PhotoSecrets San Francisco & Northern California: The Best Sights and How to Photograph Them [Paperback]

Andrew Hudson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Photosecrets | Publication Date: June 17, 1997

All-color guide for people who enjoy photography.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Photo Tour Books (June 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965308715
• ISBN-13: 978-0965308717
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #395,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let me explain what the intention of this book is, September 30, 2000

By 

joeflies "joeflies" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PhotoSecrets San Francisco & Northern California: The Best Sights and How to Photograph Them (Paperback)

This is not a book for pro photographers looking for insight or technical secrets. The pictures in this book have interesting composition, but they are not world-class photos. In fact there are some which are plain poor (... there are several out of focus pictures and some with poor exposure). This book isn't for the pros though, it is for the amateurs. But what the book DOES have are outstanding tips for helping amateur photographers understand why to do certain things in certain locations, such as what lens selection does to the shot composition, and how to pick intersting angles.

Is it a travel book? Not really. It lists locations in a given area but it won't help you plan your day in a city.

Now with that said ... this book is truly a photo location list. Most travelers are not pro photographers, but they love to get a tip or two on how to take good photos. Having this book alongside a travel guide goes a long way to help finding and composing interesting pictures. Travelers want to find places where they can take memorable photographs, but travel books don't help with that much. So this book definitely fills a specifc need.

I find this book enjoyable in this aspect, ... It is extremely well illustrated with pictures, examples, maps and beginner photo tips. Don't buy it for travel tips, don't buy it for photography lessons, but buy it to find out how you can make the most of finding the truly memorable locations, and buy it for seeing a photo composition process by working backwards from the final product.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific guide to photographing San Francisco, March 6, 2003

By 

Joseph Boone (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: PhotoSecrets San Francisco & Northern California: The Best Sights and How to Photograph Them (Paperback)

This is a great book but you must understand that it is neither an instruction manual on photography nor a real tour guidebook for San Francisco. It is written to help give you a chance to get great shots of northern California landmarks. It not only points out the best locations from which to take pictures but also provides other info such as which time of day proviides the best lighting.

On a recent trip to SF I got some amazing shots of the Golden Gate Bridge from places I would never have known even existed without this book. It shows you perspectives from several different locations for each landmark so you can choose your favorite. This allows you to head straight for the spot you've picked out and know what time of day you need to be there to get them. This kind of plan of attack will greatly increase your chances of getting great pictures.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Serves the purpose - great investment!, February 13, 2002

By 

Bharat Suneja (Fremont, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PhotoSecrets San Francisco & Northern California: The Best Sights and How to Photograph Them (Paperback)

I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO. And I love photographing San Francisco. It is a beautiful city. However, if you don't actually live there and know the city like the back of your hand, you probably miss out on a lot of popular places where you can get great shots. This book tells you where to go, at what time of the day or night (to get the best shots), whether dawn/morning/noon/late afternoon or sunset time is best from a particular location, where to stand, what kinda lenses/exposures to use, et al.

Great book for budding photographers and tourists. Worth every cent! BTW, the pictures are not all award-winning shots, but something you can go and take with your camera after reading the book.