Technical photo lending library (So Cal)

[Oren Grad]

Oren, do you have a copy of Applied Depth of Field? I do, and found it pretty useless. It was useful, before programmable calculators came along before handheld devices that ran spreadsheets came along.

I do have a copy. I'd agree that if you're going to have only one Blaker in your library, one of the two you mentioned is probably a better bet.

For thinking a bit beyond the usual conventions, I should also recommend Harold Merklinger's two little books, "The INs and OUTs of FOCUS" (ISBN 0-9695025-0-8) and "FOCUSING the VIEW CAMERA" (ISBN 0-9695025-2-4).

[Jim Noel]

Books on closeup photography and photomacrography:

Angel, Heather. 1987 (revised, originally published in 1983). Book of Close-Up
Photography. Originally published by Ebury, London. Revised edition published by A.
A. Knopf Inc. 168 pp. ISBN 0394532325. A much better book than John Shaw's
Closeups In Nature. If nothing else, she uses and discusses more than Nikons. Angel
does the John Shaw thing better than he does.

Blaker, Alfred A. 1976. Field Photography. W. H. Freeman & Co. San Francisco, CA.
451 pp. ISBN 0-7167-0518-4. A deep discussion of all aspects of photography, with
considerable emphasis on close-up. Discusses getting the magnification, lighting, and
exposure. Weaker than Lefkowitz on working above 1:1, stronger on lighting, especially
flash. Extensive bibliography.

Also, Blaker's Handbook for Scientific Photography.

Bracegirdle, Brian. 1995. Scientific PhotoMACROgraphy. Bios Scientific Publishers.
Oxford. 105 pp. ISBN 1 872748 49 X. A terse drier updated version of Lefkowitz. Very
useful bibliography, unfortunately scattered into small sections after most chapters.

Gibson, H. Lou. Close-Up Photography and Photomacrography. 1970. Publication N-
16. Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY. 98+95+6 pp. The two sections were published
separately as Kodak Publications N-12A and N-12B respectively. Republished in 1977
with changes and without the 6 page analytic supplement, which was published
separately as Kodak Publication N-15. 1977 edition is ISBN 0-87985-206-2. Gibson is
very strong on lighting, exposure, and on what can and cannot be accomplished. His
books, although relatively weak on getting the magnification with lenses made for
modern SLR cameras, provide a very useful foundation for thinking about working at
magnifications above 1:10 and especially above 1:1. Extensive bibliography.

Lefkowitz, Lester. 1979. The Manual of Close-Up Photography. Amphoto. Garden
City, NY. 272 pp. ISBN 0-8174-2456-3 (hardbound) and 0-8174-2130-0 (softbound). A
thorough discussion of getting the magnification, lighting, and exposure. Especially good
on working above 1:1. Extensive bibliography.

I second Blaker's "Field Photography". I have over 300 technical photography books, and it is used more than any other 10 books combined.
Also, any of the Kodak series are down to earth and full of info. There were 2 series, one about 8.5 x11 and the other about 5.5 x 8,5. They cover the gamut of photography.

[Dan Fromm]

I second Blaker's "Field Photography". I have over 300 technical photography books, and it is used more than any other 10 books combined.
Also, any of the Kodak series are down to earth and full of info. There were 2 series, one about 8.5 x11 and the other about 5.5 x 8,5. They cover the gamut of photography.

Jim, when I had friends who were starting out with closeup photography I gave them copies of Field Photography.