eBooks to Change Your Life

That is a bold statement above, I know it is. But really, if you are as passionate about the visual language of photography (as I am) and you really came into your photographic mojo with the advent of digital Single Lens Reflex (dSLR) cameras (meaning in the last 5-7 years, like I did) and therefore tend to shoot in color and allow the camera to pre-visualize the scene for you through the instant gratification (LCD) screen on the back with full hyper-saturated glory, it just might. Black and White photography is a dark and dreamy world for many photographers, a land of light and shadows where some things are revealed and some concealed, an extra step removed from reality creating an air of mystery and fascination, and while many of us just love black and white images we lack the ability to really understand how to make a compelling image this way.

Thankfully those that inhabit this world photographically are not so dark and mysterious as the medium and some have chosen to share their knowledge through several ebooks on the Craft and Vision website. At just $5 a pop they are probably the least expensive investment into your photographic journey and given the impact they can achieve on your photography I think they can change your (photographic) life quite dramatically for very little.

First off is Andrew Gibson’s “The Magic of Black and White” series (Parts I, II, and III) published through Craft and Vision where he guides the reader through the different thought processes required in making black and white images. I found that thinking about an image in terms of tones of grey, in terms of contrast, to be so beneficial that it has improved my photography overall, including my color photography.

The one drawback of Gibson’s books for me, if there really is one, is that he prefers to work in Photoshop and therefore his conversion techniques require extra work for Lightroom users such as me. Well, no longer. Craft and Vision this week announced the release of their first mega-ebook.

Weighing in at a hefty 100 pages “The Power of Black and White In Adobe Lightroom & Beyond: A Masterclass” by Piet Van den Eynde is everything the Lightroom enthusiast of black and white photography has been waiting for. This is by far the largest ebook produced by the good folks at Craft and Vision and for only $5 (or $4 if you use discount code BWLIGHT4 before April 16 2010) it is an outrageous deal. Imagine, at 100 2-page spreads this would easily be a 200 page print book! And the workflow described in detail by Van den Eynde is easily reproduced in Adobe Camera Raw.

While I have glanced through The Power of Black and White in Adobe Lightroom & Beyond: A Masterclass I cannot wait to really spend some time with this book. This is the kind of book that deserves some concentrated attention, study, and continued referencing to really mine the content. And in doing so, this might really alter your photography positively and, as a result, change your life.

But wait! There’s more! Because Piet spends a little time talking about the power of plug-ins like NiK Software’s Silver Efex pro, NiK has ponied up 3 full versions of Silver Efex Pro, which anyone that buys this masterclass is eligible to win if you buy the book within the first 5 days, which also happens to be the time frame during which you can get the book for $4, or buy 5 ebooks for the price of 4.

Special PDF Offer
For the first five days only, if you use the promotional code BWLIGHT4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of The Power of Black & White in Adobe Lightroom & Beyond (A MASTERCLASS) for only $4 OR use the code BWLIGHT20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST April 16, 2011.