Customer Reviews

The Digital SLR Expert Landscapes

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One of the problems of books about landscape photography is that there are many different audiences for such books ranging from the photographer who is just learning about the subject to experienced hands looking to pick up a few tips. This book seemed more aimed at the new landscape photographer who understands how to use his or her camera and understands the basic principles of exposure.

The book is written by five of the world's great landscape photographers with each offering a chapter on a different subject. Darwin Wiggett writes about controlling exposure; David Noton about understanding light; William Neill about composition; Tom Mackie about landscape locations; and Tony Worobiec about black-and-white landscapes.

While the first and last chapters are more technical in nature, the other three chapters are devoted to a general understanding of their subjects. The chapter on exposure mentions things like the use of the histogram and the black-and-white landscapes chapter emphasizes the use of Photoshop in converting images from color into black and white. As to the other authors, Mackie, as an example, discusses the importance of planning the landscape photograph before ever taking camera in hand, and methods of treating different environments.

I was slightly disappointed by the chapter on black-and-white. My experience is that black-and-white landscapes require a different kind of visualization then color, but this was unmentioned.

One of the most astounding things about this book was to learn that the authors were photographers who had used large format, film, view cameras and who now used digital single lens reflex cameras for their work. The authors explain why they made the switch; the book may provide comfort to DSLR landscape photographers who have been feeling guilt about not using the large-format cameras.

The chapters are profusely illustrated with the five authors' photographs but I didn't feel the book was a thinly disguised method of presenting portfolios (although all images were quite lovely), but rather that the pictures were truly presented to emphasize the teaching points.

I didn't pick up a lot of pointers that I had not encountered before, but it seemed to me that for someone just getting into landscape photography, this would be a good introduction, without being as simplistic as to tell you the difference between a point-and-shoot and a DSLR.

On the other hand, while the volume will provide a nice review for experienced landscape photographers, those looking to push their work a little further might want to look at something a bit more philosophical and theoretical like David Ward's "Landscape Within: Insights and Inspirations for Photographers" and "Landscape Beyond: A Journey into Photography".

As an avid 'point-and-shoot' amateur digital photographer, I was keen to learn about photography with a digital SLR camera. This book is perfect for explaining the specifics of digital photography, whilst keeping it simple enough to understand. The book consists of contributions from five professional photographers and is filled with beautiful landscape images from around the world. Not only are the images beautiful, but the camera settings for each photograph are listed beside them, so you can replicate similar situations yourself. The use of polarizers, graduated filters and other accessories is also explained. The book is filled with tips and step-by-step procedures for some post-production techniques (using Photoshop etc) and really is a very informative book written by people who know photography inside and out. This is one of the best books I have ever purchased.

After reading over a dozen books on landscape photography and HDR tools I am finding this one to be the best so far. The way it lays out the information and illustrates it is incredibly useful at the time that I am trying to create pictures.

I am an amateur photographer and have been for two years. This book speaks to me as such without making me feel stupid or inferior for not having a career as a professional photographer. I give this book great praise for the information found within it. Although world-renown photographers are speaking to the reader about their personal field experiences and expertise, it is written in straight-forward language that amateurs may understand.

The book begins with an introduction of the five photographers and why they all prefer digital SLR systems over their former film systems. The next section includes the equipment used by each man to actually make the shots they get. They then provide concise dialogue of controlling exposure (chapter 1), understanding light (chapter 2), composing landscape images (chapter 3), landscape locations (chapter 4), and landscapes in black and white (chapter 5).

The book is not a series of drab or artistically subjective photographs that make you wonder, "Well, that picture looks nice/interesting...but how did they actually achieve this?" The photographs included in the book are essential in outlining their varied techniques and I love this book for their method in doing so.

Rather than just place pictures throughout the book with painfully vague captions stating, "See how the light plays a role on the landscape?" or, "Simplicity at its best," they actually have full captions accompanying every photograph detailing: 1. the location, 2. their critique of their work with additional tips and techniques, and 3. (THE MOST IMPORTANT) the camera equipment they used to take it and the shot information (i.e. Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, 70-200mm lens, 1/15 sec at f/11, ISO 100)!! Every single picture has captions to that effect and it is extraordinarily helpful to see what literally makes a good landscape photograph.

The book does not supply you with endless technical details throughout the narration, so don't expect an all-encompassing book about photography. This book is specific to real landscapes found in the real world with minimal post-processing and nothing more. No slight-of-hand, no smoke and mirrors, just real testimonials of professionals who use digital SLRs as though they were film systems - but with digital perks.

An example of this is when David Noton explains in a caption that he spent four days staking out the best conditions for just one photograph. They didn't take a few snapshots and splice them together in post-processing to make a digital fake. This book showcases genuine professional photography!

Similarly mentioned by another reviewer, the layout of the book does not make me feel as though I stumbled upon a "world-renown" photographer's highbrow portfolio and soiled it with my inexperienced, amateurish eyes. The book is straight-forward and written by guys who know their stuff and, more importantly, have the humility to translate their work for amateurs to understand.

The pictures are aesthetically pleasing and envious. The captions and narrations are readable at every competency level. I would recommend this to anyone serious in elevating their landscape photography.

I've had my digital camera for a couple of years now. I love it. It gives me an excuse to do things, to travel, and to get up early and stay out late.

I recently started a notebook of things to remember when going out on photography trips.

This is the professional version of the notebook I've been working on.

The one thing I really like about the book is the authors seem to be converts to Digital Photography. They really advocate it.

One bit of contrast I respect are the digital editing tips are given, but we are reminded to get it right in the camera.

Very good book.

I am not a man of words but of images, I am a photographer. You need to get this book if you want to learn about shooting landscapes. Period.

We discovered while on vacation several years ago that my wife has a natural talent for landscape photography. Since then I have bought better and better cameras for her. This fall I purchased a Canon XSi with multiple lenses. She was already taking remarkable pictures. But this book helped her to have less throw away shots and more of the WOW shots.

This book is quite possibly one of the best I've ever read on photography. The authors start out with a general introduction and discuss the various equipment (camera, lenses, tripods, etc) they use and then jump right into the meat of the topic with controlling exposure/aperture, histograms, RAW, etc. From there it goes more into lighting conditions, weather, color temperature, then landscape composition and so on. I feel all the information is laid out in an easy to understand fashion, so it's effective for less-seasoned photographers, but at the same time stated concisely enough for experienced ones not to get bored.

One of my absolute favorite aspects of this book is that they do a very good job of showing you the different effects you can achieve my modifying parameters such as exposure/aperture/etc and you can see the results in each photo side-by-side. In addition every picture I remember seeing had the equipment and exposure settings listed right underneath, allowing you to easily see how they captured each shot. All of this wonderful knowledge focused around the art of landscape photography makes for an excellent book.

A side note: The book isn't long, you can read through it fairly quickly (140 pgs but thick stock - good print quality). Also, the photographers do use primarily Canon equipment so that is what is discussed under the first section (sorry Nikon users). Shouldn't be a problem either way though, the actual photography information itself is camera-agnostic.

I like this book. I bought it after reviewing it at a bookstore before I saw it online (including the reviews).

I like the way it is setup. Each author covers an area. I love the way they talk about the equipment and the settings for each shot and how they achieved it.

The only pet peeve I have is more driven by the book release timing. All of the photographers presenting use Canon. I believe this was because at that time Nikon had not come out with the D3 or D3x. Just my Nikon bias showing....

Buy it. It will make you a better photographer.

As a recent convert to digital photography, I've always be more interested in landscapes than any other subject. It only took a quick scan of two chapters in this book to get me to buy it. Each contributing author does a bang up job of adding something to the content the others don't, and in that way you get maximum value for your hard-earned dollar (the explanation of histograms how to use them may alone be worth the price of the book). The photos are excellent examples of the techniques explained, and those explanations are clear and easy to understand IF you are familiar with the basic principals of photography. This book will stay in my growing photography library, no doubt.