Customer Reviews

Digital Nature Photography: The Art and the Science

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For many years John Shaw's "Nature Photography Field Guide" was my recommended book for beginning nature photographers, even though it was based on film rather than digital media. I sometimes recommended other newer digital books to supplement Shaw but I found no replacement. At last the complete nature photography book for the digital age has arrived.

The Gerlach book tells you everything you need to know to get started in digital nature photography. After a few inspirational chapters, the author discusses equipment for nature photography, exposure, effective lens use, composition, close-up, flash and even the methods of carrying equipment.

When Gerlach (I refer primarily to John, since while Barbara's influence appears throughout the book, instruction is given from his point of view) discusses exposure, he lays out the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and media sensitivity completely, doing a better job than some lighting books I've read. When he talks about the use of the histogram and "blinkies" in setting proper exposure, he even tells you what to beware of in using these tools. Moreover, reference to these tools appears many times throughout the book, so that the beginner will understand the importance of them. The book also recognizes that some equipment of the advanced nature photographer may not make financial sense for the beginner and indicates the alternatives.

When he talks about the use of telephoto lenses, he dispels the misconceptions about depth of field, but does emphasize the importance of perspective control. In discussing flash photography, he describes the use of state-of-the art equipment, like Nikon's CLS system, and even gives suggestions for multiple flash (although he didn't advise me how to use more than one flash for a rapidly-moving bird).

Most of the book is aimed at the technical side of nature photography, although the section on composition does provide some guidelines that will help the photographer find the art in nature photography. The photographs range from accomplished to beautiful, and always support the teaching points.

Sometimes the suggestions while good, seem a little beyond what most of us will attempt. I don't see myself riding a horse through waist deep snow with a string of pack mules with my equipment, but at least the book made me feel the snow shoes in my closet weren't such a crazy investment.

Intermediate nature photographers will probably not pick up much that's new, although the book may serve as a good review of fundamentals.

Now I'm waiting for a book from the Gerlachs that will tell me about getting close to the animals and birds.

I attended the Gerlach's seminar 15 to 20 years ago and learned more from them than any other seminar or book. And their newest book is a fantastic continuation of their exceptional teaching skills. Techniques are insightful. Photographs are gorgeous, always improving over the years. Text is clear and concise, EXCEPT: FIRE THE EDITOR. The first few chapters are a mixture of typographical and grammatical errors, the phrasing is disorganized and distracting to the point of being almost unreadable, and they ramble.

Buy the book, but skim very quickly the first few chapters.

This is a very enjoyable book to read for inspiration and learning some photography tricks and tips as well as developing a photographic workflow. As a graphic designer, I was shocked at the quality of the printing of this book. The title on the front cover is enough to send anyone who has an interest in typography, screaming. Other than the poor print quality, the book is filled with photographs that are not only inspirational, but tend to make the reader very envious of the photographic opportunities of this pair of authors who are husband and wife.
This is a smallish book that you can take with you many places if you just want to occupy a few minutes while reading. It will make you want to get outdoors and experiment with your camera. I find the horizontal format of the book a little clumsy to hold. It is good nonetheless for displaying the landscape format of many of the photographs.
Anyone who has an interest in nature photography should definitely check out this book.

This is an Excellent book! John and Barbara share some very important information that will make your nature digital photography much better regardless of what skill level you are at. Great photos as examples. John shoots with Canon and Barbara shoots with Nikon and they give specific settings, examples, and reasons for doing something. Things as simple as how to mark your start and ending of a panorama series or how to use 3 or more SB-800 Speedlights to shoot a bird or other wildlife and make sure the background doesn't go black. This is very good reading and will go on my permanent bookshelf and not resold as many books after I read them.

Honestly, this is the best photography text book I've read in a long time. It was the recommended book in a nature class this past summer. I agree with the instructor, its explanation of exposure is the best out there. I've recommended it to many people. The authors website is invaluable as well. I tried in the field what I learned and have now changed my technique. The author is succinct in his explanations and shares his personal views and technical data in a clear and meaningful way. Amazon also had the best price and I received it within 2 days.

This is an excellent book that provides straight forward guidance from start to finish. We have recently visited Zion and Bryce canyons and used the book to guide us in photographing the amazing sites.
The book provides recommendation for particular type of equipment such as selecting a tripod. Many other books say "select the tripod to suite your needs" John and Barbara tell you what works for them, they provide model number etc. They selflessly share their knowledge and experience. This is the best book we have read on the photography period.

I was really looking forward to this book. I wanted an interesting book introducing the topic of nature photography. What this book is in reality is an introductory book to photography itself. Sure there are a lot of amazing photos, but nothing about how they were obtained.

I realize photography is photography but why would I want a book nature photography that has chapters dedicated to how to pic a digital camera?!?!?! I have done that, I wanted info on the topic in the title. I have plenty of books on exposure, composition and shutter use...and one chapter on "Carrying Your Photography Gear"...again, huh?

This is an excellent book for someone just starting out in photography who does not have other references and/or no clue how to use the internet to learn the basics. If you want shared experiences and philosophy about nature photography...THIS IS NOT FOR YOU....or for me.

I simply cannot fully express how let down I am by this misleading title and extremely basic content. I was going to leave a 3-star rating because the info is solid but, after more thought, given there is essentially zero reference to the implied topic of nature photography I am giving this 1-star. Just a shame...

I attended a workshop with the Gerhardts and they are very talented and generous with their time and knowledge. This lovely little book contains much good information, real world practical advice with options for different budgets, and wonderful photographic examples. This is not a cookbook but a resource especially suited for those who are are looking for a well explained rather than highly technical reference.

This is a book that you just don't want to stop reading!!

Digital Nature Photography by John and Barbara Gerlach provides us with an array of gorgeous nature images, how-to's for capturing these images, and secrets and techniques learned by the authors over many years. The authors build on the concept that the ability to master "technique, subject and situation" will lead to creating excellent images. Importantly I found the book fun to read, easy to understand, and worth my time and money.

You will enjoy this book for the images alone. Living subjects range from bobcats to baboons; an assortment of birds, owls, and ducks; insects to elephants and almost everything in between!! The landscapes are breath taking and include: abstracts, waterfalls, sunrises, sunsets, fog, etc. Oh I almost forgot to mention that there are beautiful flower shots too.

Also the book is a great technical refresher for experienced nature photographers as well as a solid guide for beginners. I especially liked the expert tips the authors provided for camera settings, flash, and macro. Tips and how-to's are accompanied by images illustrating the technique.

If you are interested in or currently photograph nature I strongly recommend that you purchase this book!!

Marc Schoenholz

A number of folks have downgraded their ratings of this book because of the poor editing. I have read some 20 photography books over the last couple of years and I would have to say this is one of the best. I agree the editing is very poor, among the worst I have see in a professional publication. But I was able to look past that and throughly enjoy this book. I learned alot from it and will likely read it again. If they were to issue a second edition with better editing I would probably buy a copy that is how good I found this book to be. Don't throw the baby our with the editor's bath water.