John Shaw's Landscape Photography

By John Shaw

A guide to landscape photography. This book is both a how to' guide and a showcase of the photographer's best work. Other work by the author includes The Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081743710X
• ISBN13: 9780817437107
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Amphoto Books
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.5" x 10.5"

Customer Reviews

My favorite book

I've read about ten photography books and this one is my favorite. The text is simple, yet essential. The photographs are truly great. I guess if someone has read "Nature Photography Field Guide" will find many things at least familiar. The photos, although great to my eye, might be found as too conventional. But thats OK with me. I think John Shaw is the best "tutor" I could find. His books have helped me a lot to improve my photography.

Another Must Book For the Photograhpic Library

I rated John Shaw's "Nature Photography" book a 4, but actually in retrospect it should have been rated a 5, so I rated this one a 5 to make it even. Both books, though similiar, are worth owning for the inspiring photos alone. John in his books, and this one is no exception, writes on a very readable manner and sections his topics nicely. As an advanced amateur I found this book to be very helpful. I especially enjoyed reading about his equipment tastes and why he owns them from everything from tripods, tripod heads, to filters, lens, and camera bags. A must for the library.

A Conditional 5 Star Rating

This book gets a conditional five stars for reasons I will soon explain.If you are a novice or intermediate photographer, you want to shoot landscapes, and you want to get only one book, this is the one.Shaw starts out with the basics of exposure theory and then discusses equipment, film and lenses. The emphasis throughout the discussion here and later is strictly in terms of landscape photography. He moves on to the effects of light, composition and a pot pourri of special problems and solutions.Shaw is clear, direct and succinct. There is no room for confusion about the points he is making, and he makes all the essential points. No writer gives better instruction. His photographs have been selected not so much to dazzle you with their brilliance as to support his teaching points, although his pictures are beautiful.So what makes my recommendation conditional?Well, this book was published in 1994 and there have been several technological changes in photography since then. However, most of what Shaw says here still holds true for landscape photography. What's changed even more is that in 2000 Shaw's book "Nature Photography Field Guide" was published. This later book goes over much of the same material as the landscape book, while taking into account the latest technology. It even uses some of the exact same anecdotes to illustrate points.The difference between the two books is that one looks at just landscape photography while the other looks at the more encompassing class of nature photography. The Field Guide contains a long chapter on close up photography which may not interest the landscape photographer, while the landscape book aims each chapter exclusively at landscape with slightly more detail.Most of us aren't exclusively committed to landscape so the Field Guide seems like a better choice if you insist on only one book. But if you're like me, you'll get both books. If you're serious about landscapes the slant of the earlier book might just give you that slight edge to make a better landscape photograph.

Great resource for nature photographer

This is an excellant work of John Shaw. I have bought 2 of his other books Closeup in Nature and field techniques. All these books are very well written. This specific book covers almost every aspects of nature photography including various lenses(zoom, tilting etc..) as well as discussion on various films. I will recommend this book as second volume to Profesional Field Techniques. Although this book does not contain the exposure information for each slide, the accompanying text provides solid information about how the exposure was made. This book is real good reference for anyone and everyone.

Most helpful photography book

After reading many photography book, it is no doubt that this one is the best. Other photography books bog you down with a plethora of info to memorize. Not this book. John Shaw explains concepts clear and concise. The book is easy to read and understand. I have also come across many hints and tips never mentioned in other photography books. Read this book and improve your picture taking!