Capturing the Light: An Inspirational and Instructional Guide to Landscape Photography [Hardcover]

Peter Watson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2006

This outstanding book showcases 90 of Peter Watson's stunning photographs, all capturing the light to perfection. Each photograph is allocated a page for display, then on the facing page a duplicate is annotated with Peter's explanations of the techniques and equipment that he employed to create it. Sparkling dialogue accompanies the photographs, which provides a wonderful insight into the circumstance under which they were shot. This book includes: Landscape Elements, The Right Approach, Understanding Light, Digital Age, The Creative Use of Filters, The Art of Seeing, and Embracing the Future. It is a fascinating insight into the life of a landscape photographer. The inspirational photographs and invaluable guidance on techniques and equipment make this book an essential addition to any photography enthusiast's library.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Photographers' Institute Press (March 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861084811
• ISBN-13: 978-1861084811
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,661,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Advanced Landscape Photographers, July 23, 2006

By 

Conrad J. Obregon (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Capturing the Light: An Inspirational and Instructional Guide to Landscape Photography (Hardcover)

Here's a book of beautiful landscape photographs that also provides useful instruction to the advanced photographer.

The general layout is to present a full size landscape photograph on the right side of the fold and opposite some considerations of the photographer about taking the photograph followed by an annotated thumbnail with Watson's remarks about particular items with which he was concerned. Each photograph is also annotated with shooting data, including an element not usually encountered: waiting for the light.

And this is the main theme of the book: the landscape photographer should wait until the light is right. Waiting times varied from immediate to 5 days. Moreover, I suspect that if he hadn't wanted not to appear facetious he might have said five years, since he recounts going back to the same spot many times over a period of years to get the right light. A second theme is the importance of spending the time to select just the right view.

Watson's subjects are not the dramatic mountain landscapes of Art Wolfe. Instead they are far more subtle, showing textured fields and dappling sunlight and shadows. These pictures require lingering over for close examination. I would recommend that one not read the entire book at a single sitting but rather examine a few pictures and Watson's related commentary at a time. (An unattainable ideal might even be to have one of these pictures hanging on the wall to live with.) Watson includes a few pictures that he considers less than perfect, and his thoughts on how they could have been improved.

Other then the reported camera settings there is little of a technical nature either as to exposure and focusing or equipment. The one exception is that Watson uses filters and tells you whether a polarizer was at full. The thumbnails show exactly where the dividing line was placed when using a graduated neutral density filter

Although the book is organized into chapters, I can't say that this organization contributes to a comprehensive understanding. Instead each picture is its own little master class.

There are other books that use this same technique of analyzing a picture, like the excellent works of Tony Sweet. On the other hand, many of these books are just portfolios disguised as manuals. But I found Watson to be truly instructive as well as inspirational. Now, I only hope I can learn to be as patient as he is in capturing the light.

(As a side note, those looking for advanced landscape instruction but craving something with more intellectualizing and a less applied approach may be interested in "Landscape Within: Insights and Inspirations for Photographers" by David Ward.)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting text, disappointing photos, February 25, 2007

By 

James Walley (Maple Valley, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Capturing the Light: An Inspirational and Instructional Guide to Landscape Photography (Hardcover)

As previously stated, this book is made up of a series of landscape photos with facing-page notes on the experience behind the making of each.

The explanations are, by and large, quite well done. It's the photos themselves that are the problem. Whether the problem lies with some sort of reduction in color and contrast in the printing of this book, Watson's predeliction for using Fuji's subdued Provia emulsion rather that the more vivid Velvia favored by most landscape photographers, or simply the photographer's more laid-back artistic personality, many of these photos are so low-key as to be monotonous. Don't get me wrong -- when Watson is confronted with a highly-dramatic subject, like a stormy sky or a sunset, he is capable of creating images worth your time. But, all too often, his landscape photographs are blander than lukewarm cream of wheat. And some are frankly embarrassing (and not just because of his continual and VERY obvious use of graduated ND filters to make the top of the sky look darker and more "moody"). For example, why on earth would one include a banal and thoroughly uninteresting snapshot of a bus bench in front of a shoe store (page 115) in a book on landscape photography in the first place, let alone praise it, as Watson does, as "An Almost Timeless Image"...? Certainly, those drawn to the landscapes of photographers like Galen Rowell, Tim Fitzharris, or Watson's Brit contemporaries David Ward and Joe Cornish will find little to interest them in this collection of often-pedestrian images.

And that's a shame because, although Watson's text descriptions are worthwhile, they'd be much more so if the photographs they were describing were more deserving of concerted study. As a nature photographer, I would love to see a book whose images made me think "I wish I could take photos like that," and where I could then learn how the photographer achieved it. Sadly, this is not that book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Title, May 26, 2006

By 

Photomad (Christchurch, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Capturing the Light: An Inspirational and Instructional Guide to Landscape Photography (Hardcover)

Quite a good book with very informative text and very well printed. The photography itself didnt blow me away but it is very interesting the thoughts behind the pictures and how long he waited for the shot etc.

Recommended.