Customer Reviews

Photographing Nature: A photo workshop from Brooks Institute's top nature photography instructor

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a wonderful and inspiring nature photography book for intermediate and advanced photographers. For everyone else it is a beautiful book that will probably get you interested in taking better nature pictures.

"Photographing Nature" contains outstanding nature photographs and the instructions for creating them. Ralph Clevenger describes the sometimes very expensive equipment used. He also recommends using a garbage bag for taking "wet belly" photographs, which is about a down to earth as any instructions could get.

I really like the author's answer to the moral question of manipulating the picture as opposed to recording the truth. He demonstrates his logic with a picture that has earned a great deal of money. It clearly shows the truth about icebergs with a composite photograph that would be impossible to make with the camera alone.

"Photographing Nature" covers composing seeing light, modifying the light when taking the picture, and altering the light digitally afterward. It covers composing using the 3D rule of thirds, and the natural reason why the rule of thirds works. It provides more technical information such as sources for determining the hyperfocal distance to focus for the maximum depth of field.

"Photographing Nature" provides guidance for taking nature photographs of different kinds and in different locations. It tells how and when to approach animals, and when not to disturb them. This is one great book for any photographer taking nature pictures, from insects to landscapes, whether in a back yard or on a trip to exotic locations. It is almost as much inspirational as educational.

It always seems strange to me that one of the best ways that we can find to keep in touch with the natural world is by using a high tech tool like a digital camera and a computer. Yet I find, as I wander about the woods, mountains and shores, more and more people are there with their cameras, and more and more people are interested in the nature images that I capture. Given this, I was quite eager to see what an instructor from Brooks Institute could offer to help me make better images.

The book is divided into sections with titles intended to evoke a smile like "Play Nice", "You Need More Stuff?" and "Wet Belly Photography". The author tries to keep the same light tone throughout the book. You can't always tell from the title what a chapter is about so you must read on to learn that "An Ounce of Prevention" is about photographing in zoos. After an introduction most chapters include the same subheadings: equipment, lighting, questions and answers, and assignments to try. (The assignments are very basic but they can be effective.) Useful tips are sprinkled throughout the book that a more experienced nature photographer may not have encountered. On the other hand, there is no exposure or basic photographic theory so the book presumably is not aimed at the beginner. Instead, a great deal of the instruction advises you of things like the fact that the range of light that the human eye can see exceeds that of the camera. You might think this would lead to a discussion of how to select the range of light for an image, or the use of the camera's histogram, but that's somewhere else in the book.

This little disconnect is illustrative of the major problem with the book. Instruction manuals (and all books, probably) need to have a certain rhetoric to make sense. Concepts need to be presented in a certain order, so that the reader can build upon earlier concepts, and also as an aid to remembrance. The rhetoric doesn't have to be traditional, like going from a description of the camera to exposure to focus and so on, but it has to have some logic. Ansel Adams approached photography in his book "Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs" by organizing the chapters around individual pictures and the decision processes he used to move the image from an idea to a print. Unfortunately, Clevenger meanders.

For example the only discussion of light metering occurs in a chapter on either landscapes or wide angle lenses (I wasn't sure of which at first) although metering is essential to all photography. The section on using filters to protect lenses is in the chapter on composition. Bubble levels are in the creativity chapter.

The meandering also seems to apply to his selection of audience. If you are not talking to beginners, the chapter on post processing should cover something more than the most basic fundamentals, if it's going to be included at all.

I'm not certain at what level of photographer this book is aimed. Photographers beyond the beginner stage may find a little useful information. Beginners will not find enough.

This book is small in size, but very big in stature!

The photos are impressive by any measure. But what really sets the book apart are the detailed descriptions of the "how he did it" that accompany almost every photo, including many "tricks of the trade" that can often be leveraged by mere mortals carrying a point and shoot camera. That's not to say there aren't photos taken using lenses, equipment and methods that cost thousands of dollars. There are. So people who are serious enthusiasts or who regularly dabble with their digital SLRs (like me) can also get a lot out of this book. That's what makes it such a fun coffee table item. Almost everyone who picks it up can find photos they like and learn something relevant to their skillset - and investment level.

You also might want to consider getting this book if you live in or have visited California and are looking for gifts that reflect some of the state's diverse natural beauty. Based on my rough tally of location attributions, it looks like a majority of the photos in the book were taken in California.

Whatever the reason you might buy or gift this book, I don't think you can go wrong. It seems like there is always someone in the circle of family and friends trying to learn about and improve upon their photography skills. Oh, and did I mention most of pics in this book are breathe-taking?

I thought this book was really great. My first impressions before even opening the book was that it was heavy a bigger than many photo books out there. The cover also says quite a bit about the info inside. "A photo workshop from Brooks Insitute's top nature photography instructor." This gives you a sense of what this book is, and who it is for. The intended audience seems to be those who have a good grounding in photography but are looking for both basic explanations and detailed advances in their nature photography.

As a photographer who leads workshops, I am often amazed that many of my students do not approach the wild with an ethical manner. Therefore, it was refreshing and encouraging to see that the author devoted the first chapter of his book to those ethical issues that all nature photographers should be aware of. To this, I say kudos. All photographers who want to go out into the world should be grounded in these ethical principals.

The book is split into many chapters, and most of them include a section on Equipment, Lighting, Questions and Answers, and Assignments to Try. Instead of shoving all the equipment talk into one long chapter, Clevenger chose to use the premise of the chapters to lead into those areas of specialized equipment that might be required. In this way it is alot like school. There is not one class on lighting, one class on equipment, and one class on questions; those are the components of each and every class.

This book was full of stuff that made me stop and think, or just look in amazement. First, the images. This book has 100's of images that help to illustrate points, create discussion, or just look beautiful. The overall highlight for me was how personable Clevenger came across in the writing. Often in books like this, the author is relegated behind the material, in essence, anyone could have written the book. Not so here!

In any book, however, there are some things that could be improved. There was only one small problem for me, and that was that often the ideas of creativity were small as compared to the technical considerations. In nature photography, I often come back to the question, "Why am I taking this picture?" I wish that the author had spent more time on some of the less technical considerations, and more time on motivation and why certain things catch his eye. This, however, is a hard task considering the nature of the audience as technical photographers.

Moreso than any other nature book I have read recently, this book takes you through the process of nature photography in a logical and detailed way, as long as you understand the logic! From the beginning of ethics through the in the field shooting, preparing for a road trip, and finally becoming the "photo lab." Amazing pictures, great writing, unique information, and detailed presentation makes this a welcome additional to my bookshelf.

When I first picked up this book. I thought it's a boring book but with a lot of pretty pictures. I was wrong as soon as I started reading it. I was hooked and have to finish reading this book. The author gave a lot of insight on how he composes the pictures. Pretty soon, I started looking at each picture, the lens he uses and why and how he did it. I think he only uses 3 type of lens for most of his pictures. They all came out stunning! I guess when one can wait for 8 hours to get a single shot or goes though hundred of flowers just to pick one perfect one for photograph, that really takes tremendous of patient which is something I don't have compare to him. Those pictures have to be really special. I specially like all the pictures he took in central California. I have been to a few of those places he visited myself. Next time when I visit those places again, I will definitely try some of his techniques. I felt like one of his students already by reading this book.

Pros:
- Very well-written
- Filled with well-explained "how-tos", "tips and tricks" and "this is how I do it"
- Beautiful, to-the-point examples, and photos of actual techniques (as well as "before" and "after")

Cons:
- Intermediate-advanced guys (think photographers who do this for living, aka "pros") won't learn a whole lot
- Organization / structure of the book could've been a bit better given that the author is a Brooks Institute instructor

If you are a newbie or (even advanced) amateur, you will learn a lot from this book - there is no way you could've possibly hired someone to share so many tips, tricks and how-tos for $30. In that regard, the book is an amazing value.

At the same time, if you shoot nature for a living, this book may be too "beginner" for you

Ralph A. Clevenger's PHOTOGRAPHING NATURE packs in over two decades of nature photography instruction in a course for any who would learn from a professional. From themes and techniques key to mastering nature photos to four-color spreads used as examples for achieving professional goals, this is packed with colorful, revealing works. Photography libraries will find both these books exceptional picks.

I bought this book as a gift for my Dad who is starting to really advance in his photography. I am a professional, but do not usually shoot nature. Over Christmas, I decided to read the book and found myself extremely impressed with the breadth of information covered within. Not only does the author give you the basics that any good field photographer must know, but there are a lot of tips and tricks that I'm sure it has taken him decades to learn through his own trial and error. The tone is easy to read and the pictures are GORGEOUS, making it an enjoyable book to continue to flip through again and again. It struck me as the type of book that you would be able to return to repeatedly after you go out on "assignment" (even self assignment) and the wisdom therein would continue to pop out at you and become increasingly relevant as you experienced the challenges of nature photography first hand.
This makes a great gift for yourself or any nature shooter in your life - amateur or budding professional.

This is a fantastic book. I learned some great tips and the photos are wonderful. It's easy to learn how to make improvements in my own photos. I like the approachable voice of the author, he offers useful information without the dryness of a text book. And it's a book I can go back to often for suggestions in every photographic situation.

This is a great book! This book was not only educational but I enjoyed reading it very much! The author is a top notch nature photographer and a top notch teacher as well. The book isn't all that big as far as textbooks go and it's easy to read. Yet the volume of knowledge and experience I'll be lucky to absorb just a third of it just once. I'll definitely be reading it again this winter and probably a third time in the spring.

Ralph Clevenger not only describes how he set up many of his cool nature shots, but he also goes into a lot of detail about his equipment and how he uses it. He lists every item of equipment he uses no matter how minor. He describes how he organizes, stores and transports his equipment and his reasoning behind it. Throughout the book he details exactly how and why he uses each piece of equipment.

"Photographing Nature" is a bargain when you compare the very low price with the volume of experience and knowledge the author shares with you in a very understandable manner.