Customer Reviews

Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques (Practical Photography Books)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Shaw has provided an excellent guide to those interested in outdoor photography. I just purchased a 500 mm lense for photographing wildlife. This book is filled with tips for this and many other purposes. The photos illustrating various techniques are excellent and full information is given on the settings for each photo. Don't let the word "Professional" scare you, this book can help anyone. For me, a great companion to the book he wrote on close-up photography.

This is the best singular book on Nature photography I have found. I have worn out one copy, purchased another for myself and am purchasing my fifth "give it to a friend" copy. If you only buy one nature photography book in your lifetime, this is the book to get.

ps: I have been a "paid" professional photography for over 31 years, have over 300 photography books in my studio and still use this book as a reference.

John Shaw's books are highly recommended by many photography enthusiasts. I bought his "Closeups in Nature" last year, and thought it was one of the best instructional books on photography I've ever read. "Nature Photographer's Complete Guide..." is also a very good a book, I think, but I wouldn't buy it if you already have the "Closeups..." book. I think it is probably better suited to beginning photographers.

Many techniques, how-to details from a master... Don't miss this valuable informative book.

I doubt if this is the only book that you will ever need on this subject, but it is certainly one that you should not be without. I frequently use it as a quick reference/refresher before "going on a shoot." The topics are organized into 2-4 pages each that provide a lot of explanation without getting bogged down in chemistry and physics. Lots of great photos to illustrate the major points.

Every aspiring nature photographer should consider this book a prerequisite to all others. I have used this book as the textbook for my nature photography seminars, and I have seen John Shaw's instructional style of writing put dozens of photographers on the right track. While this book is directed towards serious amateurs, there are enough technical concepts and real life field examples to make it a good review for seasoned photographers. Using the methods of a great teacher, Shaw begins at the beginning, taking the student, step by step, down the path of gaining complete control over the production of professional quality nature images.

This is another of John Shaw's excellent books on photography. Liberally illustrated with examples and interspersed with his commentary and notes I found tremendously useful.
Shaw covers almost all aspects of photography - from the rule of 16ths, exposure, film, tripods, lenses, closeups, depth of field, composition, backlit photography, etc... Reading this book before you start using that brand new SLR of yours will save you a lot of frustration and trial and error:) A lot of the tips in the book are also equally applicable to people using point-and-shoot cameras also.
A very useful feature in this book is that almost all photos have exposure details listed. Some of his other books do not have these details, which I miss.
This book is highly recommended if you are just beginning photography and are looking for a good introductory book.

It's usually difficult to write a nature photography book that's useful for the beginners and at the same time gives valuable advice to advanced amateurs, but Mr Shaw has just done that in this book.

This book contains very valuable advice for advanced ones especially on close-ups and flash photography and at the same time he covers the basic rules (thirds, sunny f/16) from an interesting perspective. I found his advice about filters and field gears invaluable.

Read this book if you want to take stunningly realistic nature photographs.

I was suprised with how "friendly" John Shaw comes across in this book. His writing is easy to understand yet comprehensive. He assumes you know nothing and teaches the rules of basic photography as well as Nature photography. The book is very well illustrated and gives specific recommendations on equipment. I was disappointed by the books binding though (perhaps I just got a bad one?) It began separating after only a few readings. I gave rating of 7 because of binding. My rating of the content is a solid 10

I am lucky I found this book. John has explained every bit of photography fundamentals from the very start. He starts with Exposure which I think is the most important part. Then he goes smoothly to other topics such as Equipment, Lenses, Closeup photography,Flash usage etc. A beginner must buy this book.