PhotoArt: Darkroom, Digital, Handcoloring, Montage

The techniques explored range from the traditional like multiple exposure and toning to what some might consider more avant-garde, like photograms, which are images made on photo-sensitive media without a camera, and distressed images, that is, those deliberately subjected to destructive forces. The authors recognize that the mechanics of photography are in flux and so refer to both chemical darkrooms and digital manipulation.

This is more of an idea book than a how-to book. The descriptions of most of the techniques are cursory. If one wanted to use a technique in connection with one's photography, one would probably have to do additional research. In addition, the number of examples provided in the book is necessarily limited to about a half dozen for each technique. For me, with the exception of some approaches of which I had already been thinking, that was not enough for me to see how I could apply the procedures to my own photography.

Of course, that may be a major problem with a catalogue of unusual procedures. It is difficult, or perhaps impossible, to explain how to extend one's vision so that these techniques will prove useful. I suspect that one must already have both a full understanding of, and a deep dissatisfaction with, the traditional techniques of photography as a method of expressing one's vision. If that is true of a photographer, he or she is probably already thinking about how to change the form to express his or her vision. In that case, this volume might provide a few useful ideas.


Concerning both traditional and digital working methods   August 7, 2003
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Collaboratively written by photography experts Tony Worobiec and Ray Spence, Photo Art: Darkroom, Digital, Handcoloring, Montage is enhanced with two hundred color and twenty-five black & white illustrations. Photo Art is more than a just another photography collection -- it is a carefully organized and effectively presented step-by-step instructional manual which is ideal for novice photographers seeking to create art through the use of their cameras, as well as an outstanding educational resource appropriate for even experienced photographers as it provides technical know-how, advice, tips, tricks, and techniques concerning both traditional and digital working methods for taking pictures which rise to the high esthetic standards of fine art. The eye-catching full-color photographs and extensive suggestions for light, border, distinctive contrast in subject material and much more fill this memorable guide.