For Ethan Mordden; the closing night of the hit musical; 42nd St. sounded the death knell of the art form of the Broadway musical. After that; big orchestras; real voices; recognizable books and intelligent lyrics went out the window in favor of cats; helicopters; yodeling Frenchmen; and the roof of the Paris Opera. Mordden takes us through the aftermath of the days of the great Broadway musical. From the long-running Cats to Miss Saigon; Phantom; and Les Miserables; to gems like The Producers; he is unsparing in his look at the remains of the day. Not content to scold the shows creators; Mordden takes on the critics; too; splaying their bodies across the Great White Way like Sweeney Todd giving a close shave. Once more; its "curtain going up;" but Mordden is not applauding.
#3522355 in eBooks 2015-03-06 2015-03-06File Name: B00UEHNI3A
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Focus on Close-up and Macro PhotographyBy Marshal ShlaferI couldnt agree more with Paul Cassels 2-star review ("Misses the Mark") of this book; and I urge potential purchasers to read it. Virtually every point he makes; starting with a comment that the book is awkwardly written and oddly disorganized; and on through the end; is spot on.I have been shooting macros using both film and digital SLRs for decades; including underwater using Nikonos cameras and strobes; so I was looking for something a bit "inspirational." Something; perhaps some new idea or technique or subject that I had overlooked during all those years. I found nothing along those lines here. (I do agree with Mr. Cassel that some of the "special subject" parts of this book; such as photographing fabrics; smoke trails; and so on; probably havent been addressed specifically in other books. Nonetheless; regardless of which of those "special subjects" one considers; I found nothing that was more than merely interesting. Nothing that truly excited or inspired me.)The book is sort of a conundrum to me in ways that I dont think Mr. Cassel addressed. For example; for whom is the book intended? Newcomers to macro? If thats the case; I can understand the small section on macro with point-and-shoot and other simple digital cameras ("use the flower icon on the settings dial"). But then; theres also the discussion of reverse lens mounting and bellows... both techniques not at all going to be used by newbies; or even many photographers with years of experience. So why even a page or two about the PS cameras? The section on; essentially; "where to market your photos" is also putting the proverbial cart way in front of the horse for novice readers of the subject.The book is also; as noted by Mr. Cassel; replete with errors or; at the very least; information that will either confuse or blow over the heads of relative newcomers. There are discussions of focus modes described with terms that Im sure are intended for exposure modes (ie; shutter priority and aperture priority are exposure; not focus; modes). The author talks about compensating exposure by adjusting "EV;" when I think he means adjusting the ISO sensitivity of the sensor. This will almost certainly confuse the novice; and perhaps even readers with more experience will start second-guessing their knowledge because the "expert author" uses a different or misleading or inaccurate term.Finally; the Kindle version I bought does funky things with some content (not at all unique to this book). For example; data in (I recall) the one table in the book gets moved around such that rows and columns of data dont get lined up properly; and you have to stop and think about what was meant to be where.The book isnt expensive; which lessens the pain of the purchase and reading a bit; but that doesnt mitigate what I perceive to be major negatives. My recommendation? Unless you really want to spend a few dollars to get one or two ideas; and you go in understanding this book tries to address a large reader skill level (from newbie to more advanced) and misses the mark on all levels; dont buy it.12 of 13 people found the following review helpful. Misses the MarkBy PaulMost of this book is awkwardly written and oddly disorganized; but the real issue I have is that it does not to what it purports to do which is to provide a newcomer to close up or macro photography a lucid explanation of the basics. Instead its one muddled section after another culminating in an amazing gloss over one of the most pursued areas of macro photography.First the pros: this book has; at its end; sections devoted to specific macro photography tasks and how to accomplish them. This isnt basic material but still welcome. For example; one section goes into details about how to do good close up photographs of textiles. Ive never seen a discussion of this topic anywhere so seeing this; as well as other similar if somewhat obscure subjects dealt with was interesting - to say the least. Additionally; the close up photos included are generally of reasonably high quality showing that the author can make the snaps that a novice close up photographer would like to be able to make.The cons are numerous. The author tends to never explain the basics or even get them wrong. Right on the first few pages he refers to the depth of field in macro photography as being marginal. Its not. Its shallow. Shallow is not a synonym for marginal. Nearby he states the difference between macro photography and using a telephoto lens is that macro forces you to acquaint yourself with focusing techniques. If there is any area of photography where you can blow off focusing or focusing techniques; Ive ever run into them.The example photographs cheat. Many are complex studio setups but the author never shows or explains the setups needed to get the results shown. This would imply that the novice snapper can doodle himself out to some locale to take a few images and get similar results. Perish the thought. One major and rarely violated of photography is one shows how ones images have been acquired. You go to any photography board or consult any well done photography text and you see clear explanations of how this or that snap was done. This author violates this basic principle or ethic present in photography since the start of the technology over 150 years ago.I can go on and on for 10;000 words (easily) on the outrageous or just plain incorrect elements of this book; but wishes me to keep these reviews to much shorter. Suffice it to say that if you wish an introduction to macro photography; seek another source. This book will not teach you elements of technique; equipment or setup. It has incorrect information such as reducing noise in your photographs by exposing to the right to compensate for noise. Exposing to the right (skewing a histogram to the right or over exposure side) in no way compensates for noise. Its a good idea but not for the reason stated. If you learn the information in this book; you will have to spend a lifetime unlearning it.Before I leave; let me take one more whack at this book and its author. One widespread area of macro photography is snapping invertebrates - usually insects. Again back to ethics here. A common and welcome ethic is that doing such photography should never harm or even disrupt the life of your subjects. The author here doesnt just suggest; but offers ideas on capturing these insects; stuffing them in the refrigerator to slow them down and then; while theyre stunned with cold; take their image indoors. In a following sentence he gives this up and says to just kill them. The only good of this section is that its very short. If you wish to learn to snap insects; move on; pilgrim.I can go on and on; but Ive either made my point or not.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. MixedBy DarrenIngram_dot_comYou cannot fail to have been amazed by macro photography; even if you dont know it; and yet it need not be as complex as you possibly fear it to be nor does it necessarily need a ton of expensive equipment.Of course; you can spend a small fortune on a good macro photography setup; yet an eye for a great photograph; some good subject material and a bit of knowledge is key. This book can help with the latter and guide you as you possibly develop a bit of a taste for the subject and eventually expand your camera arsenal. Your bank manager might not like you though... The book is written for the relative newbie but many old hands might still find some nuggets of information (or possibly can correct any misunderstandings and assumptions learned over time) - if nothing else theres a LOT of great; inspiring photographs to look at. Starting with looking at the differences between close-up and macro photography the reader is patiently taken through what can be a complex; confusing subject with the patient ease of a grandfather teaching a grandchild to ride a bicycle.One nice thing about this book is that the average reader is considered. The pros can afford macro lenses and fancy flash units that can easily run into the hundreds if not thousands of pounds. Relatively inexpensive "starter options" are considered and their benefits compared to the more expensive offerings; allowing you to perhaps dip a toe into an interesting photography area and see if it really going to be something you want to invest in. Photography can be an expensive hobby; even in the digital age when there are no processing costs! Every possible little saving can help.As you would expect; the quality of example photographs is excellent. It is a big niggle that there is no "how this picture was taken" info box by each of them as that would have been a great help and possibly even a greater reinforcement that the average photographer can; with the right knowledge; possibly do the same. Or perhaps the author doesnt want to admit that things are so easy as many macro photographers can spend hours or longer on getting one picture just right... with a TON of expensive equipment at their side. Building up unreasonable expectations has no place in a book of this type.After a very good introduction and overview it is time for a lengthy look at composition matters; making you think about what you take and how it will be used. Much of this practical knowledge is then put to the test in a dedicated chapter about flower photography. Even if this is something you dont think youd want to do yourself; you should read through it carefully and maybe even try it and polish your performance as many of the skills learned can be applied to other macro subjects. It would have been nice to have had even more "dedicated subject"-chapters but maybe one is just being greedy.Lighting is an important; if not critical; part of macro photography and here you will not be left wanting. Obviously brevity is an unfortunate necessity but the author has managed to provide a sufficient level of introductory information for a beginner. If and when you get the macro photography bug there is a plethora of other books all looking at specific elements; whether it be flash lighting; photographing insects or esoteric matters such as focus stacking. As it is this is a voluminous; detailed; workable general introduction resource. A good index at the end lets you dig back into the book when you are suddenly trying to refresh your knowledge about a thing.Theres not a lot more to say. This book is by no means unique and nor does it pretend to be. Books of this kind can be highly personal items that the reader either gels with or will hate forever. This feels a great book for the beginner as well as the self-taught-with-many-bad-habits-and-poor-background "pro" alike. The downside? You might suddenly feel that all of your attempts-to-date are rather inferior when you see what can be done...The book can and does feel disjointed; as if it needs a bit of polish. It is not a walk-through book where you just follow each stage and press the shutter button. It is not a universal guide and it tends to focus on studio matters rather than being in the field - possibly a deliberate decision where you have the opportunity to control things. It could have been better but equally it could have been a lot worse.
