Bryan Peterson's understanding composition field guide

Bryan F. Peterson on kirjoittanut melko paljon valokuvauksen tekniikkaa painottavan oppaan, mutta kirja sisältää mukavasti myös valokuvan sisältöön ja sommitteluun liittyvää pohdintaa: Bryan Peterson's understanding composition field guide (Amphoto Books, 2012; eISBN 978-0-7704-3308-6).

Tykkäsin Petersonin tavasta lähestyä valokuvausta, erityisesti sitä että hän haluaa saada kuvan "valmiiksi" kamerassa, siten että se on sommiteltu hyvin niin että jälkikäsittelyä tarvitaan mahdollisimman vähän.

Näin Peterson kertoo oman lähestymistapansa olennaiset asiat heti kirjan alussa:

Perhaps if I were starting my career today, I would be a die-hard Photoshop layers kind of guy, if only because the possibilities are truly endless. But I have been doing my thing for so long now that my ideas and approach are firmly entrenched in the "get it done in camera" mentality. This means a careful and sometimes methodical approach to seeing "layers," from the background to the foreground, along with choices about lens, point of view, time of day, and the addition of or subtraction of objects or props, into a final arrangement in camera.

I believe I save time using the "get it done in camera" approach. In addition, there is something else, something that remains important to me when creating visual records of the world I live in: the physical experience. In recalling most, if not all, of the images I have recorded, I notice how quickly my "emotional reminders" rise to the surface. It might be the texture of a subject, the way it felt if I touched it. It might be the smell of salt spray in the air, or the sound of distant thunder and the flash of lightning, or the memory of a dog that almost took a bite out of my face had I not jumped up from his food dish just after shooting a wide-angle close-up. Each image is a reminder of a period in my life, both good and bad, and I prefer to preserve that reminder unchanged. I have always done, and will continue to do, just about anything necessary to get the shot in camera, whether that means waiting for a car or a person to get out of the way, placing a leaf on a rock, or asking my subject to move inside the doorway rather than sit on the porch steps.

Luin teosta e-kirjana, ja kyllähän sekin sujui, mutta teos oli kieltämättä jonkin verran hankala luettava sähköisesti, perinteinen painettu kirja tuntuu tämän tyyppisissä teoksissa kätevämmältä. Toisaalta fyysinen kirja painaisi huomattavasti enemmän kuin lukulaite.