Customer Reviews

The Photographer's Guide to the California Coast: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them

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This book is very ambitious as it attempts to be a photography guide for the entire California coast. That is a lot of ground to cover in only 96 pages. As a result much of the coverage is very terse. I found this book to be useful as a guide to give me an overview of what can be seen in a given area. Given that overview I could then use other materials (other guidebooks and the Internet) to obtain the needed details about the specific area. I was disappointed with the lack of photographs. I wanted to see at least one photograph of each area, but that is hard to do when 2-3 areas may be described on a single page. The shooting advice isn't given too often and is very terse when given. In summary, this book works great if you are looking for an overview of what you can see/photograph along the California coast. It falls short if you want good details and shooting advice for a specific area.

This book may be of used for someone out of State, but only in a very limited way. The sites mentioned are few and discussions are shallow with no attempt to provide best times, equipment, conditions, what to look for, etc... As an example, the Point Reyes area is given very superficial treatment and only a handful of sites is discussed ignoring most of Tomales Bay, trails, lagoons, marshes, etc... The author needs to look at Laurent Martres 3-volume guide to photographing the southwest to see how it should be done.

This book would only be useful to someone with absolutely no knowledge of the California coast. This book has almost no specific information about any photgraphic locations on the central coast, and in fact it is missing many of the best locations known to anyone who has spent a lot of time on the central coast. It also doesn't have any specific information about the type of lighting or best times to visit specific locations, it is just a quick run through of some very obvious locations. All you would have to do is drive along the central coast one time and you would probably know everything this book has to offer. I did learn one thing though, about the parrots that live in the Santa Barbara area (I don't have the book on hand and I don't remember the exact location) and I am looking forward to checking those out sometime. For someone with no knowledge, this book could be useful, it does mention places like Nacimiento Ferguson road that is a gem of a location, but skips over all the other, better roads in Big Sur for photography. Worth it for a brief introduction but not recommended for people who already know about the California coast.

If you are going to travel in California for Photography...BUY IT! If you are going to go sightseeing in California...BUY IT! This book highlights some of the most scenic spots on the California Coast. Also mentioned is the best time and direction to view these attractions. I found PLENTY of side attractions not mentioned once I showed up to where the book told me to go. After using this book, I bouth the rest of the collection for future travels.