HOW TO TAKE GREAT PHOTOGRAPHS - Tapa dura

Students often seem to approach photography in a reactive, rather than a proactive, way, trying to capture fleeting moments and the vagaries of light before they've really learned how to get the best out of a given photographic situation. Basic skills are overlooked in favour of so-called creative spontancity - and the results are all too often both technically inept and artistically uninspiring. In How to Take Great Photographs, best-selling author John Hedgecoe goes back to basics. Realizing that the best way to learn any subject is to start in a controlled environment where you're in charge and you can learn at your own pace, he has devised a series of practical exercises that you can carry out in the comfort of your own home to build up skills and confidence. With this approach photography is, quite literally, at your fingertips: potential subjects are all around you in the form of everyday household objects, the lighting is entirely under your control, you can spend as little or as much time as you wish - and you can go back and try again if the results aren't quite what you expected. These basic techniques apply to both conventional and digital camers, but the book also considers the advantages and disadvantages of using a digital camera in specific situations. There are also sections on all the latest equipment and how to further improve your photos through digital manipulation. Combining the technical expertise and inspiring imagery that one has come to expect from the world's best-selling author on practical photography, How to Take Great Photographs is the perfect introduction to this fascinating and inexhaustible subject.

John Hedgecoe is the world's best-selling author of practical photography books. He has received a number of international awards for his contribution to photography. John Hedgecoe established the Photography Department at the Royal College of Art in London in 1965. He became Professor of Photography at the College in 1975, a post he held until 1994. He now devotes his time to taking photographs for his books and exhibitions.