✎ Xiaobian said
At present, almost everyone has a mobile phone, taking pictures with mobile phones has become one of the necessary skills for everyone, if you can still use mobile phones to shoot good-looking blockbusters, it will definitely become the focus of friends.
And how to learn mobile phone photography, enhance personal aesthetics, presumably is the appeal of many photography enthusiasts, this time we invited the "Beauty of Mobile Photography (2nd Edition)" editor Wang Ting, let him talk to you about the birth of a mobile phone photography bestseller.
The bestseller was reprinted, excited and nervous
At the beginning of New Year's Day this year, the author, Teacher Mao Shejun, contacted me and said that the second edition of "The Beauty of Mobile Photography" has been completed, and I can carry out the follow-up process of publishing.
Click on the image above to snap it up immediately
The first edition of "The Beauty of Mobile Photography" was published in June 2017, printed 6 times in 3 years, with a cumulative print run of more than 13,000 copies, although it is not the best-selling book for mobile photography, it is definitely a bestseller for mobile photography. When I checked the readers' evaluation of "The Beauty of Mobile Phone Photography" in major online stores, I found that due to the decision to do the updated version, the first edition was no longer reprinted, the book had been out of stock in various major e-commerce channels, and it was even speculated to a high price of more than 100 yuan (priced at 79 yuan) on the second-hand book platform, which showed the urgency of the need for reprinting.
Screenshots of a well-known second-hand book trading website
Being able to do a reprint of a best-selling book is undoubtedly exciting for every editor, which means that the quality of the content is absolutely guaranteed. But at the same time, I also feel a lot of pressure, after all, the reputation and sales of the first edition have reached a certain height, and the updated version needs to go further on this basis.
Authors update and upgrade the content of the book, more than 50%
Eliminating the need for topic planning and drafting, I thought that the updated version could be printed quickly by going through the review process with ease. Therefore, with the mentality of quick battle and quick decision, I read through the updated manuscript in its entirety as soon as I received it, and compared it with the first edition in detail.
In the updated version of the manuscript, the author Mao Shejun has changed more than 100 pictures alone, most of which are his new works taken around the world since 2017, many of which are award-winning works of photography festivals and photo competitions, which makes the picture level of the whole book another grade. Even if the pictures retained in the previous edition, Teacher Mao has made a lot of revisions to the accompanying graphic text, and some pictures have also made later fine-tuning compared with the printing effect of the first edition.
Generally speaking, the content of the book should be updated, and the content should be changed by no less than 20%, and the revision of Mao Shejun replaced more than 50% of the content, which is definitely an upgrade full of sincerity. But for editors, the overall workload is no less than making a new book. I think that a quick decision is unlikely, or it is better to read the manuscript steadily.
In the picture folder submitted by Teacher Mao Shejun, the red boxes are marked with new photos added to the 2nd edition
To take good mobile phone photography, observation is essential
After pre-review, editing and processing the text, and re-reading through, I found that while the whole book was replacing a large number of cases, the only thing that was not adjusted was the book's catalog structure, and this preserved knowledge system was also the essence of the book.
Common mobile phone photography books on the market usually introduce the functional settings and interfaces of mobile phone photography first, then talk about composition and lighting, and then use more than half of the pages to talk about portraits, scenery, still lifes and other common themes how to shoot. This catalog building method is developed from the camera photography tutorial, and although it is also applicable to mobile photography, it is easy to ignore the characteristics of mobile photography itself.
What is the biggest advantage of mobile phone photography compared to camera? Is convenient and simple. Compared with the camera, the mobile phone is light and small, and everyone carries it with them every day, which is suitable for taking photos anytime and anywhere in life. The camera interface of the mobile phone does not need to set complex parameters such as aperture shutter color temperature, as long as you press the shooting button, you can easily take pictures, so that the creator can spend more energy on the discovery and observation of shooting things. Therefore, for mobile phone photography users, how to observe and discover the beauty in life is the most important.
Teacher Mao Shejun completely abandons the catalog arrangement of traditional photography books in the book, does not involve any boring theory, and interprets the beauty of composition, the beauty of lines, the beauty of light and shadow, the beauty of layers, the beauty of color tones, the beauty of contrast, the beauty of moments and the beauty of creativity in the book, and explains the author's observation and thinking process before taking each photo with vivid shooting cases.
In my opinion, the above contents such as composition, light and shadow, level, contrast, etc. are essentially about observation. Many of the case photos in the book were taken by Mr. Mao on the way to and from work, the company building, the park of the morning exercise, and on the road to work, and one or two of them were even the places I had to go to and from work every day, which can be said to be a daily routine that we are familiar with. So taking good photos doesn't necessarily have to go to scenic spots, if you can find these beauties in ordinary daily life, it is actually easy to record them in the form of mobile phone photography.
The beauty of light and shadow
The beauty of color
If we think about it again, the masters of photography can continue to produce excellent works, neither because they are more skilled in photographic equipment than others, nor because they have more shooting "routines" for each subject, the core lies in their observation and ability to control the picture. I believe that even if they pick up their phones, they can create very good photographs.
Review, typesetting, binding and other details are not spared
In the process of reprinting this book, Teacher Mao Shejun specially instructed me to send him a copy of the PDF file in the aspects of typesetting, reviewing and prepressing. At first, I thought he just wanted to keep a backup, but in fact, Mr. Mao read the manuscript carefully every time, and would make suggestions for changes to the nuances in the layout, such as which diagrams are suitable for changing to large charts on the page, which diagrams are suitable for opening, and so on. Very impressed is a black and white photo of an ancient chaozhou building, he suggested that I change the base color of the page from white to light beige (the book has 3 kinds of background colors according to the layout), because the upper part of the photo captures the sky, if it is placed on a white background, it is easy to mix with the highlights of the sky, and it is impossible to distinguish the boundaries of the photo. The replacement after-effect is much better.
The image on the left is before the replacement, and the image on the right is after the replacement
In the binding design process, Mr. Mao and I agreed that we could retain the design form of the first version, that is, naked back hardcover + waist seal. The naked back can ensure that the book can be flat opened, which can give the reader the best reading experience; the hardcover cover is harder, which is conducive to the protection and collection of the book, and the wear of the cover can be avoided to the greatest extent when reading; and the dark waist cover contrasts with the light-colored cover, increasing the layering of the design, and also makes the naked back of the book easy to find on the shelf.
Real shots
The author, Mao Shejun, has a great love for photography and is also good at telling
At the end of this editor's note, I would like to talk about the author of this book, Teacher Mao Shejun.
Mr. Mao is a retired corporate executive and a director of the China Photographers Association. In the few contacts, I can clearly feel Mr. Mao's enthusiasm for photography, whether it is in conversation or at the dinner table, as long as he sees something of interest, Mr. Mao will immediately take out his Huawei mobile phone to record it, which is relatively rare even among the photographic authors I have contacted. I think this dedication and love is also the reason why Teacher Mao has been able to create a large number of wonderful works in just three or four years.
In addition, Teacher Mao is good at discovering and summarizing the laws of things, and can tell them in vivid and understandable language. His mobile photography lectures were well received and well received. I once watched the video of Mr. Mao's lecture, and because there were not enough seats in the venue, some of the audience stood in the aisle and listened to the two-hour lecture. The first edition of The Beauty of Mobile Photography was distilled from his lecture framework.
Six months after I received the manuscript, after typesetting, three reviews and three proofreadings, and constant revision and fine-tuning in the process, the second edition of "The Beauty of Mobile Photography" was finally printed and listed in major online bookstores.
If you want to shoot the style of internet celebrities, learn how to P chart and color grading, then this book may not be suitable for you; if you are just getting started with photography, I hope to use the lens of your mobile phone to enhance your photographic observation and record your daily life, I believe that this book will definitely make you gain something.
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