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Nature & Photo Book ReviewsFollowing are our reviews of the photography books included in our Book Store (in alphabetical order): stay tuned because more reviews will become available!
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| ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography, 6th Edition (Allworth Press, 2001) | |
| An essential book
for anybody considering to undertake photography as a profession.
Basically, in this book the American Society of Media Pjotographers has
put together an overview of the best market practice in professional
photography. Both assignment photography and stock photography are
covered in depth in the book. Hot topics such as pricing, negotiating
fees, copyright protection, formalizing agreements and marketing
strategies are amply illustrated, with a wealth of useful information
and models. |
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| Charles Campbell's The Backpacker's Photography Handbook (Amphoto, 1994) | |
| One great and very clear
book on outdoor photography where all important topics are covered with
plain language and some very good advice. I especially liked the parts on
exposure and hyperfocal distance (in my opinion, this is the book among those I
have read that explains hyperfocal distance in the clearest way), as well as the
many useful field tips which the whole book is packed with. An excellent reading
if you are seriously into outdoor photography. |
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Dian Fossey's Gorillas in the Mist (Mariner Books, 2000) |
| Probably this is
the best book around on mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei),
a subspecies of gorillas that is listed as "critically
endangered" in the IUCN classification. These animals only live in
a very specific region (the Virungas Mountains) that is located at the
borders of three African countries, Uganda, Rwanda and Congo. Nowadays
around 650 of these animals are left in the wild and they are still
under pressure for loss of habitat and poaching. The book is the story
of the author's committment to save these fascinating primates. Fossey
in fact conducted the longest field study ever on mountain gorillas,
which she studied for 13 years until she was murdered in 1985 in
mysterious circumstances at her camp (Karisoke) in the Parc National
des Volcans, Rwanda.
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| Joe McDonald's The New Complete Guide to Wildlife Photography (Amphoto, 1998) | |
| Hum... Actually,
this not one of my
favorite books. Joe McDonald's photographs are undoubtedly excellent, but the contents of
the book are, in my opinion, not up to the quality of those photographs. The
book intends to illustrate all aspects of photography from the wildlife
photographer's perspective and, again in my view, it fails. The information that
is provided is scanty and often not clearly conveyed; on top of that, if you
have studied (yes, I don't mean read, I mean studied) John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide first you realize that
there is really nothing you can learn from Joe McDonald's book that was not much
better explained and dealt with by John Shaw. The only chapter that in a way I
appreciated is Part Four - Wildlife on location, which provides some useful tips
about how to best work with wildlife while respecting your subjects and ensuring
your (and your equipment's) safety. All in all, my advice is skip it: you'll find a better one.
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Galen Rowell's Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape (Sierra Club Books, 1995) |
| One of the
must-read books of the Master, where Galen thoroughly explains his
"vision" about nature photography. The book contains many beautiful
and inspiring photographs of the Master, accompanied by in-depth descriptions of
how, when and where he captured each of them. In such descriptions Galen extensively illustrates
the whole process that lead him to take that very photograph, from that
place, at that time, with that composition and that equipment. In addition to explaining Galen's "vision", the book puts an emphasis on light (as
you can infer from the very title of the book!) and composition the way the
Master used to see them. Unmissable: a tribute to one of the great Masters of
nature photography, whose premature loss we all regret. |
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Charles Russell's Spirit Bear: Encounters With the White Bear of the Western Rainforest (Key Porter Books, 2002) |
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A great book on
the Kermode Bear (or Spirit Bear - Ursus
americanus kermodei), a
rare white subspecies of the Black Bear. The Spirit Bear is not an
albino, but rather a Black Bear that turns out white due to a recessive
gene that must be present in both parents for the cub to be borne
"white". The Spirit Bear only sparingly occurs in the
rainforest of Canada's British Columbia, and the vast majority of the
population is found on Princess Royal Island. Kermode Bears are facing
significant threats of extinction for habitat destruction, especially
were pending plans for massive industrial logging ever approved. In
this book Russell provides plenty of information about the Spirit Bear
and its habitat, coupled with a pleasant account of the two semesters
that the author spent on beautiful Princess Royal Island to study and
film these fascinating animals. A must-have for any bear lover. |
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| John Shaw's Business of Nature Photography (Amphoto, 1996) | |
| Wow. If you are interested
in understanding how to start and run a nature photography business, this is the
book for you. Excellent, thorough, comprehensive, practical, easy to understand,
filled with John's great pictures... It treats all aspects of the business: from
identifying your goals to setting up and maintaining an efficient and organized
workplace, from learning what editors want and what photographs "sell"
to finding clients and marketing your work, from having all necessary paperwork
in place to handling photo submissions, and much much more, including an
overview of digital imaging. Unmissable. |
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| John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide (Amphoto, 2000) | |
| This is undoubtedly the
best book on nature photography technique that I have ever read. Apart from the
magnificent photographs that illustrate it, John goes through each and every
aspect of photography in general and nature photography in particular, from
exposure to equipment (cameras, lenses, flash, filters, tripods and heads, etc.)
and film, from composition to close-up photography. Unmissable.
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| Art Wolfe's and Martha Hill's The Art of Photographing Nature (Three Rivers Press, 1993) | |
| One great book that I strongly
recommend to improve your way of seeing: Martha Hill is a former photo
editor of Audubon magazine and comments a selection of images by Art Wolfe
illustrating their strengths and weaknesses (there often are two or more shots
of the same subject, showing which one is more effective than the others). In
this way, the authors provide the reader with
a unique insight based on the photo editor's perspective. Strictly speaking, it's
not a photo technique book in the traditional sense and it's not targeted to
beginners. There is no explanation or review of the basic technical concepts
(like f-stops, exposure times, ISO ratings, how an exposure meter works, etc.),
which the reader is expected to be already familiar with, and there is not much text,
because the text is just there to help you understand why a certain picture is a
winner and why a slightly different one is not. It's a book on learning
that photography can be an art form and on how to improve your way of
photographing to achieve that result. Unmissable. |
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