Ian Furniss Photography » Blog Archive » A Review of The Magic of Black & White, Part Two – Craft

A Review of The Magic of Black & White, Part Two – Craft – by Andrew S Gibson

Call me a romantic but I find something rather wonderful about the idea of being in a darkened room, lit only by the glow of a red light hanging above. Now before you start making up your own post, i’m actually refering to that now seemingly nostalgic image of the photographer, lovingly developing his prized roll of film, and reverentially offering prayers to all the Gods he can remember, that he’s not developing a sheet of blown highlights and under-exposed shadows.

It’s with that image in mind that Andrew S Gibson begins his new E-Book “The Magic of Black & White” and you can tell from his words it’s a memory he still has a lot of passion for. That doesn’t mean that this E-Book is stuck in the past. Far from it. This E-Book is firmly fixed in the present and future. What it does mean though is that you know the guy doing the talking not only has a deep-seated passion for the subject, he also has the experience to match.

If there’s a danger in combining passion and experience together, it’s that any teaching can sometimes drift towards an overbearing “This is how you do it. Don’t argue!” approach. I can tell you now, there’s absolutely none of that here and I mention it specifically because it’s so refreshing to see. Andrew clearly states at the beginning “My methods work for me; feel free to do things differently if you feel more comfortable with other techniques. What matters is the end result, not the method you used to achieve it.“. I couldn’t have said it better myself!!

What Andrew sets out to do, is to walk you through the post-processing of 3 of his images and show you how he goes about achieving the different looks and feelings that reflect his personal vision. That vision may be something that’s clear in his mind at the outset, but in addition he also guides you through the process whilst simultaneously offering alternatives to create different moods you might want to try. This isn’t a run-of-the-mill “Hey look! Here’s ‘high-key” and now… here’s a ‘low-key’ version!” description, it’s solid work, insight and explanation, that will help you achieve the kind of better results that ‘you‘ are looking for.

I could go on and on about how well-written and thought-out this E-Book is, but I won’t. Instead I will recommend you buy it yourself and at the same time, browse through the other offerings that Craft & Vision publish. At $5usd, £3.50uk, or €4eur it’s less than the price of most photography magazines and the subjects covered are in much greater depth and without the advertising.

If that alone doesn’t tempt you, then Craft & Vision are currently offering buyers using the promotional code MAGIC4 a discount on the latest E-Book so you’ll only pay $4usd, or alternatively if you want more than one, a 20% discount for 5 or more of any of the E-Books from the Craft & Vision collection. To take advantage you’ll need to be quick as these codes expire at 11:59pm PST June 1, 2010.

*You can purchase these books from either the links in the sidebar to the right of this article, or alternatively the links below. For both, there is an affiliate link and a non-affiliate link and you can use either to get to the site. With the affiliate link, any purchases make a contribution to this site, with the non-affiliate link the price is the same, the codes are the same, but all monies go directly to Craft & Vision. This is something i’ve done purely for myself and my own integrity as it gives you a choice without obligation. I’ll only ever suggest “buy this” if I feel something is worth it, not because i’ll earn from it.

Click the image below for a composite preview, & then pop across to the site & enjoy the E-Book!

Craft & Vision e-Books *Affiliated Link

Craft & Vision e-Books*Non-Affiliated Link