Michael Freeman's Perfect Exposure: The Professional's Guide to Capturing Perfect Digital Photographs

Freeman is one of the busiest and most versatile photographers going. He is constantly travelling the world from one assignment to the next and seems to be working simultaneously on the assignment de la semaine and on more than one book at at time: the next instructional book and probably a portfolio/thematic picture book. Either he has an outstanding team back in UK, or he is blessed with extraordinary energy. Maybe he has so much book writing time because of all the time he is in the air.... This is the most intelligent, systematic writing on photographic exposure I know of since the first two issues of Peterson's Photographic magazine in the late 1970s, when it started either as a bimonthly or a quarterly - I forget which. Those two issues carried long, detailed articles on the correct uses of reflective and incident meters in light, shade, and with gray cards. Nothing since has been as comprehensive and useful, until this book. Freeman uses the capabilities of digital equipment as an integral part of his argument. The core of the book is his breaking the population of exposure situations into twelve categories - three groups with several types - that are easy to recognize in real shooting situations. The crux of this categorization is the histogram. He specifies what the specific characteristics are of each situation and what the most likely manipulations are that help a shooter evaluate and improve an image. I think his use of a "tonal matrix" is particularly interesting and has the potential to be useful, too, with color distribution to understand the abstract structure of an image. This section alone makes the book worth buying. None of the other books on exposure currently in print is anywhere near so systematic. They tend to be aimed at beginning photographers and are generally presentations of pretty pictures and how the author/photographer used exposure for that image. The arrangement is generally of over/underexposing, movement, night shooting, and such topics. I do have some concerns and wishes, though. There are a few instances where I could not quite see or understand the point of a set of illustrations and the captions. Too, I wish he would have spent a few more pages looking at exposure and specific hues/colors. But the numbers of such instances are so few as not to threaten my judgment of the value of this book to any photographer of moderate to high sophistication. This will be a fine addition to his "Photographer's Eye" and "Color" as longstanding references. His approach is an obvious teaching method that I suspect will be taken up soon in many a class and workshop.

There are oodles of beginner-level books that explain and examine exposure (my personal favorite being Bryan Peterson's Understanding Photography Field Guide )--but not many options for those photography enthusiasts looking for guidance beyond the basics. Michael Freeman's Perfect Exposure fills this gap admirably. It's meaty, it's challenging, and I fully anticipate that I will reread it again and again over the years--and learn something new every time. If you're a prosumer looking for a serious treatment of exposure, or even a professional looking for a refresh or just a fresh take, this is the book for you. That said, this book isn't for everyone. Freeman assumes his readers already have a basic understanding of exposure, so he doesn't spend time on the basics. The writing is dense (hence "challenging"), but worth taking the time to unpack. The layout of the examples can be a bit frustrating; none of the examples are numbered or otherwise identified, so sometimes it's difficult (if not impossible) to determine which pictures the accompanying explanatory text is referencing when. But that's an editing/design issue, not a Freeman issue, and overall it doesn't impede understanding of Freeman's exposition. I had no trouble getting past these things--but I can see how others might. Overall, highly recommended. But it's up to you to self-select and determine whether this book is suitable for your wants, needs, and aspirations--and personally, I do believe there are enough reviews on Amazon that you'll be able to make that determination fairly accurately.

I like the author and I have benefited much from one of his earlier books (Photographer's Eye...). Perfect Exposure is in some sense similar to that one: It is written for those who are familiar with many problems related to recording an image onto his/her medium. Neither is a book for beginners, that is. In this book we see M. Freeman discussing a variety of subjects of his choice which, not surprisingly, includes "exposure". However, as he admits, there are also discussions on other things, like post processing. I somehow think that reading this book resembles listening to an informal talk by a senior in a club. Only the members (here, photographers with a certain level of experience) are allowed to be around. The speaker determines the subject, the content, the order and the pace. So far so good. This might well be the author's idea in writing this book: A rather freestyle talk on a much wondered subject with avid listeners around. Photography jargon should not be a problem for anticipated followers. Still, almost all the terms are explained nicely for those who may want to refresh their memories or to attach the same meaning to a term like the author did. However, the editor(s) and the publisher should have done much better than this! Mr. Freeman's notes, discussions and advice is not presented in an easy to follow manner. The book seems to be consist of separate articles although there is some order at the beginning and there are cross references to photos in other parts. One of the weaknesses in the design is the lack of figure numbers and, in many cases, the legends. I accept the aesthetic appeal of this but I do not think it increases the readability much. Since the placement of the figures follow no rule (like being adjacent to the part of the text it is related to), the reader can be lost easily. An occasional photo/figure of a discussion can even be three pages after the text. The figures, by the way, are nicely chosen for the issue at hand, if you can connect them. Although the less than stellar production makes a disservice to the author; the content, as a whole, is quite valuable. Almost all the difficult shooting conditions are dealt with. In most of these, the author first acknowledges the difficulty and then discusses various approaches to overcome them. Still, I should warn those who are looking for recipes. The title and the list of contents might suggest that you are certain to find recipes for all easy or difficult exposure situations; there is only a little of those here! I must tell you before you build up anger that the lack of easy to follow recipes is, in fact, a sign of the author's respect to you, as a club member! He believes in you and in your powers to find/create your own recipe for each and every situation according to "your own" ideas and style. He only points to potential paths you can take; it should be your journey. I am serious and I do like to be valued like I have described above. What I dislike most in books like this is statements like "you idiot, just follow the rules I am listing...". Freeman may be doing something right and something suboptimal but he is never intimidating and his approach is always in a truly professional & friendly manner (unlike some others who just replace "you idiot" with "dear reader"). All in all, I recommend Perfect Exposure to those who have enough experience about the subject. I do not know a measure of "enough" but I can make one for you if you do not mind! As clicking the shutter of a digital camera has become very easy (in terms of cost etc.) here is my recommended classification of photographic experience (not to be taken too seriously!): <10.000 clicks ....... Novice 10.000-20.000 clicks ....... Curious or long time user (can still be a novice) 20.000-50.000 clicks ....... Enthusiast (this book is probably for you) > 50.000 clicks ....... ... Well, you should not be reading this, anyway :)

I own a half dozen books on exposure and I own dozens more that devote one or more chapters to exposure. I have been teaching photography (and of course exposure) and leading photography field trips for over 18 years on the adult and college level. I also wrote Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies which you can find here on Amazon.com. My goal was to write one of the most detailed and comprehensive books on basic through advanced exposure techniques. With all of that background in mind, it is my opinion that Michael Freeman's book is far and away the best book in print on professional exposure techniques. You will learn things it would be hard to find (all together) in any other single, current book on exposure. And Freeman's images are gorgeous. He is one of the best and most prolific photography writers out there and several of his books are among the most helpful and inspiring in my library. He is, in my opinion, amazing.

This book provides a great explanation of the differences between a digital camera and film camera when it comes to approaching exposure. He also suggests a good method to categorize any exposure situation into one of twelve types. He clearly explains how to address exposure in each of these twelve categories. I'm not sure I agree with his treatment of the zone system. I'm not sure that he clearly understands the system and how it can help get the most out of the range of tones in a scene. In the digital world the zone system is sort of the equivalent of calibrating your camera sensor as well as all of your viewing and output devices. Over all, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to a wide range of readers from beginners to advanced or professional photographers. Each can learn something from this book.

Excellent book..a must for any amateur, almost-pro or serious photographer...to understand light, exposure, etc...not your average book...above average way of explaining the subject. Easy to understand, yet very necessary complex factors one must know about to master exposure...would buy other books from this author

The content of the book is great, very informative, and lots of examples to get his point through. Michael Freeman is such a great teacher and photographer, and I love all his books. My giving this a 3 is the formatting of the kindle version. All the illustrations are aligned incorrectly and I think some of the images are outright missing, in the text he refers to some images but when I look forward in the pages they are not there, I don't want to buy the hard copy to confirm this. I have his physical book called the photographers eye and the book is exquisitely laid out with photos and diagrams and illustrations, in this kindle book the illustrations are not aligned properly to match the text so it is not clear which image he is talking about without reading and looking carefully. Sometimes the pages don't align on one screen so you have to flip back and forth between the text and the image, which in the physical book I image is not the case. Buy the book, but buy the physical one, and save yourself the headache and the $16.

A perfect dissertation on the subject of exposure. It has me thinking of lightness, brightness and what I want from the photos I am taking. Gives examples from all types of photo situations and how to handle each one to get the results you want and also what results are possible in each situation. Also leaves lots of room for creativity and stresses that photography is what you want to make it to be. This book helps me decide how I want to handle various photo situations and give me examples of ways to proceed. Non-intrusive on the creative process, but informative on the subject of exposure with today's modern digital cameras. Highly recommend.

Very helpful and full of insights. Michael Freeman is my favorite writer.

Très bon, très pédagogique. En anglais.

I have read other excellent books on exposure, but often they stop at a point that leaves me with more questions. This book starts where the others leave off. It is excellent for visual learners, with clear flow charts, diagrams and illlustrations. This, together with concise, readable text is helping me to understand concepts that I have previously had trouble getting my head round. Plus, FINALLY a chapter on how to expose for colour. And it's a very nice book to hold, read and look at.

Nachdem ich die Rezensionen der deutschen Version gelesen hatte (schlechte Übersetzung u.a.) und den Preisunterschied zur Originalausgabe geprüft hatte, bestellt ich das Original. Die deutsche Ausgabe ist qualitativ (Papier und Druck) gleichwertig (siehe Buchhandlung) bzw. keinesfalls wesentlich besser, so dass die Preisdifferenz gerechtfertigt wäre(10€~30%). Das Buch ist sehr verständlich geschrieben und erklärt nach einem einleitenden Kapitel, in dem die "technischen Aspekte" der Belichtung wie Dynamik, Kontrast und Belichtungsmessung abgehandelt werden, anhand von 12 typischen (allen) Belichtungssituationen auf welche Aspekte in der jeweiligen Situation besonders zu achten ist. In einem weiteren umfangreichen Kapitel werden dann verschiedene Beschattungsaspekt, High und Low Key etc. erklärt. Abschließend gibt es noch Hinweise zum Post-Processing. Ich habe mir das Buch als verständliche Einführung in das Thema "Belichtung" gekauft und bin mit der Ergebnis rundum zufrieden. In wieweit die Anschaffung tatsächlich zu einer qualitativen Verbesserung meiner Bilder begetragen hat, kann und will ich wenige Wochen nach dem Kauf noch nicht beurteilen. Auf jeden Fall führt die Lektüre zu einer intensiveren Auseinandersetzung mit dem Geschehen vor der Linse. Somit bekommt das Buch die volle Sternanzahl und ist neben "Der Fotografischen Blick" vom selben Autor eine Kaufempfehlung.

Come quasi tutti i libri di Freeman, questo libro regala ottimi spunti e riflessioni per migliorare l'approccio alla corretta esposizione. Ricco di immagini e di spiegazioni va comunque coadiuvato con una pratica continua. Il libro in formato digitale regala la comodità di portare con sé in poco spazio una bella lettura con tante immagini, ma consiglio vivamente la versione cartacea di gran lunga più piacevole da sfogliare nel tempo.