How to Photograph Buildings and Interiors: Third Updated and Expanded Edition

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: Gerry Kopelow, in this book, gives lots of helpful hints about the way to shoot astonishing photos of Building and interiors, keeping in mind the main "client" of this kind of photos: Architects, Designers and so on. The most useful hints in this book are the ones about the way you can save money, correctly choosing lights, materials, compositions ... a very good book, both for the beginner and the pro.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: Gerry Kopelow, in this book, gives lots of helpful hints about the way to shoot astonishing photos of Building and interiors, keeping in mind the main "client" of this kind of photos: Architects, Designers and so on. The most useful hints in this book are the ones about the way you can save money, correctly choosing lights, materials, compositions ... a very good book, both for the beginner and the pro.

Rating:
Summary: very disappointing
Review: I bought this book because I'm venturing more deeply into interior photography after many years of portraiture and architectural/travel work. This "updated and expaned" edition has simply tacked on a couple of cursory chapters on digital photography to a tired and outdated manuscript that needs reworking from top to bottom. You won't learn much here, with a lot of topics, almost all covered inadequately. The author appears to know whats he's doing (judging from the sample photos) but he's revealing very few secrets. I've learned a lot more through trial and error. If you're interested in interior lighting, for example, consider John Freeman's Lighting for Interiors. It's dramatically more useful.

Rating:
Summary: very disappointing
Review: I bought this book because I'm venturing more deeply into interior photography after many years of portraiture and architectural/travel work. This "updated and expaned" edition has simply tacked on a couple of cursory chapters on digital photography to a tired and outdated manuscript that needs reworking from top to bottom. You won't learn much here, with a lot of topics, almost all covered inadequately. The author appears to know whats he's doing (judging from the sample photos) but he's revealing very few secrets. I've learned a lot more through trial and error. If you're interested in interior lighting, for example, consider John Freeman's Lighting for Interiors. It's dramatically more useful.

Rating:
Summary: Breaking into the field
Review: This book is an introduction to architectural photography for professionals and talented amateurs who want to break into the field. It is also intended for architectural firms who would like to designate someone to function as an in-house photographer. The book contains chapters about how to work with a professional photographer, where professional architectural photos can be marketed, and the diary of an architectural photographer when working on a project. In addition, there are chapters on types of cameras, film, lenses, lighting, and where to buy equipment. Aesthetic considerations for architectural photography are covered in a few chapters. The organization tends to jump around a bit- -sometimes it seems like the chapters are presented in an almost random order. The book includes a short section of color plates and a glossary, in addition to the index.

This book is intended for people who already have some skill in photography. I like to take pictures of houses as a hobby, and I picked up this book with the hope of learning how to make my pictures look better. After reading the book, I am better able to spot some obvious mistakes in my house photos, but I didn't learn that much that will help me on the hobbyist level- -a book for beginners would have been better for my purposes. On the other hand, professional photographers may find much of interest in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Breaking into the field
Review: This book is an introduction to architectural photography for professionals and talented amateurs who want to break into the field. It is also intended for architectural firms who would like to designate someone to function as an in-house photographer. The book contains chapters about how to work with a professional photographer, where professional architectural photos can be marketed, and the diary of an architectural photographer when working on a project. In addition, there are chapters on types of cameras, film, lenses, lighting, and where to buy equipment. Aesthetic considerations for architectural photography are covered in a few chapters. The organization tends to jump around a bit- -sometimes it seems like the chapters are presented in an almost random order. The book includes a short section of color plates and a glossary, in addition to the index.

This book is intended for people who already have some skill in photography. I like to take pictures of houses as a hobby, and I picked up this book with the hope of learning how to make my pictures look better. After reading the book, I am better able to spot some obvious mistakes in my house photos, but I didn't learn that much that will help me on the hobbyist level- -a book for beginners would have been better for my purposes. On the other hand, professional photographers may find much of interest in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Not what it says it is
Review: This book would be more aptly titled, "Equiptment you could and should buy for photographing interiors". It's designed for amateurs who don't know anything about photography and want to be walked through the process of buying the right equiptment and then left in the dark as to how to properly use it. I know something about photography, and was looking for a book that would talk about photographing interiors and some exteriors. I was interested in uses of perspective, lighting to add drama, that sort of thing. The writer, once explaining the theory behind photographic principles, talks, not about how he was able to take successful pictures, but just that he did. He mentions the equipment he used and tells where he set it up, but for all his superflous text, leaves the reader with only the knowledge of how to re-create his shot in the same location under the same conditions.
It began as an interesting read, as he explained about what the pros use. Then he explained what the beginner could buy, but why it's not really as good. He showed a few examples of how lighting effects a scene and alters color, but in general, his "shooting by beginners on a tight budget" should be "shooting in these locations by beginners with several grand to spend on equiptment".
I was hoping for a book that talked about the uses of lighting, the uses of color, actually shooting something besides huge, open, commercial structures. This is my first return to Amazon.