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The book is divided into 6 chapters, starting with the Expanding you vision and concludes with Career Considerations. The topics discussed in the book take you through an easy line of understanding the facets of making a photograph.
First chapter, seeing - that’s seeing through a camera. Expanding you vision deals with various lenses and how when and why lens choices should be made and the effects of that choice.
The second chapter deals with the elements of design that can be manipulated and incorporated in your composition for a compelling image. I know most amateurs, and maybe even advanced photographers, don’t pay much attention to the most basic pillars of design on which a great image is made, but the second chapter will definitely change the way you look at a scene via the lens and eyes.
The chapter on composition as expected is full of tips for composing good images, though I would highly recommend reading the first two chapters at least twice before moving over to the composition part. The first two chapters lay the groundwork on which the composition chapter builds upon, hence vision and design should help you make the most use of the following chapters. The magic of light solely discussed what light brings to the equation of a good image, what light to look for and how to make use of light. Though Bryan has been shooting for a while (started with film) and this book (with shots mostly shot with film) has aged gracefully, the inclusion of a chapter on digital photography brings a nice dressing on a solid content. Since it doesn’t matter whether its film or digital the equation for a great image remains the same.
The digital photography chapter takes you through the software that Bryan uses and the adjustments or processing criteria that he employs - not much meat here but wasn’t boring either.
The final chapter is Bryan’s suggestions and ideas for aspiring career photographers, though very limited, he makes clear points to think about.
