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41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a waste, July 21, 2006
This review is from: Lonely Planet Urban Photography (How to) (Paperback)
I was looking for a book that might offer sound advice on shooting architecture and they seem surprisingly rare. When my search on Amazon turned up this book, it seemed a fair bet that urban travel photography would include shooting buildings so I gave it a try. The first chapter covers equipment and the depth of coverage is limited to telling you that there are SLRs, advanced digital cameras, and rangefinders. The author is also kind enough to tell you that there are zoom lenses, prime lenses, and that some are telephoto while others are wide angle. He does not tell you which of these might come in most handy in an urban environment. He does not discuss the pros and cons of lighter, smaller, but slower lenses compared to the bigger, heavier, but also faster lenses that cost a lot more money. He doesn't really tell you much of anything beyond acknowledging the existence of basic equipment. If any of the above is news to you, then this book will be a real treasure trove but most will find it so elementary as to be utterly useless. Unfortunately, the chapter on equipment is exactly like all of the following chapters in the book. I have culled a small sample of the amazing revelations this book has to offer. "Successful images have a point of interest" "Skyscrapers are often covered in glass, which provides reflectons of the buildings around them" "Fountains are often the centerpiece of city squares or traffic islands." These gems are a small sample but there are many similar "tips" to be found. There is a chapter that covers all aspects of photographic technique including exposure, composition, depth of field, and light in 14 pages that is mostly photographs. You can imagine the depth of coverage this allows for the various topics. It's almost hysterically funny that the book is published in digest size, presumably so that you can carry it in a hip pocket. What's lacking is any information or advice that you would actually find useful to bring with you. The book's one asset is that it is filled with various travel photos and some of them are quite nice. Unfortunately, the digest size of the book prevents them from being seen to their fullest potential. Since there were no reviews at the time I bought this, I've "taken one for the team" and am posting this so you won't have to waste your money like I did.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Travel Writers benefit from being Travel Photographers, March 18, 2008
This review is from: Lonely Planet Urban Photography (How to) (Paperback)
I have to comment on the reviewer who gave this book one star: If you wanted a book on shooting architecture why not find one... this is about Travel Photography and it does a great job covering the intended subject. Recently I got a bug to learn about Travel Writing. I decided to develop a 3 month course, much like one would take at a community college. One of the things I learned quickly is that most travel articles have a much better chance of being accepted by editors if they include photos journaling your travels. I've looked at a number of such books and I found this one well worth adding to my course materials. The beginning of the book covers some basics such as gear/equipment, technical elements and light. For me it's the last two-thirds of the book that really shines. I'Anson calls this section On the Road and it's a compilation of specific locations that editors who are going to consider your travel photographs are looking for and good, maybe not great, examples of what's going to sell. One thing you learn is that great photos are not the ones that actually sell most of the time. If you understand the elements that make up a successful query letter, you'll know why this section is so valuable. I was just paging through the book once again and I'm going to revise my remark about the photos - they're a lot of really wonderful photos that spur ones imagination and make me want to get out and look for the type of opportunities these photos represent. This book is just fun to read, great to look at and a great addition to teaching yourself how to be a top notch Travel Photographer. To Richard I'Anson I say - Well done mate!
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for Urban Travel Photography!!!, November 27, 2006
This review is from: Lonely Planet Urban Photography (How to) (Paperback)
In my opinion, this is a wonderful guide book for an Urban Travel photographer. The section on what to take is the most useful and it tells you what kind of subjects an urban travel photographer (as opposed to wildlife travel photographer or landscape travel photographer) should look out for. [...] I do not profess that that my photographs are great, but I feel that this book has helped me tremendously during my trip. Contrary to what the previous reviewer mentioned, I do not find statements like this to be useless: "Successful images have a point of interest" "Skyscrapers are often covered in glass, which provides reflectons of the buildings around them" "Fountains are often the centerpiece of city squares or traffic islands." These are words that set a thinking photographer's mind to think - you can see the result of these words at my photo-site. All in all, I am very happy to have read this book before my trip. It couldn't have been any better.
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