Customer Reviews

National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To start out, I am writing this review as a beginning/ameteur photographer with aspirations of becoming a professional landscape photographer. That said, I was hard-pressed to find a book that explains landscape photography that was either written at a level that I could understand or had sufficient examples and photographs to supplement the explanations provided. Then I stumbled upon this beauty.

First off, this book is well written. I found it easy to follow with thorough explanations and examples. Don't get me wrong, it is not "dummed down" for beginners, as I still do not understand all of the concepts/explanations Fitzharris provides, but I am sure that someone with more experience and knowledge would understand readily. The book is split up into chapters that make sense and flow seamlessly from one to the next, making it easy to read cover to cover but also easy to come back and find something specific if need be. Topics include everything from exposure and composition to proper equipment and digital retouching. The book does cover a broad range of information which makes it perfect for someone looking into landscape photography or wishing to build upon their landscape photography skills, but in covering such ground topics are touched on albeit for only a page or two. The concepts/explanations are by far sufficient for the purpose, but not very in-depth if one is looking for something specific on a particular subject/chapter within the book.

The second thing that impressed me about this book was the photographs. I have searched through a lot of books about photography and found it difficult to find one with photographs that not only exemplify the concept being explained, but also inspire the reader. The photos in this book are absolutely amazing. I would even recommend this book if you just like to look at pretty pictures. However, to the reader the photos are beautiful yet not intimidating since Fitzharris provides photos that exemplify the concept on the page and includes the camera used and all settings in a footnote near the photos, the photos serve to inspire the reader in a "yes, you can do this too" sense.

The thing I liked best about this book was that it was written FOR the reader. Fitzharris never says things like "for this photo I did this" in a self aggrandizing way, but phrases things towars the reader in more of a "to acchieve this effect you would need to" sense. I found this refreshing, as many photography books I have found are more about the author and his photos than helping out the reader. The book is not written dryly with explanations only, but the way Fitzharris writes inspires and encourages the reader while offering examples and explanations. I found this book very enjoyable.

The bottom line for me is that I have not been able to find a better book on landscape photography. I am still looking, but nothing speaks to me the way this book does. I would recommend this book to anyone from the beginning to professional photographer, or anyone that just wants to take better pictures in general. This book was beautifully illustrated, reader friendly, and truly inspiring.

I've read many books on landscape photography and this is easily the best. Here, an excellent photographer tells you exactly what he does - how he thinks about lighting and composition, what equipment he thinks is important, how he manages equipment, etc. It is specific, interesting, intelligently written and illustrated with beautiful photos.

I consider myself to be an intermediate landscape photograher. This book fleshed out a lot of concepts I have been slowly becoming aware of. Now instead of sort of knowing what I'm trying to accomplish, I'm more certain.

I would not recommend this book for beginners. For example, if you don't know how to quickly relate aperature, shutter speed, depth of field and ISO and evaluate their inherent tradeoffs, there are a lot of good introductory books out there that explain these types of things in great detail. But if you have been shooting landscapes for a while and are looking for insights, this is the book for you.

The excellent National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography, includes camera and exposure info, plus which filters are used and even how the filters are oriented in their holder! Filling a book with pretty pictures (as National Geographic's guide does) teaches me nothing. Telling me how to orient and expose using a Graduated Neutral Density filter (a la Audubon Guide) will allow me to duplicate their results!

It's also VERY "digital friendly", comparing each technique for both film and digital cameras.

Highly recommended!

Yeah, you need to get this book. This is the photography book I've been looking for. Tim Fitzharris doesn't just take stunning photographs, he disects photos and goes through the thought process so that the reader can understand what it was about the scene that caused him to frame it the way he did. He doesn't just say "follow your heart" or "discover what the scene is trying to tell you" or other artsy-fartsy stuff like that. He's a technician. He tells you how to assemble the photo piece by piece. No other book I've read goes into so much detail on how to actually frame a shot. Since digital cameras take away much of the worry about exposure, composition is the main worry, at least for me. Mr. Fitzharris does an excellent job of explaining vantage points, focal planes, proper camera placement and everything else associated with getting it all right in the camera.

Two tiny nits to pick, but certainly nothing worth deducting points for: 1) Fitzharris explains everything assuming you'll be using a 35mm or digital SLR camera, which is fine. But he uses a medium-format film or digital camera, and the pictures reflect this. Unless you're willing to spend the price of a new car on camera equipment, you shouldn't expect to be able to replicate the pictoral quality of his work. 2) Fitzharris points out that the best places to photograph water are actually from in the water, and he says that you should be "prepared to get wet". He also points out that this might cost you a camera or two, as any digital equipment dumped in the drink will be "a complete right-off". Whoa, there! Maybe a pro can right-off a few thousand dollars worth of equipment, but I saved for a year to buy my digital SLR. Taking it into the soup is just not an option.

One good thing that Fitzharris also covers is the amount of work necessary to get breathtaking shots. Up before dawn, hiking in the dark, coming back day after day if the light isn't right. He conveys the proper message that getting great shots on a consistent basis is real work. If you were under the impression that you could obtain shots like this while on vacation with your family, reading this book will quickly put that fantasy to rest. Fitzharris points out that it takes patience, dedication and time to get the good stuff.

This is by far the most informative book you can get on landscape photography. Fitzharris takes jaw-dropping, OMG-I-can't-believe-it photographs, yet it never seems that he's just showing off his work. I've read so many books where the author writes "this picture succeeds because..." and then goes on to explain why the shot he took is so great. In my view, if you have to explain to your readers why the picture succeeds, maybe it doesn't. Fitzharris never does this. He lets the shots speak for themselves, and simply describes the elements he looked for in composing the picture. And, wow. His pictures sure have a vocabulary!

For someone who invested a bit of cash in two Nikon DSLRs, filters, cases, accessories as I have, I am just happy to find a book that showed me what the cameras I have would be capable of doing if I used what I had properly. I took numerous examples from the book and went out did what was written and the photos I got were great. I also purchased some gear the author recommended which benefited me on my shoots as well as not buying some stuff that I really would not need thus saving some money. The pictures, settings and filters listed in the book allowed me to make a quickie card list of situational shooting scenes that I carry with me for quick reference till I get good at this. Everyone who is interested in landscape photography needs this book. What started out as just something to do, has turned into a full time hobby with the help of this book. Five stars plus is my rating. PS I take the book to read at work during opportune times to gather as much as I can from the book. The author did a great job.

An outstanding book. Probably learned more from this book than I have in 30 years of experience. Directly to the essence of what one needs to know to get into the field knowing what one really needs to know no more no less. Very very helpful.

I have been an amateur photographer for about 35 years, and I have enjoyed the instruction of several masters in the days I used to lug around a large view camera (mostly B/W imaging). Tim Fitzharris's book about (color)landscape photography is my most valued book on the subject in my entire library. He is an excellent writer and communicator of key thoughts. His writing is dense; he doesn't prattle. As he states in his introduction, "The emphasis of the book ... is on the photographer's actual interaction with the subject" {being photographed}. This book is for the intermediate to heavily experienced photographer (amateur or professional alike). As much as possible, he doesn't dabble in the usual tech stuff. He includes myriad photographs to illustrate all of his concepts and principles.

The part of the book most rewarding to me is Part 3, "Creating an Image." In these 28 pages, he articulates the key elements of visualization and image control. He thoroughly analyzes each element of good composition and the rationale for each. After reading the book, I went back to the pictures in this book and others in my library to validate these elements. As I did, I related more and more to the principles. They were clearly authenticated. They are clearly valid for all landscape-photo venues; color landscape photography is clearly the emphasis of the book, however. His photography alone is worth the price of the book.

After reading a number of great reviews, I ordered this book. The book falls way short of offering much to an enthusiast landscape photographer. At best, it is a self-promotion by the author.

I fail to understand (despite presumed conversion of the lens factors) the wisdom of offering medium and large format camera specifications for a mostly 35 mm DSLR readership.

No doubt that the author is a master photographer but he hardly provides technical details worth replicating.

There is a lot of material freely available on the web, especially on the websites of the major camera brands, that is superior to the information provided in this book.

I've recently been reading a slew of books on the subject of landscape photography. Probably I'm dreaming too much about being published one day on the pages of National Geographic, Audubon Magazine or Outdoor Photographer. Tim Fitzharris' National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography (Firefly Books) is the last one in the series, so it's fresh in my memory, and it's one of the best, so I thought I'd write a review of it.

This book, of course, is for aspiring landscape photographer, but it assumes you have a good knowledge of the bases of the photography craft. You won't find here explanations of the exposure triangle, what ISO means, or other trivial stuff that you can find in any introductory text about photography, or for free on the Web. To be honest, you won't find a great deal of deeply technical stuff in this book, like for instance formulas to compute the hyperfocal distance (you can look that up on the Web too).

You will find here, however, a good discussion of optimal lens aperture, exposure time, and how to meter in difficult situations. So it's not like the book is only full of fluffy, artistic advice about pleasing composition. On the contrary, most of the advice revolves around quite practical, down-to-earth matters, like finding the best time of the day and the best lighting conditions for the kind of shoots you have in mind (or, even better, how to find the right subjects for a given lighting condition). It contains invaluable information on how to best pack your gear, how to select the best tripod, how to use filters. It even provides suggestions for how to dress for shooting in the desert, near the water, on the mountains.

Someone might think that all of this is of marginal importance, compared to the actual act of shooting, but I have a hunch it's fundamental instead. Being in the right place, at the right time, with the right equipment, warm and dry, is as important to getting a beautiful picture as carrying along the right lens. I have even earmarked some of the pages, like the one where using a photo vest with pouches instead of a traditional backpack is recommended, or the one about dressing with zippers instead of layers, for future reference.

Another recommendation that I think could be extremely useful is the one about getting familiar with a set of typical, recurring design templates. They embody eternal principles of composition that are common to all visual arts and can be invaluable in helping photographers to pre-visualize a shot and to recognize compositions that can often lead to a successful picture. As always, the advice to avoid stereotypes and occasionally think out of the box applies.

Any good photography book would not be complete without a selection of gorgeous pictures and this one is no exception. Tim Fitzharris' photographs are indeed among the finest. They're the kind of pictures that typically end up being published on the pages of the above-mentioned magazines, or on fancy calendars and posters. They are all colorful pictures of striking, natural, unspoiled landscapes, taken around sunrise or sunset and perfectly focused and exposed... well, now that I think of it, there are maybe too many colorful, striking, natural, unspoiled landscapes here. They were all taken in the American West, too. And the colors scream "Velvia" with a loud voice: Even the digital captures have that warm Velvia look. What I mean is that, just maybe, they smack just a tiny bit of manierism. I would have liked to see an occasional black&white shot, a rule-breaking, unusual composition, some human element, maybe even a blurry picture. Something artsy-fartsy that would surprise me, I don't know. Anyway, I guess most buyers of this book will have no problem with that, it's just a minor peeve on my part.

I've read some reviews complaining that all of the pictures in the book were taken with medium format cameras, and that's true. The 645 format is almost exclusively represented, with a near 50/50 split between analog and digital. Does that mean that us poor mortals with a 35mm DSLR, or even one with an APS-C sensor, cannot get any valuable information from this book? I don't think so. Aside from every gem contained here and which applies to what you should do before you even start shooting, even the technical shooting information can be applied, as long as you know how to convert focal lengths according to the size of your sensor or film.

In the end, my opinion is that Tim Fitzharris' book is a very good resource. It does not certainly cover every aspect of landscape photography, but what it covers, it does so from the perspective of a long career on the field and in a very clear and concise style. Other books (and I hope to review them here shortly) might cover different aspects, and their authors might disagree with some things that Fitzharris writes, so you should probably own more than one, but starting with National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography is not the worst thing that you could do.

I finally bought a quality digital camera and wanted a how-to book on photographing landscapes. This book has it all. It is very readable and has enough information and ideas to last me for years to come. The photos alone in the book justify the purchase. It is very readable and I am sure that anyone will find it useful no matter what skill level. I can't imagine a personal photography library that is missing this one.