This is the third and final book in Ansel Adams photography series. I really cant stress enough the importance of reading all 3 of these books and reading them in their proper order. Ansel talks about a lot of techniques and many of these techniques build upon previous knowledge. If your serious enough about photography to have an interest in these books then you should want to do it right and doing it right is buying all 3 books and reading them in order.

Its important to note that these books mainly deals with black and white and rightfully so. Ansel's passion was Black and White and it would have been a huge mistake to have included a serious teaching of color into these books. If you are interested in color I recommend buying a separate book that specializes in color and to read it after you have finished these 3 books.

I wont bother going into much detail in regards to what this book teaches. That would take too much time and it would make this review way too long. Ill simply say that this book will put you on the road to becoming a master printer. As you most likely already know Ansel is one of the best black and white printers in the history of photography, in fact most people would credit him as being not one of the best but THE Best printer ever. His prints are magical and there is a reason for this. He was absolutely obsessed with quality and his skills in the darkroom were amazing. This book teaches you the techniques that made Ansel Adams one of the best printers ever to pick up a camera.

The bottom line - This is hands down the best 3 book series on photography ever made. If you are serious about photography and want to learn how to master shooting and printing in black and white then look no further. By the time you get finished with this series you will be a completely different photographer and will have a much better understanding of the skills required to become a master. With that being said if your a beginner you might want to think about starting with something a little less demanding. These books are a bit much for beginners.

5 stars and then some.

That Adams' "The Print" is a landmark in photographic processing instruction is indisputable.

But while the visual objectives that Adams illustrates are as valid today as ever the bulk of this book is strictly for film printers. Digital photographers will go very hungry looking for any genuinely practical and useful tips here. For them, I recommend looking at the several excellent books on digital b&w printing that are available today. The best embody precisely the same visual objectives but present the solutions in terms of contemporary digital tools and techniques.

If you long for the days when photography, real photography, was black and white on film, then you will love this book. Of commercial necessity it has been years since I maintained my own darkroom and printed my own prints . . but how I miss the magic! This book brings it all back and in so doing opens some new creative channels in my mind as to how to get beautiful prints in the digital age. If you're a purist, you will love this book. If you are a pragmatist you will find ways to correlate traditional methods to digital processing and printing (even though the book does not address the topic of digital at all.) If you are serious about b/w get this book then work with your own shots and in your own workflow until you can emulate the look of this master.

Ansel Adams is the master of photography, black and white, but still photographic principles and concepts have been throughly tried and tested by him and he teaches you so much in his series starting with "The Camera" and ending up with this book which focuses more on the final piece. The 2nd book in the series is also so very crucial because it outlines and describes his "Zone System" in great detail. A must have for any avid photographer and a great shelf reference for any professional. Now go out and shoot.. waste some film for crying out loud and get some awesome shots :)

In this third part of Adams' technical writings, you'll find a guide to go from what a camera recorded (it talks about a negative, but can be well applied to a digital raw file) to a fine print delivering "what you saw and felt" to the viewer.

Even if it applies to B&W, I find that much of the content can be applied to color work if you think a bit more about it - mostly now, in the digital age with separated luminance and chrominance controls.

You'll also read some good ol' kitchen recipes about developers and toning... These will be less and less useful, but can bring back the smell of the darkroom to your memory ;o)... And quite often, the principle that based the recipe can be applied to another media.

A reference, whether shooting film, digital or glass plates (and of invaluable interest for the two former).