Customer Reviews

Capturing Drama in Nature Photography

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In his introduction to "Capturing Drama" Jim Zuckerman says that "translating nature's drama to film requires a three step process.locate the subject.previsualize an artful interpretation.the technical aspects come into play." If Zuckerman had organized his book by his three-step procedure this might have been an interesting and useful book with a new slant on nature photography.

Instead, he picked twelve concepts around which to organize his work, such as form, perspective and exposure. Under each of these headings he shows several of his pictures with a brief statement. The pictures and the statement often do not relate to his chosen concept. They rarely relate to his three-step process. Often he omits really significant information that should be covered. For example, in his chapter on perspective he does not point out that using different focal length lenses, with different angles of vision, while keeping the image the same size, will change the amount of background included in a shot.

Sometimes he is just plain wrong. In several places he suggests that if he had used a different focal length lens for a subject, changed his distance but kept the exposure and image size the same, he would have gotten a different depth of field. It's an optical fact that if the image size and exposure are the same with different focal length lenses, the depth of field around the image will still be the same.

I also can't walk away from the publication itself. The book was printed on a semi-coated stock rather than the usual coated stock of photography books. The color gamut of such paper is less than coated stock and many vibrant colors appear slightly toned down. Too bad. Some of Zuckerman's photos are good.

In summery this book is a collection of random tips rather than an organized approach to the subject. And I was frustrated.

As with most of Jim Zuckerman's books, this one was incredibly informative. The 12 chapters cover the areas in photography that are the most helpful in getting the best shots of nature and the outdoors.
From perspective to motion to exposure to self-critique, Jim's knowledge of photography is second to none. I know of no one out there shooting who understands the mechanics of this medium more than him. And it shows in his photography, which is simply amazing.
This is a must buy for any one serious about seeing and capturing nature better in their photographs.

I purchased this book and I have used many of the artistic techniques and ideas to improve my nature photography. I would advise any one who is serious in nature photography to use the ideas Jim outlined in this book. I can't see how anyone who actually studies this book to not be satisfied with the content. I also have looked at a lot of this authors work and I think he is one of the best nature photographers in the business. His work is outstanding.

This is a terrific book with good recommendations and illustrations, and alike Jim Zuckerman's courses, it is well organized and well written. Jim speaks in the first person with his classes and tells what he has done and in the necessary order. This is important because it makes directions work if followed precisely, I learned from experience.

I'm very thankful that I purchased this book, and recommend it to others whether or not you capture in film or digitally.

This little book is a great read. It makes a series of important points very succinctly (essentially one point on every double page spread) about how to capture the elusive `drama' in a photograph. The example photographs are very, very well chosen to illustrate the points. The explanations are well-written and clear. I made copious notes while reading the book and I refer to these notes before I go out on a shoot.

This book is great for developing creativity in nature photography. The author isolates and illustrates different concepts of a photograph, such as perspective, color, light, etc. When focusing on these concepts while composing a shot, one can learn how to make the pictures dramatic like those of the pros. Zuckerman really makes the complicated concept of a "dramatic" photograph simple by breaking up the concepts to look for in a shot. great picrues too!