The world is overflowing with photographs. Every day, in almost every field and place, we enjoy, that is, producing and consuming, an immeasurable number of photographic images. Whatever it is, if we first understand its nature and apply it properly, we may reach the true goal of benefiting this world. It seems that today photographers mainly focus on image competitiveness ignoring its fundamentals. Whether commercial or fine art, they tend to stick to the stimuli of images to make their works stand out more. For example, many visual, performance, and installation artists receiving worldwide attention utilize photography as one of their expressive media. Once they deeply understand the nature of photographs, they will create more profound works.

Photography is a plastic art composed of the image and medium. Based on two masters, John Szarkowski and Stephen Shore, this book deals with the formative nature of photographs that is distinctly different from other art media. While teaching the formative and philosophical nature of photographs at university, Gabe Sheen realized some needs to refine and supplement their theories, which led to the writing of this book. As stated in the introduction of the first edition, he planned to write a revised edition sooner or later by adding the universal design principles applicable to photography. After carefully reviewing the first edition, Sheen decided to make what he had already written more transparent and easier to understand. Sheen always looks forward to hearing valuable advice or feedback on this book.