Customer Reviews

Close-Up and Macro Photography

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Organized well, nice pictures and some good ideas. I have too many of this type of book, and at the same time not enough. One of my favorites.

I can't wait to get out and take the pictures of the Spring flowers. This book has many hints that will guide you through the process of taking not good but great macro shots. Before, I used to use a technique similar to "hit and miss" (I think a very popular one when applied to macros) and there were many that I missed. I've learned better now.

Book Review by Thorsten Gohl (member - Vancouver InDesign User Group)


Close-up and Macro Photography by Adrian Davies (Focal Press)

First when I read the title, it seemed to me that it is concentrating on different camera and lighting techniques for macro photography. It includes these topics, but also gives you a greater idea about photography workflow, from the pre-production, set up, shot and post-production. Maybe a little bit too much general information for one book if your focus is the photography of close-up and macro photography.

The layout of the chapters is very easy to follow. It is talking about image chapter, lenses, camera support, lighting, macro studio and workflow. Again, it seemed like there is much too much detail about general photography rather than focusing on more important things and taking to more time explain them. The book is clear and precise, step by step. Like page 21 with the spot metering explanation, it is great for the reader to know that you should focus your meter (in this case spot meter) on the butterfly to get the right exposure. It is explained well and the images help to understand it even more.

Overall, I feel that the book is for beginners with some advanced knowledge. The part about depth of field, the sensor plain, plain of sharp focus, the lighting rays might be a little bit too much for the starter in photograph, but I think it is really interesting and if you want to improve your images by understanding what happens when you click the shutter, even necessary. All in all, I had fun reading it and also got some good reminders out of it.

When I first got this book, I immediately fanned through the pages and looked at the nice pictures. The images with illustrations especially the chapter on Lenses and also on Lighting, made it easy to understand. I think this book will benefit mostly beginners or people like me who have been doing macro photography for years but have not read a single book about it. I now use it as a reference when I want to do a photo shoot differently than how I have always done.

Close-Up and Macro Photography is a brilliant resource but only really offers a little for those who have been taking photos for a while. I'm a completely self-taught amateur photographer and I, personally, only found helpful info in the chapters on lighting and camera supports (hence my rating of only 3 stars).

For total beginners, however, there's a wealth of information to be found: image capture, lenses, camera supports, lighting, macro studios plus workflow and image processing (including some tricks to enhance photos in Photoshop). Were I beginner, this book would have landed a 4-5 star rating.

This book is good as a reference, I expected more helpful information in regard to practical macro and close-up photography and equipments. I had no experience in macro photography when I read it, It did help me to realise how cool macrophotography is. Book knowledge is different from practice. I am enjoying my taking close up and macro pictures, if anyone is interested, try doing it, you will really enjoy.