Finnish photographer Pentti Sammallahti. All B&W, and I think all film-based. Very inspiring work from many years of travel.

 

Geoff

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Todd Damiano, "Infrared landscape Photography," a little dated as far as the films referenced in the book (except Ilford SFX, I think they're all gone and have been replaced by newer products), but a lot of excellent techniques, all film related.

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An in the film's sensitive surface there is a number of silverhalogenide crystals: If exposed, they are "on", if not, they are "off", in my opinion this can be called digital too.

 

Sorry to drag the thread off-topic again, but this internet myth has become so pervasive it even makes an occasional appearance in journals like LFI - it was actually the final straw for me to cancel my subscription.

Everyone should read this classic article by Photo-Utopia:

 

Photo Utopia: Clumps and Chumps (or why film isn't binary)

 

I wish it was a sticky on the forum - I see this pixel / film grain confusion all the time: so much so it has become a 'truism' although totally counter to the facts.

 

Feel free to continue discussing books now.

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Sorry to drag the thread off-topic again, but this internet myth has become so pervasive it even makes an occasional appearance in journals like LFI - it was actually the final straw for me to cancel my subscription.

Everyone should read this classic article by Photo-Utopia:

 

Photo Utopia: Clumps and Chumps (or why film isn't binary)

 

I wish it was a sticky on the forum - I see this pixel / film grain confusion all the time: so much so it has become a 'truism' although totally counter to the facts.

 

Feel free to continue discussing books now.

 

Totally!

Film is digital indeed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just had to get back to the "Leica Manual - The Complete Book of 35mm Photography", ed. by Morgan, Vestal and Broecker, which I now had the occasion to look at somewhat closer.

It really is a very good and inspiring manual and for those of us still hanging 40+ years old gear around neck and shoulders, it feels like a time machine. The most recent models used and detailed in the book are the Leicaflex SL and Leica M5. I happen to have and like both, so it's great fun to see how they were considered, explained and used at their time. Obviously, for 35mm manual focus or RF photography, not that much has changed and so it really is a most useful treat — for all kinds of photography, in fact, because the book's various authors also cover all kinds of photography, including photojournalism, aerials, portraits, you name it. In addition, many of the plates, especially in b&w, are stunning.

Back to reading.

Alexander

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