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TEN
Ten Ways To Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involves Buying Gear.
TEN was David duChemin’s first eBook and still the most popular by a landslide. The premise is simple, if photographers could cut through the noise and work on their craft without being bombarded with the need to buy more gear, and the newest and shiniest, we’d become better at our craft and create more compelling images. TEN is exactly what it says it is, an exploration of ten techniques and ideas that can improve any photographer’s work.
TEN was written in response to the question, “so where do I go from here, once I’ve learned how to use my camera?” TEN responds to that and gives you ten solid steps to take on your photographic journey, each with accompanying creative exercises, and none of them asking you to buy new gear.
Note: Layout updated as of July 12, 2011.
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Looking forward to reading this ebook. Just happened to find you following a link in a review article on the D-90 vs D-7000.
As many have mentioned here, this is one of the best $5 e-books for those of us looking to do “MORE” with our photography. I love the format which offers the concept, then David supplements it with an activity challenge. That for me is priceless.
Thanks very much David! This is the 3rd e-book I’ve read, and I believe I’ll be downloading a few more!
The book that started it all. I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I came across “Ten” but for five dollars I really had nothing to lose. Well that five dollars turned out to be one of the best I’ve ever spent. “Ten” is full of inspiring images that when coupled with David’s unique photographic wisdom will propel you to new levels of photography. You think it can’t be that simple? Well it is. If you only read one chapter I guarantee your photographic vision will be improved and that will be one of your best five dollars ever spent.
Merci. J’étais en panne créative, j’ai pris un grand bol d’air pour le prix d’un magazine plein de pubs ! A must have.
From time to time I get asked by colleagues in the NGO I belong to for advice on improving their photography. This (and the sequel ’10 More’) is where I point them. Some of the best solid advice for the development of more than basic skills around.
As someone who got caught up in the gear and has been frustrated by the gear not improving my photography, this ebook was a great reminder of what I need to do from the perspective of the craft of photography to improve my photography. Looking forward to working through these exercises over and over to improve my craft with the gear I already own and stop being frustrated that the gear didn’t fix my photography.
TEN
TEN is one of he best books for growing your photography skills. Each chapter, from lenses to light is followed by EXERCISES! I love it! Its not overly technical, its a few wonderful images followed by how too insights, followed by… go out and do this & this. I’ve become an outside salesman for this book.
Some kind of “this is it”. Had been the first ebook of the series i read and never had regrets about that. Exactly as David uses to say: Guys, its not that much about (new :) gear. Its much more about getting to know how the things you use are working and develop your own vision and style. Imo a “must read”.
I am an amateur photographer, and this book help me SO much to find new creative ways to express. I am used to read technical how-to’s on the web, but seeing David’s photos and reading his blog has always been more than that, so I knew I was gonna love the e-book. Didn’t only love it, but also have bought 4 more!!!
I quite new to this channel and may consider to get one of this soon. Ebook quite attracting me, convenient and paperless. It’s like friend of mine and a user manual when I in need.
The only thing I wonder for USD5 per book, contain how many pages? USD5 for 4 pages or 6 pages. Although USD5 doesn’t cost much but still just need little information of the number of pages.
I bought this e-book on the recommendation of a friend, and have to admit my expectations weren’t that high for a $5 book. I am happy to say it far exceeded those expectations! This is not a technical how-to book. This is an “in your head, make you think about why you love photography” book. It is one I have already read twice, and know I will read again. But be warned, once you buy this one, you want the others (and they are worth it too).
Be careful. If you buy this one, you’ll probably be hooked and buy the full collection next ! ;-)
Seriously, this book is about regaining your love for photography, not just for gear. A real must.
Very few photo books (and I have a lot of them) work through practice lessons as well as either Ten Ways or Ten More Ways. Just getting back into practice again, both editions are excellent for channeling a photographer’s efforts.
TEN is one of he best books for growing your photography skills. Each chapter, from lenses to light is followed by EXERCISES! I love it! Its not overly technical, its a few wonderful images followed by how too insights, followed by… go out and do this & this. I’ve become an outside salesman for this book.
A great reminder that it isn’t about the gear, it’s how you use it. To be honest I hadn’t ever considered why I use a long lens versus a wide one other than to “fit more stuff into the shot”. Now I think about the perspective it gives and what I want to say.
I may not do all the exercises but I’m going to give myself some assignments to give a couple of them a go.
Another fan for life, Darlene
I remember when this ebook was first released. Waiting for a flight in the terminal, instead of going to the overpriced food stand – I was able to quickly checkout with paypal and start reading. David is one of the most influential writers I know – making this an easy purchase.
Top 10 is a list that can be revisited again and again. I’m very pleased that this book was well received and David decided to continue writing them. Craft and Vision has turned in to a solid resource and something I am happy to support.
My first ebook, but certainly not the last. Hard to believe it was almost a full year ago. An excellent refresher on a lot of basic concepts that often get overlooked. Basics yes, but presented in a new fresh fashion that really makes you rethink the decisions you make before pushing that button.
Ten is a fantastic list. Finally a list that isn’t the standard generalizations found on photography blogs. This list combines an explanation, photographic example, and creative assignment to not only deliver the message clearly, but to give the photographer an immediate process to practice it. Its the first book from Craft and Vision and its still likely one of the best. Its a great book for any level of photographer and can easily be revisited as your own photography improves.
I learned about “Ten” from Lifehacker. As a aspiring photographer with a technology day job, I am always looking for new sources of information and inspiration: “Ten” has been both. David’s text is masterful at keeping focus with style, much like his photography. Any photographer, of any skill level, will be able to use and reuse “Ten” over and over to further their Vision.
This one is probably my favorite one of them all. If you have to buy just one ebook, get this one. The tips are simple and almost like duh…who doesn’t know that. But I realized I wasn’t necessarily applying them while taking the shots. I love how David tags every tip with a shot of his & shares his thoughts & EXIF data. I highly recommend this one to anyone who is looking to get some good tips with examples to be a better photographer.
Just bought this to read on my iPad. Really enjoyed it and the photos on iPad looks great. I liked the discussion about how different lenses compress the scene differently. Can’t wait to try some of the exercises. It could be helpful to restate the 10 exercises on the last page or two as a resource to refer to after reading through the ebooknthe first time. But thoroughly enjoyed this app!
Awesome! I just finished reading Ten(figured I’d start at the beginning) and am completely inspired. I love the exercises. I just posted one on my camera club’s facebook site as this week’s GOYA, and of course, let them know where I got from. Thanks again.
Excellent material that is practical and accessible. Well written, beutifully illustrated with excellent photos, and extremely helpful exercises. At $5 – what a deal!
Excellent resource to read when you feel like your photography is getting stale. Ten reminders and tips on how to make your photos come alive and how to realize your vision. Love it!
Outstanding information for beginners & amateurs. This is a wonderful book to begin with well explained examples. This book has hands-on “creative” exercises to make better pictures and hence better story telling for a given situation. It’s one of those books every beginner should have.
There’s nothing here that you don’t know already, frankly. BUT, the author has an interesting way of motivating you with (1) respectful dialog (2) images that wow and (3) workshop-like challenges that get you up off the couch. More pedestrian than some of the other e-books, but a solid buy.
I love the new Craft & Vision website – it is visually stunning. And that brings me to what I love about the ebooks. Lots of books on photography have useful content, but I truly believe that your approach – concise text combined with amazing images in layouts that bless the eye – actually contributes to understanding and retaining the material presented. The pricing approach is also ingenious. I can always afford one your books, and they are always a treat!
I can honestly say that this is one of my constant companions on the road. Right now I’m traveling and photographing the countries of the Silk Road.
Having this ebook to review each night helps me hone my vision and technique. Can’t say enough encouraging words on this simple and powerful book, at a great price.
Thanks,
Mike Moss
I just downloaded this one and am really excited to start reading it, especially after watching the creativeLive workshop and reading the reviews.
Looking to move your craft to the next level? “Ten” is the place to begin. Expect to be given real advice on how to improve your craft. Follow his advice and you will improve your craft. Your participation is required to yield the results promised.
Despite of being cautios with “Top Ten” lists of any kind in general, I can really recommend this one!
David’s book Within the frame changed my attitude towards making photographs, and this eBook continues on giving me some great stimuli for improving my pictures.
The ideas and exercises presented have been “eye-openers” to me and I love to re-read them and get some new inspiration (same goes for the other eBooks and the book).
In short: Good book, get it! ;-)
I read this e-book after reading some of Davids other titles and I find it to be a great introduction to the others. I think that doing the assignments will be a prerequisite for the information in the following books. Great read and glad I bought it.
Great price for a great learning ebook.
Again, the first of many ebooks I bought from Craft and Vision. I find that I have very little time to be introspective and review how I am doing as an artist as I am so busy actually trying to make a living as a photographer. Not only are these ebooks so quick and easy to read, they pack a giant punch too. It’s just brilliant information, honestly written and at 5 dollars a pop, I’ve bought all of them as soon as they’ve been released. Much better value than a generic photography magazine subscription. I’m now a die-hard fan and am currently working my way through DDC’s printed books too.
Indeed, in order to develop skills, one does not need to invest in more equipment, but in inspiration and knowledge!
It is written so brilliantly and will give you a better vision of your photography and how to train yourself doing better photos. The ebook contains many creativity exercise to stop your laziness and go out to do some photography. 5$ are not really much money, so give it a chance and you will be impressed. I bought all of the ebooks from David and I am still excited.
All I can say is WOW! $5 is a bargain on the instructional experience David provides. My primary career is not in photography, but by reading this I have seen improvements to my pictures! I would have never known “Chiaroscuro” means light-dark referring to the way light features and falls off with distance.. It’s a useful concept… Enjoy.. Thanks David!
David always makes you think twice before pressing the shutter, and this book gives you ideas to ponder in that second thought.
This was the first book I bought when David duChemin released it way-back-when. (Was it only just last year?) I absolutely love how images are paired with text, text that makes you think about how you take pictures, how you compose them, how you turn them into *art*. I’m a huge fan of David, especially because he is so inclusive to all photographers and shows you that you don’t need fancy-pants gear to get amazing photographs. It’s definitely all about the *vision*.
It is definitively one of the top books for the price David offers them. Makes it possible for those with tight budget to ‘participate’.
The ebook that lead to many. Great start to the ebooks and if you like this one, you’ll like all the rest.
After enjoying duChemin’s “Within the Frame” I was hungry for more quality information and “TEN” didn’t disappoint. The title says it all; These are 10 things that are easy to understand and remember before shooting and all of them will improve your photography. TEN is a deal at twice the price.
For 5$ you cannot afford to not buy this book if you take your craft seriously. I read 10 and its follow up 10 more in a single sitting, and now I am going back to each and methodically working through the exercises that David lays out after each tip. I notice that after I work through each tip, I find more opportunities to get a shot that I love.
Thanks!
Gear is good. Vision is better. And this book is all about the vision. You don’t need a better camera to take better pictures. You need the vision to take better pictures with the camera you have. These 10 tips are nothing new – there’s nothing really new in photography. But these 10 tips will give you clues as to what is holding you book and how to grow. Highly recommended.
I absolutely love this book, together with ’10 more’ and ‘Chasing the Look’. I was personally stuck in my photography some months ago, making sort of nicely composed pictures that basically said ‘That’s where I was and this is how it looked like’, but not much more. These three books somehow gave me the kick in the butt I needed to get new ideas flowing. Their great strength is in their practice-orientedness, as the tips that are given can be directly translated to the moment where one stands camera in hand in the field with a living subject that one somehow wants to capture on the sensor/film.
A nice little starting point for a bunch of personal shooting projects. If you take it seriously and try the creative exercises then it can really help you improve your photography.
I loved this book. I read it a few times this year and repeat the exercise often. Highly recommend this.
What I really enjoy about this ebook and Ten More is the creative exercises. One of my favorites from this ebook is the exercise on studying the light. Pay $5 for this book is well worth it just for the exercises in the book. Plus..if you follow David on Twitter he has often posted coupon codes to get discounts on the ebooks (usually when a new one comes out).
There are a few books, articles, websites etc that i can identify as being instrumental in lifting me and forcing me to think more and do more in relation to my photography and this is definitely one of the best and most influential. Short and succinct yet packed with useful advice. But beyond that it challenges you to actually get-up and do something. The homework assignments bring home the lesson and make this ebook extremely worth-while
The first photography ebook that I have ever bought and I do not regret this decision. My approach is simple. Instead of buying a $4-5 magazine each month and force my way through ads, gear reviews, etc., I prefer to buy a C&V ebook. In a nutshell, my money is better spend and I get more useful information.
This publication was the beginning of my journey into e-books and I would sincerely recommend it to any photographer. I learn more from these brief essays than I do from a dozen magazines and days of trawling forums…
This e-book started it all with insightful flourish. I can improve my photography without buying more/better gear? Do tell! And David explains it perfectly. I especially love the creative exercises. This one (and its successor TEN MORE) elevated my photography from snapshots to vision in ways nothing else has or could. Thank you David! My wallet thanks you, my wife thanks you …
This book, along with part two, TEN MORE WAYS, and DRAWING THE EYE, are wonderful companion pieces to the Du Chemin book that started it all, WITHIN THE FRAME. What really stands out in this book and TEN MORE WAYS is the truth that vision trumps gear. If you don’t believe that then go to Flickr and search for 300D and 1DMK3. How much do you want to bet that there will be some shots taken a 300D that are far better than some shots taken with a 1DMK3?
This e-book is just fantastic! It really opens your eyes to the way that photography is really more than just gear, it is about vision and it can be improved by other ways than just buying gear. I bought this e-book a while ago when I was newer to photography and it really opened me eyes. Thanks so much for the help! Keep outputting these books as they really are just fantastic.
This e-book is a great read. I bought it because I’m not a creative person by nature and I thought that this might give me more ideas on how to make better images without just throwing money at bodies and lenses. I found it to be quite useful. Thanks and keep up the good work!
As the above have said – this first one that started it all really has been a literal plethora of lucid and insightful observations on how to improve your craft and vision (go figure)…absolutely a must read!
I bought this book with my first set of eBooks from Craft and Vision and boy am I glad I did. Like Frank said above, “the best 5 bucks I ever spent to better my photography.” I’ve recently returned to the book to work through each creative exercise mindfully. Yes, this book deserves that much attention. I have learned more from this, and other ebooks on this site, than from any other book, workshop, website, or blog. Unfortunately for David, I’ve put a moratorium on any new photographic purchases until I work through all of the exercises in this and the other ebooks I already own. I have realized that more gear and more books won’t necessarily help me make better images. Developing and expressing my vision will and this book is a crucial step in that direction. Thanks Dave, you have yet another die-hard fan in me but I need to understand and apply what you have written in this book before I move on to any others (and I’m just DYING to get my hands on the “Black and White” ebooks!)
This is an excellent book for the starting photographer or the one that needs to stop, look, and start over. I’m hoping to share these 10 steps with my wife.
My fellow reader Frank is right. This eBook is the one you always come back to. It a miniature Within the Frame eBook. If you’re new to the “vision” thing, well you have to begin with this one!
This is the book that started the love affair for me. The best 5 bucks I ever spent to better my photography. Still go back and do the exercises in this book. Thank you David, you have a fan for life