Henry Horenstein - Make Better Pictures: 100 Tips to Improve Every Photograph You Take

Make Better Pictures took five years to write, a ridiculously long period of time given its length and my familiarity with the subject. After all, I am a professional photographer, writer, and teacher. I know my subject well and can type fast. So why so long?

Barring the usual reasons my students give (procrastination, laziness, other commitments), there was the simple fact that in these five years I had actually written three versions of this bookeach one longer than this. And then I threw them all out.

It wasnt that I thought they were bad. How would I know? The online reviews dont come in until after a book is published. No, they were probably good enough, but they were boring. Typical. Predictable. All things I rail about in my classroom.

They were books of facts, pure and simple. And I had written books of that sort before. A few of them. Worse, there were a ton of books out there like that already. So why bother?

I decided to rethink the whole thing and write a shorter book, highlighting some of the things Ive learned over the years that I think are important, interesting, worth knowing. Then sprinkle that with some pure facts and pure opinions.

In short, I decided to let it all hang out. And for toppers deliver a strong, energetic design and original, quirky drawings. And terrific, often unusual photographs by many great photographers. Some of my own photographs even. A perk of being an author.

I set out to make a book like no other in our field. Feel free to disagree, rant, or even post a negative review (though Id really rather you didnt). But mostly, I hope you see it for what it is, and enjoy while you learn some things you maybe didnt know.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

ALBERT EINSTEIN, GENIUS

Some photographs have a digital look: eye-popping sharpness, ultra-saturated color, maybe some image noise or other visual artifacts. But most images taken with a digital camera or printed digitally look a lot like traditional photos taken with film and printed in an old-school darkroom. Much the way photographer Justin Kimball worked when he began his career.