Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book
Review: A lot of practical techniques, very easy to follow
Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring but also packed with info.
Review: Although it repeats some information found in other books of the same genre/type, it does do an excellent job of explaining the technical details of photography. It's a good book for beginners but I think if you have similar titles, you might find the information repetitive. However, the photos themselves are worth the price of the book alone and they help inspire you to achieve higher even if you think you know all that the book tries to explain. Clearly written, excellent photos make this one of my favorite books.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction to Photography
Review: Although written for film photography rather than digital, if you need to learn the basics of exposure and lenses and the general process a photographer must go through to take great photographs instead of just snapshots, this is an excellent guide.
The basic fact of the matter is that good photographs are produced in this order
1. Photographer's "eye"
2. Good equipment, handled expertly
3. Post processing
Digital photography differs from film primarily in the last category. This book's focus is on the first two, without which good photography is not possible. Look elesewhere for books on Photoshop, but look here to learn how not to need it so much.
Rating:
Summary: Great book but fairly basic.
Review: Before reading this book, I knew very little about photography and how it really worked. This book has inspired me through the wonderful pictures and the easy to follow language that Shaw uses to describe everything. The concepts that Shaw discusses are not really advanced by any means, but he teaches to you in a way that you can understand how things work and you are able to make decisions based upon the basics that he will teach you. If you are an advanced photographer, this book may not be for you. However, just the pictures alone nearly made up for the cost of this book for me. The pictures were beautiful and inspiring. This is a wonderful book for a beginner, and even after you move on to more advanced ideas...this book will still be a great piece to have just to look at! Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book.
Review: Being new to photography I was looking for something to help guide me in the right direction. This book has helped me understand a good deal about photography.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!!!
Review: Elaborate, precise, detailed and humorous language! ...and finally a book taking interested amateur photographers serious: Not again like almost every single (well recommemded) how-to-book with discriptions how to load the film etc.
John Shaws photos are brilliant and well explained. Only drawback are his purchase recommendations: Though emphazising continously that ideas and understanding not expensive equipment leads to creative and technically correct photos most of the features considered as mandatory by John Shaw can only be found in Top-of-the-line models of each manufacturer (cameras, lenses, tripods, heads etc.). Most of the interested amateur photographers do not want to spend "$",- for a tripod head!
However, no reason not to give a five star rating!
Rating:
Summary: Very good, but expected more
Review: First I will say this is a very good book, maybe even by far John Shaw's best landscape book. It contains more up-to-date information such as TTL flash. However, I have come to realize that all John Shaw's books are quite similar in terms of writing and organization. This book has a lot of repetitions from his previous books "John Shaw's Landscape" and the original "Field Guide". If you do not currently have any of Shaw's books, I suggest that you get this one and the "Closeup" one (which I think is the best). As far as the book itself, it is very well written in a no-nonsense style, each chapter is dedicated to one topic so it is easy to find what you're interested the most. I just wish John Shaw will update his "Closeup" soon (with TTL flash, please!).
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK FOR BIGGINERS GO FOR IT
Review: For anybody who is looking for a book to learn on nature photograpy here is the absolute solution for it. This stuff gives you complete information regarding the exposures and lighting and everything you look for. if you start your photograpy by the tips of this book thereis no doubt in becoming a good professional nature photographer. All nature lovers comon go for it
Rating:
Summary: Very nice for advanced and beginner
Review: Great information and reference. Yes, the gear he discribes is pricey pro stuff but its guide to what is best, and from there you can judge what you need or can afford. At least you know that you need a ball head, or that composite tripods are really not worth the price, and how to test tripods in a store.
Nice tips on conditions that I did not know even existed, like snow, there are 3 or 4 different ways it will expose film, all different. Snow is not white like you think, it depends on the weather. Great tips through out the book. I don't read it cover to cover. When I pick it up I just open it and read a few pages on that topic. Great stuff and great examples. Shoting images for over 35 years. I have already used some tips and my outdoor pictures are a notch better. And thats the bottom line, right?
Rating:
Summary: Great book for aspiring nature photographers
Review: I am a novice photographer and I have bought a number of books on photography. This book was by far the best I have read so far. John gives clear and practical advice on all aspects of nature photography in easy to understand terms. I also appreciated that all the pictures in the book gave the details of how he took the shot, camera, lens, film etc. The book also very clearly explained all about the uses and practicality of a wide range of lenses and accesories. This will prevent you from buying equipment that will not satisfy your needs or buying more than you actually need. All around a great book!
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