Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Studying photojournalism in Moscow, Russia, I looked for the most complete book on photographic composition that was available. I had read one book on the subject by a Russian author, but knowing that photography in the US is much more developed and professional I was striving to get a book written by a US professional photographer. I was disappointed by the book "Photographic Composition" by Tom Grill for a number of reasons: 1. It does not cover all important compositional elements, and those that it covers are not explained in full detail. It does not explain: - How elements with similar shapes, sizes or similar tone interact with each other, - The reverse perspective effect and its uses, - Why right and left sides of the photograph differ and why, and how it can be used in practice, - How to balance "weight" of different elements of the photograph; it briefly touches it but provides an incorrect example, - Difference between compositional center and the center of interest, how to balance them if they are in different parts of the photo (does not match each other) - Does not explain all elements of perspective. For instance it does not mention that overlapping is a clear sign of perspective (trivial as it may sound, it still should be mentioned in any complete work, especially when the author covers the other three elements of perspective) - And much much more. 2. It does not use photographs of the best masters to illustrate the topic, neither does it show how composition works in art, which I believe is very important. 3. Most examples are in color, while most ideas on composition are best explained using B&W photographs. 4. Last but not least, composition is about meaning, making a message, not just how to balance different elements within a frame. The book makes this statement, but in my opinion fails to provide poverful examples, while you can fully appreciate the power of composition only by studying powerful photos with good explanation why precisely this photo is good. OVERALL: I believe that if you want to study composition you want to know all important considerations, not just a few and briefly explained "how-to-quickly-improve-any-photo-you-take". This books fails to provide complete approach to composition and at times can be misleading. I'd be very grateful if you could recommend me (and other folks that look at our reviews) a more thorough book on composition, I'm sure there must be a good book in english on that subject. Thanks! P.S. For those who can read in russian I advise a book by A. Lapin "Fotografiya kak..", which compared to the book by Tom Grill explains composition in full.