Comments on: The Photographer’s Eye by Michael Freeman – Review

By: ccting

ccting — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 06:41:30 +0000

Well, i have this book. Compared to others, I think this book really worth to buy.

By: Daniel O'Byrne

Daniel O'Byrne — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:39:21 +0000

One of the finest books on the topic! A** from me

By: The Devine Mrs L

The Devine Mrs L — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 18:14:59 +0000

My daughter gave me this book on my birthday for inspiration in my new hobby. Design is not a new subject for me, I have a degree from Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. After 28 years in the Fashion business I retired, but with my creative juices still flowing, I explored both writing and photography. Long story short, after reading this book I have never looked at an image in the same way as before. Mr Freeman both inspires and challenges the novice to improve their eye. Thank you to Micheal Freeman and to you.

By: george

george — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 10:32:26 +0000

i have this book and several more from this author. i am a long time film photography enthusiast but i went into serious digital photography only last year transitioning with point-and-shoot for about 2-3 years before getting a dslr. with my p&s i was an auto shooter but now with the dslr i have gone deeper into digital photography. the first book that i bought to orient myself was michael freeman’s 101 tips which introduced me to things with digital that we didn’t care much about using film, (e.g.: sensor and scene dynamic range, stitching panoramas, post-processing, etc). i like this author’s approach and concisely covering major topics without sounding tutorial. i am one person who doesn’t want to be told what to do (like probably many in this field) so i like the way the concepts were presented allowing the reader to struggle a little on the interpretation. this forced me to read and reread his books several times (i’m still doing it after a year) and slowly comprehending things better with each pass. this way make things really stick to your mind after applying a few things in the field.

By: Luis

Luis — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:19:55 +0000

I own this book as well as Learning to See Creatively. All I can say is that both books helped my photography so much, that I dont consider myself a newbie anymore. I loved every word and every image in them.

By: gerdez

gerdez — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:04:02 +0000

I commented in 2007 on this book… now it’s 2009 and I finished reading it. I had a lot of great expectations of this book. But it was that boring for me (2 years of sporadic reading). The writing style is chaotic (my mother tongue is not English, that’s true) and it seems to me that he is trying to touch a lot of topics but he fails on elaborating them. Didn’t like it. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe in 5 years I reopen it and find it’s gem. But not one single sentence of it rings in my head. The best chapter, BTW is Intent. No final statement (something to wrap things up) in the book, so that was a disappointment again. It all felt impresonal.

By: DanR

DanR — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:51:19 +0000

I just came across this review from a link from the Top 23 Books page. The description of this books makes we wonder if it is an updated version of one of his earlier books, “Image: Designing Effective Pictures”, which came out in 1988 (yes, more than 20 years ago). Has anyone seen both?

By: nilo

nilo — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:56:58 +0000

I have read half of this book so far and I am impressed. The line diagrams in the images that illustrate what youâ€™re seeing in terms of shapes, forms etc accompanied by author’s explanation are truly helpful.

There is one caveat though that does not apply to those they speak and read english fluently. The author uses a not easy vocabulary and syntax along the book that requires a certain level of familiarity with english language. Being a non US or UK citizen I found myself seeking for the dictionary for the first time or even go 2 and 3 times over a paragraph.

Probably you won’t notice it if your native language is the english one. To have a better idea it is considerably more difficult than Peterson’s syntax.

But still, it is a great book. Highly recommended!!

By: TBasco

TBasco — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:58:38 +0000

i think this one’s on my wish(shot)list i’m one of those intuitive persons and i get confused by technical jargon (but i am trying and trying not to hate my lack of technical aptitude) so i think this book will help validate a lot of what is natural at the same time give some less intimidating basic stuff. thank you for the review.

By: Elwyn Garaza

Elwyn Garaza — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:10:20 +0000

Hello, I have read and purchased enough books on photography to know that this book is what I have been looking for. I will agree with gerdez in the choice of this book plus Understanding Exposure. If I had to do it all again, I would choose these two, with the addition of George Barr’s book “Take Your Photography to the Next Level” and then Barry Haynes’ book Photoshop Artistry. Seeing as the technical aspect of each camera is covered in various degrees in many other books, this book deals with the intangible aspects of designing photographs and seeing what makes a great photograph. Shooting enough will allow the technical aspects to become second nature, but ‘seeing the shot’ is something that seems to requiring simply doing it and growing. This book introduces the mind and educates the eye to see order where chaos may have been waiting for someone to simply see its composition, that before this book would be less apparent. This book deals with what Ansel Adams calls the most “the most important component of any camera” that 12 inches behind it.

With other books, one gets rote answers to which lens is used for what purpose, etc. With the information received from this book, if digested, you could almost choose any photographic equipment and do something magical with it. Or choose your equipment more intelligently.

This wonderful book puts meaning behind the choices you make in fashioning a photograph or capturing a moment. I’m glad you reconsidered and gave it a 9 of 10.