Marc Silber - Advancing Your Photography: A Handbook for Creating Photos You’ll Love

ADVANCING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

A HANDBOOK FOR CREATING PHOTOS YOULL LOVE

MARC SILBER

Copyright 2017 Marc Silber

Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Design & Layout: Elina Diaz

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Advancing Your Photography: A Handbook for Creating Photos Youll Love

Library of Congress Cataloging

Names: Silber, Marc
Title: Advancing Your Photography / by Marc Silber
Library of Congress Control Number: 201790216

ISBN 9781633535695 (paperback), ISBN 9781633535701 (eBook)

BISAC category code: PHO024000 PHOTOGRAPHY / Techniques / Digital

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to my very talented wife Janice, for her continuous support and encouragement on our creative journey.

Marcs new book is an all-in-one, easily accessible handbook drawn from his huge library of interviews with top photographers and packed with information that can be put into action immediately. This book will show you how the pros do it. Study this and take your best shot.

- Chase Jarvis, award-winning photographer and founder & CEO of CreativeLive

Ive come to read, review and occasionally edit several books on photography. Thus, I feel particularly proud and honored to present Marc Silbers unique handbook. Its the first of its kind that will grant you that little extra that will make you a better photographer, by introducing you to the essential and paramount creative cycle of photography. Renowned interviewer, Marc Silbers emphatic flow of his narrative will undoubtedly attract any reader, and feed his mojo.

- Jerome Milac , photographer & author

Advancing Your Photography is a work of art, about art! Silber delivers clear, concise content, for all levels of skill, and accentuates the details that matter most to getting the result you desire. As an amateur myself, I felt more professionally suited to capture a meaningful photograph by applying what I learned.

- David Lee Jensen , #1 bestselling author of The Naked Interview

Marc Silber has great insight into the photographic community. As an exceptional photographer with an easy interview approach, his videos capture the essence of the photographer.

- Larry Abitbol , CEO Bay Photo Labs

Ive been involved personally in some of Marcs work and hope to continue supporting him and his vision in the future. Personally as a blogger and social photographer Im excited about Marcs new book and am looking forward to helping to promote it across my own sphere of influence on the Web.

- Thomas Hawk , photographer and blogger

This book was easy to read and understand. Everything was laid out in the perfect order for a beginner like me, and by the time I was done I really felt that I could take amazing photos, and was inspired to do so. It is also a visually beautiful book, which increased the quality of the whole experience.

- Catherine Weaver , author and educator

When I first went on a photo walk with Marc Silber, professional photographer, I could see he had a knack of explaining how to get better photographs. Information about photography is much needed; Marcs ability to get professional photographers and historical figures to explain how to get better photography is quite impressive.

- Robert Scoble , technical evangelist and author

Marc Silbers Photography interviews are dialogues that open minds of creative photographers and illuminate, only as photography can, the innovative methods and inspired insights of photographic artists and how they think and work. To see yet another San Francisco Art Institute alumnus flourish in the winds of competition is a testament to the legacy of the institution.

Jack Fulton, photography professor emeritus, San Francisco Art Institute

BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING, AND GO ON TILL YOU
COME TO THE END: THEN STOP.

LEWIS CARROLL, ALICE IN WONDERLAND

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Photography is my life. It happens to be how I make my living, but before I ever became a professional, I knew this was what I wanted to do. I collected books by photographers I admired and subscribed to every photo magazine available; I was a fanatic. However, I never took a class. I learned by going out, taking photographs, and making mistakes. I started in the days of film, with the expense of having to pay for all those mistakes with film and processing and without any instant feedback. In todays digital world, those barriers have gone. This is both a help and a hindrance. No one expects to pick up a musical instrument and immediately make beautiful music. It takes years of practice, but modern cameras are so technically foolproof its tempting to think that you can pick up a camera and make great photographs from the get-go. It can happen by chance, but to make consistently good photographs, you must practice, practice, practice.

I still believe the only way to learn and improve is to get out there and shoot, but now you have a resource that gives advice from decades of experience from some of the worlds best photographers.

Marc Silber has distilled the essential nuggets of information shared by these photographers in his very successful video series, Advancing Your Photography. Ive had the pleasure of knowing Marc for several years and can attest to his dedication to helping photographers of all levels find their vision.

His background as a seasoned working photographer gives him the necessary perspective to ensure you only get information that works. It would be difficult to better his advice.

Use this information and apply it when you are out there shooting. The more you shoot, the better you will know your camera and the less you will be concerned with equipment, so that you can concentrate on the image. So get out, shoot a lot, make mistakes and learn from them. And remember, photography is fun!

Bob Holmes

Marin County

PHOTOGRAPHY IS A LOVE
AFFAIR WITH LIFE.
BURK UZZLE, DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER

My intention with Advancing Your Photography (AYP) is to provide you with a single text that will take you though the entire process of becoming an accomplished photographer. I will do this by teaching and involving you in the stages of the cycle of photography so you can climb, step by step, a stairway that continually spirals up, following its major stages.

As it is a handbook, it is a size that you can take with you in your camera bag and refer to often. In that way it will be your guide and coach and there when you need us.

I have had the wonderfully enlightening experience of interviewing scores of photographers over the last eight years, and I will pass along to you some of the gems that they gave me throughout the book. Since these interviews covered many genres of photography, youll get tips in the areas you most likely want to know about.

My inspiration for writing this book was the many conversations in these interviews; I discovered that there was no definitive resource book that photographers who wanted to advance their skills could go to for help that was simple and easy to use.