John Shaw's Landscape Photography
by John Shaw
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Book Reviews of John Shaw's Landscape Photography
Book Review: For beginners, but then ...
Summary: 3 Stars
The book reasonably covers most of the ground relevant to landscape photography, is acceptably written, well presented and nicely illustrated. On the other hand, Mr. Shaw spends pages for introductions that could be condensed in paragraphs, which can make the book more readable to some, or get on your nerves while you wait him to get down to what you bought the book for, i.e. the relevant techniques stripped down and discussed clearly and thoroughly. And when he finally seems to get there, more often than not he just skims the surface, this time in a few paragraphs where you would expect to see pages. So the book offers lots of words for little substance, it is often shallow and incomplete even for a basic-level text (e.g. fancy discussing exposure of high-contrast scenes on slide film without a single word about bracketing?), could be better structured, more to-the-point and systematic for a manual, and it certainly adds nothing new.Plenty of nice pictures, yes, some great; that is, if you like Fuji Velvia's garish colours, which plague the book. You can pick some ideas from them, but in this kind of book you judge pictures for their illustrative value rather than their beauty: what you want to see is different alternatives compared for each technical issue discussed, which is often limited or lacking in the book, and be given full technical details of each shot, whereas here you are left even without the exposure settings.
All the same, useful book if you do not know about basic exposure, what hyperfocal focusing is, what a polarizing filter does, when to use a tripod, the basic characteristics of various focal lengths, the basic effects of different lighting, basic composition, basic ..., etc. But then what you need is a general photography handbook, such as Michael Langford's, which through a both more thorough and concise coverage of these and other topics is more likely to improve your technique overall, including for landscape photography. If you are beyond that level, do save your money and look somewhere else.
Book Review: For beginners, but then ...
Summary: 3 Stars
The book reasonably covers most of the ground relevant to landscape photography, is acceptably written, well presented and nicely illustrated. On the other hand, it can be tediously long and insubstantial before getting down to what you primarily came to it for, i.e. a clear, thorough, step-by-step discussion of the relevant techniques. Unlike this, the actual treatment is usually loose and shallow, often incomplete even for a basic-level text (e.g. fancy discussing exposure of high-contrast scenes on slide film without a single word about bracketing?), while the total absence of summaries, check lists, and other pedagogic aids greatly detracts from its possible learning and reference value. Plenty of nice pictures, yes, some great (that is, if you like Fuji Velvia's garish colours, which plague the book), and no doubt one can pick some ideas from them. But in a would-be photography manual what you expect from the pictures is, rather than beauty, an effective illustration of the approach and technique alternatives, which is limited in the book, and be provided with full details of at least the more significant shots, whereas here all you are given is lens and film, not even the exposure settings.All the same, useful book if you do not know about basic exposure, what hyperfocal focusing is, what a polarizing filter does, when to use a tripod, the basic characteristics of various focal lengths, the basic effects of different lighting, basic ..., etc. But then what you actually need is a general photography handbook (see Michael Langford's, for instance), which will do better to your vision and technique overall, including for landscape, through a more structured, systematic and complete coverage of these and other topics.
Conclusion: more an inspiring picture book (three stars for this) than an effective learning tool.
Book Review: Lots of great content, but equipment aspects are film-related
Summary: 4 Stars
I learned a lot about exposure, composition, and lighting from this book, but it definitely is a "pre-digital era" publication, so if you're looking for anything specific to digital photography, better check elsewhere. Would seem to me that Mr. Shaw or a digital photographer could bring the equipment section (now titled "Equipment and Film") up to date by at least contrasting film and digital issues--here digital is not mentioned at all. The section on lenses, while very well written, loses pertinence since the majority of DSLR shooters are using cropped sensors. The reader is left to figure out the focal length equivalents to make sense of Mr. Shaw's sage advice.
Don't get me wrong, this man knows landscape photography, and the chapter entitled "The Landscape as Design" is like poetry: "First you must find a visually interesting subject. YOur goal is to present this subject to your audience in a pleasing composition..." He goes on and really hits the target in terms of what separates a good photograph from a great one.
This book is worth owning, I just wish it reflected more about how most people are shooting today, with digital technology!
Book Review: Excellent for the beginner
Summary: 4 Stars
This was an excellent book for me as I needed to get a better foundation in the fundamentals. For an experienced photo buff I think this book would be too basic.For me, though, I needed to get a better background in understanding things like exposure and exposure control issues, depth of field, hyperfocal distance, filters, lighting issues, and so on. Also the many tips and tricks Shaw discusses throughout the book are good.
My one strength is I know how to compose a good photo. I just needed to learn more about good camera technique to enhance my photos and this book was useful to bootstrap me to the next level.
The book has lots of nice photos. They're all shot with Fuji Velvia so the colors are extra saturated. I don't mind this but I suppose people develop a taste for these things. My one quip is that Shaw doesn't mention exposure settings in the captions for the photos.
All in all a good book for a beginner to get a leg up on some of the technical issues and improve his skills and photographic technique.
Book Review: Fairly detailed
Summary: 5 Stars
Very inspirational book, not really helpful if you are dipping into landscape for the first time, instead it pulls you in once you get some idea of landscape photography. Beautiful photos, certain amount of technical and yet great as a coffee table book. IMHO less diverse than John's other book; Professional Field Techniques (PFT) but I prefer it this way. In fact this was the single book that drawn 2 of my friends into serious photography just by browsing.....Much of the techniques are duplicated in the PFT book (I have yet to see the latest edition though) but based on the older one I would say to give this PFT book a miss, the printing is not as glossy (I'm one of those who prefer photography book in gloss) and not much more info is actually conveyed. Of course if you want to collect a few books only, skip Landscape and get PFT instead.