Customer Reviews

John Shaw's Landscape Photography

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book gets a conditional five stars for reasons I will soon explain.

If you are a novice or intermediate photographer, you want to shoot landscapes, and you want to get only one book, this is the one.

Shaw starts out with the basics of exposure theory and then discusses equipment, film and lenses. The emphasis throughout the discussion here and later is strictly in terms of landscape photography. He moves on to the effects of light, composition and a pot pourri of special problems and solutions.

Shaw is clear, direct and succinct. There is no room for confusion about the points he is making, and he makes all the essential points. No writer gives better instruction. His photographs have been selected not so much to dazzle you with their brilliance as to support his teaching points, although his pictures are beautiful.

So what makes my recommendation conditional?

Well, this book was published in 1994 and there have been several technological changes in photography since then. However, most of what Shaw says here still holds true for landscape photography. What's changed even more is that in 2000 Shaw's book "Nature Photography Field Guide" was published. This later book goes over much of the same material as the landscape book, while taking into account the latest technology. It even uses some of the exact same anecdotes to illustrate points.

The difference between the two books is that one looks at just landscape photography while the other looks at the more encompassing class of nature photography. The Field Guide contains a long chapter on close up photography which may not interest the landscape photographer, while the landscape book aims each chapter exclusively at landscape with slightly more detail.

Most of us aren't exclusively committed to landscape so the Field Guide seems like a better choice if you insist on only one book. But if you're like me, you'll get both books. If you're serious about landscapes the slant of the earlier book might just give you that slight edge to make a better landscape photograph.

The book reasonably covers most of the ground relevant to landscape photography, is acceptably written, well presented and nicely illustrated. On the other hand, Mr. Shaw spends pages for introductions that could be condensed in paragraphs, which can make the book more readable to some, or get on your nerves while you wait him to get down to what you bought the book for, i.e. the relevant techniques stripped down and discussed clearly and thoroughly. And when he finally seems to get there, more often than not he just skims the surface, this time in a few paragraphs where you would expect to see pages. So the book offers lots of words for little substance, it is often shallow and incomplete even for a basic-level text (e.g. fancy discussing exposure of high-contrast scenes on slide film without a single word about bracketing?), could be better structured, more to-the-point and systematic for a manual, and it certainly adds nothing new.

Plenty of nice pictures, yes, some great; that is, if you like Fuji Velvia's garish colours, which plague the book. You can pick some ideas from them, but in this kind of book you judge pictures for their illustrative value rather than their beauty: what you want to see is different alternatives compared for each technical issue discussed, which is often limited or lacking in the book, and be given full technical details of each shot, whereas here you are left even without the exposure settings.

All the same, useful book if you do not know about basic exposure, what hyperfocal focusing is, what a polarizing filter does, when to use a tripod, the basic characteristics of various focal lengths, the basic effects of different lighting, basic composition, basic ..., etc. But then what you need is a general photography handbook, such as Michael Langford's, which through a both more thorough and concise coverage of these and other topics is more likely to improve your technique overall, including for landscape photography. If you are beyond that level, do save your money and look somewhere else.

After reading many photography book, it is no doubt that this one is the best. Other photography books bog you down with a plethora of info to memorize. Not this book. John Shaw explains concepts clear and concise. The book is easy to read and understand. I have also come across many hints and tips never mentioned in other photography books. Read this book and improve your picture taking!

This is an excellant work of John Shaw. I have bought 2 of his other books Closeup in Nature and field techniques. All these books are very well written. This specific book covers almost every aspects of nature photography including various lenses(zoom, tilting etc..) as well as discussion on various films. I will recommend this book as second volume to Profesional Field Techniques. Although this book does not contain the exposure information for each slide, the accompanying text provides solid information about how the exposure was made. This book is real good reference for anyone and everyone.

This was an excellent book for me as I needed to get a better foundation in the fundamentals. For an experienced photo buff I think this book would be too basic.

For me, though, I needed to get a better background in understanding things like exposure and exposure control issues, depth of field, hyperfocal distance, filters, lighting issues, and so on. Also the many tips and tricks Shaw discusses throughout the book are good.

My one strength is I know how to compose a good photo. I just needed to learn more about good camera technique to enhance my photos and this book was useful to bootstrap me to the next level.

The book has lots of nice photos. They're all shot with Fuji Velvia so the colors are extra saturated. I don't mind this but I suppose people develop a taste for these things. My one quip is that Shaw doesn't mention exposure settings in the captions for the photos.

All in all a good book for a beginner to get a leg up on some of the technical issues and improve his skills and photographic technique.

This book give precise and thoughtfull insites on both the technical and creative methods used to produce superior landscapes. There are numerous excellent examples. He does not get bogged down with technical trivia. I would definitly buy this book, it is a bargain. Its only shortcoming is not having a section on digital cameras that are taking over much of the market. These cameras allows instant feedback on photo results including histograms that remove all the guesswork and waiting to get film developed.

I've read about ten photography books and this one is my favorite. The text is simple, yet essential. The photographs are truly great.
I guess if someone has read "Nature Photography Field Guide" will find many things at least familiar. The photos, although great to my eye, might be found as too conventional. But thats OK with me.
I think John Shaw is the best "tutor" I could find. His books have helped me a lot to improve my photography.

I rated John Shaw's "Nature Photography" book a 4, but actually in retrospect it should have been rated a 5, so I rated this one a 5 to make it even. Both books, though similiar, are worth owning for the inspiring photos alone. John in his books, and this one is no exception, writes on a very readable manner and sections his topics nicely. As an advanced amateur I found this book to be very helpful. I especially enjoyed reading about his equipment tastes and why he owns them from everything from tripods, tripod heads, to filters, lens, and camera bags. A must for the library.

John Shaw's books are the best I have come across on the subject of "how-to-do" outdoor photography. Shaw is very purposeful in explaining the basics and supporing them with magnificent visual clues. What makes Shaw unique is his ability to intermingle the practical aspects of photography (exposure, equipment, composition) with the artistic vision. His style is entertaining, lucid and very easy to read and follow -- even for novice photographers. I highly recommend this book to amateurs and advanced amateurs who aspire for a higher quality outdoor photographs(to which group I belon as well)!

It is not very often that you find a good book with excellent photos and captions along with how-to instructions that are second to none. Once you're done with this book, read it again and then go find his other superb books that he has authored. I don't know John Shaw personally, but I can tell you after reading all of his books several times, I have not found another photography book author who comes close to what he conveys in his books. If your interest is in nature photography, the small price of his books are well worth it.