Customer Reviews

The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite & the High Sierra: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them

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

 

 

This book has beautiful photographs that well illustrate what is possible when attempting to capture Yosemite's splendor. The size is really nice. Easy to throw in your day pack and take along on an excursion.

The discussions on photographic technique are short and to the point. There is just enough information to get an understanding of what the latest digital camera equipment is capable of and how to achieve it without getting overly technical.

Mr. Davis has obviously spent a lot of time in Yosemite at numerous locations and in a variety of weather conditions. There are great descriptions on how to find photographic vantage points. The text also contains valuable tips on the practical aspects of getting around the park, obtaining permits, and how to prepare. I especially liked the section on the High Sierra trails and backcountry travel.

I strongly advise getting this book well in advance of your arrival. Its information will be a great aid in planning your time inside the park.

I guess I was expecting more photography tips in here, such as optimal locations and times for landscape shots in Yosemite. The majority of this book is more general information about the park, hiking trails, length of time, etc. We already had an excellent book with better information on those topics. I was looking for a more specific photography book, and this is not it.

This book was a big disappointment for me. I know quit a bit about certain areas of the Sierra (Sequoia/Kings Canyon) and not much about other areas, so I can only speak to the areas I know. If the rest of the book is comparable to the sections on Seq/Kings then this book is almost completely worthless. Unlike other, more useful photography guides, this book does not offer any technical details about the photographs that are featured, and it doesn't offer any technical advice about best times of day, vantage points, or times of year to visit specific locations. In fact if there was one thing that sums up this book it would be a complete lack of specifics. It is just a gloss over the most obvious locations in the Sierra. If you are a complete newbie to the Sierra, then this book could be very useful, but if you have any knowledge of the Sierra this book will probably only tell you less than you already know.

This book was so-so in my mind. There are a lot of pictures but I had a hard time relating the discussion to where exactly they were referring to on the map. I'd need more information before I travel to Yosemite on a photography trip and will be doing more research as this book didn't have enough "meat" in it for me. It should have covered Yosemite in more detail and left out the High Sierra or vice versa.

This small book of helpful description and gorgeous photos fit easily on top of everything else in my backpack, so I took it along to Yosemite. There I discovered that I could have bought it at the local bookstore in a small town just outside the park! I was glad to see it shelved nearby, ready for someone else to appreciate. I recently gave up hiking photography with my grandfather's ancient Leica, so I needed inspiration to develop some intimacy with the much lighter and more versatile digital replacement. Although obviously more useful in its point and shoot ease, the digital camera seemed so impersonal. But it isn't, as this book logically and concisely explains and illustrates, without coming off at all like a manual. It was a pretty entertaining read, actually. It also does pretty good double-service as a Yosemite tour guide! If I have to suggest a weakness, it would be that there is no index that summarizes all of the camera settings of the photos in the book.

This is a very inviting book. The information in it is put very clearly. The photos and the tone of the book are extremely inspirational. The author obviously knows whereof he speaks.