National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography

by Tim Fitzharris

Book Overview

A master photographer's guide to capturing the natural landscape -- written for hobbyists and pros. Photographers around the world admire Tim Fitzharris for his creative eye and technical expertise.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155407195X
• ISBN13: 9781554071951
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Firefly Books
• Length: 167 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Finally! Someone Gets It Right!

Yeah, you need to get this book. This is the photography book I've been looking for. Tim Fitzharris doesn't just take stunning photographs, he disects photos and goes through the thought process so that the reader can understand what it was about the scene that caused him to frame it the way he did. He doesn't just say "follow your heart" or "discover what the scene is trying to tell you" or other artsy-fartsy stuff like that. He's a technician. He tells you how to assemble the photo piece by piece. No other book I've read goes into so much detail on how to actually frame a shot. Since digital cameras take away much of the worry about exposure, composition is the main worry, at least for me. Mr. Fitzharris does an excellent job of explaining vantage points, focal planes, proper camera placement and everything else associated with getting it all right in the camera. Two tiny nits to pick, but certainly nothing worth deducting points for: 1) Fitzharris explains everything assuming you'll be using a 35mm or digital SLR camera, which is fine. But he uses a medium-format film or digital camera, and the pictures reflect this. Unless you're willing to spend the price of a new car on camera equipment, you shouldn't expect to be able to replicate the pictoral quality of his work. 2) Fitzharris points out that the best places to photograph water are actually from in the water, and he says that you should be "prepared to get wet". He also points out that this might cost you a camera or two, as any digital equipment dumped in the drink will be "a complete right-off". Whoa, there! Maybe a pro can right-off a few thousand dollars worth of equipment, but I saved for a year to buy my digital SLR. Taking it into the soup is just not an option. One good thing that Fitzharris also covers is the amount of work necessary to get breathtaking shots. Up before dawn, hiking in the dark, coming back day after day if the light isn't right. He conveys the proper message that getting great shots on a consistent basis is real work. If you were under the impression that you could obtain shots like this while on vacation with your family, reading this book will quickly put that fantasy to rest. Fitzharris points out that it takes patience, dedication and time to get the good stuff. This is by far the most informative book you can get on landscape photography. Fitzharris takes jaw-dropping, OMG-I-can't-believe-it photographs, yet it never seems that he's just showing off his work. I've read so many books where the author writes "this picture succeeds because..." and then goes on to explain why the shot he took is so great. In my view, if you have to explain to your readers why the picture succeeds, maybe it doesn't. Fitzharris never does this. He lets the shots speak for themselves, and simply describes the elements he looked for in composing the picture. And, wow. His pictures sure have a vocabulary!

Includes the details you've been searching for!

The excellent National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography, includes camera and exposure info, plus which filters are used and even how the filters are oriented in their holder! Filling a book with pretty pictures (as National Geographic's guide does) teaches me nothing. Telling me how to orient and expose using a Graduated Neutral Density filter (a la Audubon Guide) will allow me to duplicate their results! It's also VERY "digital friendly", comparing each technique for both film and digital cameras. Highly recommended!

National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography

An outstanding book. Probably learned more from this book than I have in 30 years of experience. Directly to the essence of what one needs to know to get into the field knowing what one really needs to know no more no less. Very very helpful.

Best of the best

I've read many books on landscape photography and this is easily the best. Here, an excellent photographer tells you exactly what he does - how he thinks about lighting and composition, what equipment he thinks is important, how he manages equipment, etc. It is specific, interesting, intelligently written and illustrated with beautiful photos. I consider myself to be an intermediate landscape photograher. This book fleshed out a lot of concepts I have been slowly becoming aware of. Now instead of sort of knowing what I'm trying to accomplish, I'm more certain. I would not recommend this book for beginners. For example, if you don't know how to quickly relate aperature, shutter speed, depth of field and ISO and evaluate their inherent tradeoffs, there are a lot of good introductory books out there that explain these types of things in great detail. But if you have been shooting landscapes for a while and are looking for insights, this is the book for you.

Amazing Introductory Book to Landscape Photography

To start out, I am writing this review as a beginning/ameteur photographer with aspirations of becoming a professional landscape photographer. That said, I was hard-pressed to find a book that explains landscape photography that was either written at a level that I could understand or had sufficient examples and photographs to supplement the explanations provided. Then I stumbled upon this beauty. First off, this book is well written. I found it easy to follow with thorough explanations and examples. Don't get me wrong, it is not "dummed down" for beginners, as I still do not understand all of the concepts/explanations Fitzharris provides, but I am sure that someone with more experience and knowledge would understand readily. The book is split up into chapters that make sense and flow seamlessly from one to the next, making it easy to read cover to cover but also easy to come back and find something specific if need be. Topics include everything from exposure and composition to proper equipment and digital retouching. The book does cover a broad range of information which makes it perfect for someone looking into landscape photography or wishing to build upon their landscape photography skills, but in covering such ground topics are touched on albeit for only a page or two. The concepts/explanations are by far sufficient for the purpose, but not very in-depth if one is looking for something specific on a particular subject/chapter within the book. The second thing that impressed me about this book was the photographs. I have searched through a lot of books about photography and found it difficult to find one with photographs that not only exemplify the concept being explained, but also inspire the reader. The photos in this book are absolutely amazing. I would even recommend this book if you just like to look at pretty pictures. However, to the reader the photos are beautiful yet not intimidating since Fitzharris provides photos that exemplify the concept on the page and includes the camera used and all settings in a footnote near the photos, the photos serve to inspire the reader in a "yes, you can do this too" sense. The thing I liked best about this book was that it was written FOR the reader. Fitzharris never says things like "for this photo I did this" in a self aggrandizing way, but phrases things towars the reader in more of a "to acchieve this effect you would need to" sense. I found this refreshing, as many photography books I have found are more about the author and his photos than helping out the reader. The book is not written dryly with explanations only, but the way Fitzharris writes inspires and encourages the reader while offering examples and explanations. I found this book very enjoyable. The bottom line for me is that I have not been able to find a better book on landscape photography. I am still looking, but nothing speaks to me the way this book does. I would recommend this book to anyone from the beginn