One of the most important books on black and white photography I
have bought is Horenstein's Black and White Photography (2nd edition). The book is now over twenty years old, a factor that often reduces the value of a book to the potential buyer. In Horenstein's case however this is not so. Simply-put, this book is what it claims on the cover to be: A basic manual. The book is divided up into 11 chapters covering everything from The Camera Body to Film Developing and Making the Print. The book's strength lies in the simple way the author explains the theory behind black and white photography. Terms such as bracketing,test strips, grain, leaf shutters, focal plane shutters, burning and dodging are all explained in a straightforward, easy to understand way. This thoroughly, though somewhat drily-written, book is geared mainly towards the inexperienced photographer so if you are a seasoned amateur much of the knowledge contained here will already be known to you. Nevertheless, it is a good manual and worth reading if only to get a solid grasp of what photography is all about. The illustrations, while now old- fashioned looking, back up the text quite well. Written long before the digital age this book will improve your understanding of basic photographic techniques, something that is frequently ignored nowadays. If you are good on composition, exposure, depth of field and black and darkroom techniques you can do without this, if on the other hand you are relatively new to photography then you should read this book. It remains one of my favourites.
