Advancing Your Photography: Secrets to Making Photographs that You and Others Will Love (Gift for photographers)

Initially I bought this book for two reasons. One, Marc is a friend and I really like his video interviews. Two, I know he is passionate about helping others. But as I have over 20 books on photography I was not in a rush to read AYP. In fact I didn't even open the package for two weeks. Today I read the first four chapters and easily say this book should be the foundation of your library for two solid reasons. One is the subject of visualization. Of course I visualize. But after reading his chapter on this I realized I was lazy. I went back at looked at bunch of images. The ones where I just took a photo were just snap shots. The ones where I actually visualized are hanging on walls. Reason number two. My go book has always been one recommended to me by the photography instructor at the Univ. of San Francisco. It covers the history of photography from the 1800's to the digital age. So, having read this book four times, I thought I knew the basics of the subject well. Turns out there were terms I did not know the full meaning of. You have to know the terminology of the subject or you will get lost at some point. Marc's clarifications were enlightening. I'm excited about reading the rest of the book and my next photo safari. .

"This book just proves the wealth of photography-knowledge that is Marc Silber. He not only shares his years of experience but this handbook allows you to tap into all the resources he used over the years to become the successful photographer he is today. Whether it's a book he read for inspiration, or an artist he studied to learn more about light, or the thousands of hours of interviews with award-winning photographers, his book will teach you something you didn't know, and it will help you grow."

I only recently started the book and it will take a while to finish as I am working it as I go but it appears comprehensive but understandable.

An excellent and practical photography book designed to help you take the pictures you like and want to make most. How to look and compose, understand your camera so it becomes second nature and doesn't get in the way. Fine exercises or practice drills also designed to making taking pictures natural and improve skills. I opened this book right to a diagram that showed me something I hadn't understood before. Sweet. Marc Silber's desire is for his handbook to help a photographer advance whether beginner, intermediate or advanced. The color quality of the photos used as examples are quite good which for some reason I expected less in a smaller format book made to be carried with you on your photo expeditions as modest or grand as you chose them to be. A unique well thought out approach!

Marc Silber has written an amazing book. It is unusual in that it blends practical technical advice with wisdom he has gleaned through decades of developing his own photographic skills. It is a road map that will show you how to achieve your potential through practical application of technology, and sound, intelligent analysis of what makes an image work. The common thread running throughout the book is visualization of the image you are making. We all think we visualize, but the book has taught me how to do it better by integrating into every steps of the photographic journey. Like Marc, I started photography in the film era, and invested the nights of my youth surrounded by chemicals in the darkroom. Despite everything it taught me about image making I wholeheartedly agree with his recommendation to leave printing of digital images to the experts. It is a whole different discipline that will take a long time to master. I particularly enjoyed the detailed section on processing digital images, an area in which my image making needs improvement. I bought this book on a whim, and I am glad I did. Regardless of your level of photographic experience there is something for you in this book to make you a better photographer. Thoroughly recommended.

From time to time I like to review things just to make sure that I am on the right track. I am what you could characterize as an Occasional Hobby style Photographer who is constantly looking to up his game. Most of my stuff revolves around the Classic Car Hobby so it tends to run in that channel, however I am not opposed to the occasional Travel picture. Saw the book and read the reviews, I felt with the inputs from all these professional photographers there had to be some gold nuggets in there time where. Performance often hinges on experience and maybe it is because I have been doing this for over 50 years but I did not find many revelations in this book. I am sure that a beginning photographer might get a lot more out of it. Some interesting points were their take on Visualization, Composition and the review of the works of the Great Masters. Since I am not intending to go Pro any time soon, the portions on portfolio building and other professional features were largely wasted on me. If you don't use Light Room software then much of the editing and social media linking stuff won't do a lot for you. It's a nice book, easy read and has a lot of examples that would be very useful for those starting out.

This is an amazing and interesting book, also very easy to read . I was captivated by the way he express this art to be a photographer. After first chapter I realized that to be a photographer it's not easy but its something that you need to love and to know how to face this beauty pictures and this art to the people. Im fascinating of Marc Silber skills and talent. I like very much this book. Truly advance to read it. For me was something amazing, by reading this book I did a change in my life and I love it, if you have and you can do something better for you then just try to l Read this book and you will be fascinate like me.

È veramente un utilissimo manuale, molto concreto, perché contiene tantissimi consigli pratici di fotografi esperti. Non può e non vuole sostituire la creatività fotografica, ma è sempre pronto a fornire preziosi consigli. Molto consigliato!

I really like the book. Easy to read and lots of relevant information. Ended up highlighting a lot of the quotes and marking pages where he had tips lists. Although it gives technical knowledge, I really liked how it gave you insight into the thought process of the photographers. I’d definitely recommend this!

First of all, this book is very light on pictures. There is more writing than pictorial content and none of the photo's have any exposure info on them at all. This is not a technical 'How I Did this' book. I must be very clear about that. And you need to know this before buying, so read me carefully now. I'm speaking as an amateur photographer who so far after trying has had some success in making successful images that have been published or shared and widely lauded by friends etc. However, I'm now at a cross roads - shall I continue or stop because I've not really been able to get the consistency that I have yearned for in my images. I still use film which is now an expensive way to do photography - but also have some digital capacity. So I was on the point of re-evaluating what and how I was doing anyway as I wanted what I leave behind to have been about something - not for nothing. What Silber does is get you to 'think before you think' - in other words to contemplate and pre-visualise your photographic intentions more before the act of capturing an image. This way, your successes are planned and intentional rather than being at the whim of the image, equipment or weather or people. It's also the way he does this is. He does not just rely on his view point. He also brings along his insights from conversations with other successful photographers whose input - neatly summed up - are a revelation in themselves, particularly since he keeps the insights related to a particular genre of the art (landscape, people, documentary etc.,). This generosity (and succinctness) with other peoples' approaches is what makes the book for me. The conversational side of Silber's book is worth noting - one of the best books I've ever read about photography was/is 'On Being a Photographer' by David Hurn and Bill Jay (Lenswork Publishing, 2004). It's a conversation between two documentary photographers on top of their game transcribed from tape into a book. You have to read it to get the most out of it and it rewards you with deep philosophical insight. As does this book by Marc Silber - it has that 'philosophical treatise' bit about it that can lift those of us who for one reason or another (through having a full-time job or family commitments) never quite got there with our hobby (or hobbies even). This might give us the extra push we need for better self-realisation and more satisfaction with our outcomes. More feeling that it is all worth it. So, get some quality 'me time' in if you can and have a good read - immerse yourself in it. The results for me on my self reflection since reading? Well, I'm going to take a tripod me from now on wherever I go to overcome aperture, film speed and shutter issues. I'm going to use my Nikon digital camera as a light meter with its modern colour meter for use in difficult lighting conditions. And I'm also going to take a small and light step ladder with me to slightly change my foreground and horizon perspectives in my shots. Highly recommended.

Definitely a book I would advise you to buy. 😎 But you have to read it during the day 🌞 to put into practice the knowledge that the author teaches us. I say this especially because I read the book at night and had to wait impatiently for the next day to take pictures 📸.

Fair book, generalist, with some pragmatic advises in the 2nd part, and more based on the way to photography in the 1st one. Serious and no surprise here