Black & White Photography: The timeless art of monochrome in the post-digital age

I bought this as a gift for a friend who is exploring and learning about black and white photography. I looked at a lot of books and read a lot of reviews, but I selected this one because of the sample photographs and the range of the information included about how to improve on digital black and white photography. "Improve" is a key word. Many of the books I looked at told readers how to do black and white photography, some step by step, which to me is a recreation of the author's vision. My friend already has a vision of what she wants to do in color, but she wants to expand and improve her technique, the processing, lighting and composition in B&W. This book provides all of that and more, to include how to process black and white film the old-fashioned way if a person is so inclined. It was a good fit for my friend, and she is reading it cover to cover. In fact, she left today on a photography trip and took the book with her. That speaks for itself. It is not everything about B&W photography, but it is good ground for the more than amateur photographer. Avid beginners would probably like it as well.

I will join the group here with a 5-star rating. I am not a huge fan of the "star" rating system, because - in my opinion - it effects sales disproportionately (a 5-star book needs only one bad review in many to become a 3 or 4 star book). Being an author myself, I understand this, and I don't think anything other than 5-star accurately reflects the utility of this book.My primary question would be whether I would recommend that a serious photographer purchase this book. And I would recommend it. I have been shooting (film, progressed to digital in 2002) for 40 years; and am mostly-self-taught. This means (especially in the early years) lots of "how to" books. There are lots of pretty good ones out there and lots of not-so-good ones. Many keep re-iterating the same "basics" over and over again, which for the most part is a waste of space for the seasoned user. There are a few real "keepers" in my view. But there is NO ONE book that comprehensively covers a subject. Like any learning endeavor (even school textbooks) you need to collect different books to supplement each other. This is one of those books. It has a lot of very good information in it and should be part of a serious B&W shooter's "library" in my opinion. But it probably isn't the only book you should have (I think the Ansel Adams books are probably part of the library too).Now for some objective criticism.The positive: This a a book for those who like to "get under the hood." I am one of those. I really enjoyed the brief history, and the comparison of B&W film characteristics with digital. It puts what I am trying to do and why into context. There is just enough information about how to use the popular software applications. It is not a re-hash of the how-to books.The negative (or perhaps "constructive" :-) ): Some of this may be editorial, but it affects the reader experience. My biggest issue is that the text often references (usually Photoshop) measurements that are not illustrated. It often will say something like, "as the histogram in this image illustrates .....". Then rather than having a histogram as an illustration for the image, the book will show the image and occasionally some sliders for the suggested adjustment. Likewise, there is often a reference made to an original image and then the suggested adjustments and the final image. Sometimes the original image is presented - but often it isn't. Sometimes the "stages" are illustrated by resulting image. But sometimes they are not. This is very inconsistent throughout the book and is somewhat disconcerting for the reader who is trying to follow and learn.Overall, these are not major issues and I would recommend this as an addition to your library

Just now getting in to black and white photography. He give a history of black white film to digital to digital photography.

This is an incredibly helpful book. It covers so much of what you need to know with contemporary black and white photography in the digital age. Software and in-camera issues and tips that matter to everyone.

Overall, a good book, but it does have some fluff that wasn't really needed.

I'm finding a great amount of value in this book. The photos are stunning and the information is very helpful.

I am so glad Michael Freeman released an updated version of this excellent, academic book filled with great examples. Strongly recommend for any serious BW photographer.

Considers every aspect of black and white photography. Useful for both film and digital.

I am a fan of Michael Freeman's writing and this is up to his usual standard. Having flipped through the hard back I came back to it in electronic form and a deeper reading does not disappoint. This is a good start point for people who want to start probing deeper into their photography, and is a decent grounding in the field and feel of black and white.

The author gives a very informative and easy to understand case to have a go at b/w photography and the benefit of moving away from colour to black and white as a way of bringing a deeper meaning and expression to your pictures. For the older photographer who has worked in a wet darkroom how to move successfully over to digital b/w.

Fair, but disappointing on balance -and a bit overblown. If you're serious about monochrome, then this is just a coffee table tome and there are far better alternatives.Paul Warner FRPS. (photoartpaul.co.uk)

The font used for print is very small, I have to use a magnifying sheet to read. That said it is interesting and informative for how to approach editing an image.Comments by other purchasers about his use of out of date software not really relevant - not very different from 2018 versions.

quite a thorough treatment of the technicalities of black and white work. some very useful transfer of analogue film darkroom techniques into the digital post processing era that i hadn't come across before