I love Otters and when I saw the cover of this book I immediately was interested. For less than 15 Euros, there was not much too loose and I always get some inspiration out of wildlife and nature photography books.
After finishing the book, I was not disappointed. It really is a good book. It is aimed (in my opinion) mostly at beginning and intermediate nature photographers who are serious about learning about their craft.

In every nature photography book I look at the pictures first to see how good the photographer is. Here I can say that Steve and Ann Toon are very skilled photographers and the pictures alone are an inspiration.
Having been in South Africa this year for the first time, I was happy to see so many pictures from that place. In fact most pictures in the book are either from South Africa or the UK. But don’t let that bother you, all the things you can learn from the book can also be applied to all the other great places like Yellowstone or a Tiger reserve in India.

The book covers equipment, how to use a camera and other technical gear, composition, wildlife photography in the field and a little about the digital darkroom. At the end of the book, the authors even have some tips on how to become a professional photographer.
Of course the authors can’t go into every detail in a 175 page book, particularly not when it comes to the digital darkroom but it gives the reader an idea on what the authors do at the computer.

The main subjects in the book are mammals, often large ones like Lions or Elephants, followed by birds and a few insects. Macro photography (e.g. of insects) is only covered a little and you will definitely need more literature about this fascinating area of nature photography.

The writing in the book is easy to follow and always interesting when the authors write about their personal experience.

If you are an advanced wildlife photographer, you probably won’t get much out of the text but the pictures can still be a fantastic inspiration.
If you are a beginning or intermediate wildlife photographer, then I highly recommend this book!

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About two years ago, I reviewed The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book by Martin Evening which I consider to be the best book in Lightroom 2.

Now with Lightroom 3 out, I upgrade my software and absolutely love it. Lightroom 3 rocks!

Of course I also ordered the latest edition of Martin Evening’s Lightroom book which now covers Lightroom 3. And the 3rd edition of the book is as great as the 2 edition. It remains the best book on Lightroom.

I may order one or two other Lightroom books, because you can always learn something new about workflow from a different photographer. But right now I am happy with Martin’s book and I won’t get any other book before I haven’t completely finished this one.

Martin’s book has over 670 pages and contains more detail than any other Lightroom book. But it is still very readable and never boring. If there is something about Lightroom you can’t find in this book, it probably doesn’t exist!

After a very detailed coverage of the Library module, the book devotes more than 250 pages to the Develop module and how to interact with Photoshop. This is one of the best treatments on how to develop raw pictures I’ve found in any book. If you shoot RAW but don’t yet know how to get the best out of your shots, you will learn it here. Martin describes everything in great detail without being to technical or overwhelming the reader (basis photographic knowledge should be available, though).

The other features of Lightroom like printing or sideshows are also covered in great detail.

The whole book is full with Martin’s great pictures. He is not only a skilled writer but also a great photographer.

I read a lot of technical books, both about photography and also about software development (I work as a programmer) but many technical books are so boring that it’s hard to read for more than 10 pages. Others are just crap. But some are really great books and Martin Evening’s Lightroom book is one of them.

If you are a digital photographer, I highly recommend using Lightroom 3. The workflow and the raw processor are fantastic. I don’t need Photoshop that often any more since I started using Lightroom.

And to get the most out of Lightroom 3, I highly recommend this book. It is the best on Lightroom 3. You won’t find anything better!

Highly recommended!

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This book is a basic introduction into digital flower photography. On a little more than 140 pages it covers the basics of flower photography with a digital SLR camera.
After an overview of necessary equipment like cameras or lenses the book covers exposure, depth of field, light, colour, choosing the right background, composition and digital image processing. It also has two case studies, one about cherry blossoms, the other about crocuses. All this is illustrated with many pictures taken by the author.

I like this book but it could have been better. The text is very basic and mostly targeted at beginners. If you are already an experienced photographer, you won’t find much new information. Also, the text does not go into too much detail and often a beginner might want more information. For example, the text on choosing a macro lens is not even half a page and is very basic. It mentions that a longer focal length has different benefits but the book does not explain the advantages and disadvantages of the different telephoto macro lens. For example a Nikon photographer might wonder if it is better to buy the 105mm or the 200mm macro lens from Nikon. The book does not mention that most manufactures have telephoto macro lenses in those ranges (Canon has 100mm and 180mm) and what are the advantages and disadvantages (See my article Choosing a lens for macro and close-up photography for a much more detailed explanation).
Similar the chapter on flashes. Nikon and Canon offer a large selection of flashes incl. specialised macro flashes. After reading the book you won’t know what to buy!

The chapters on colour, light and composition are better and although not as detailed as in other books, they offer many useful tips for the beginning and intermediate photographer.

For me the best part of the book are the awesome images. Sue Bishop is a world class flower photographer and the fantastic images are a clear proof of that. The images are a great inspiration for every flower and nature photographer, no matter your skill level and I enjoy browsing through the images and looking for inspiration for my own flower photographs.

Overall I think the text could have been better (and much more detailed, especially when it comes to technique and equipment), but the pictures alone may be worth the price of the book for many photographers – it definitely was worth it for me.

So, if you are mostly looking for detailed technical explanations for flower photography, look elsewhere but if you want a beautifully illustrated book with fantastic flower photographs as a inspiration for your own photography, this book is a good investment.

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Arthur Morris, one of the best bird photographers in the world is also famous for many books and e-books he has published including user guides for Canon DSLRs.
Now two new guides covering the EOS 7D and the EOS 1D Mark IV will be available very soon. I already ordered my EOS 7D guide and can’t wait to read it.
This won’t be just some copied information from the manual (as some other worthless books do) but written by someone who really uses the camera in the field and also actually know how to get the best results from it.
The EOS 7D is BY FAR the best middle range DSLR for bird and nature photographers Canon has ever built so far and the 1D Mark IV is probably the best pro model so far (I have not yet used the 1D Mark IV as I prefer spending the money on a good trip or two).

For more information about the new e-books by Arthur Morris, click here:
Canon EOS-7D User’s Guide

I will publish a review about the EOS 7D guide here once I’ve finished reading it.

I just finished reading the The Ultimate Guide to Digital Nature Photography published by the Mountain Trail Photo Team. I really like this book. It may not be “ultimate” but no book can be. For example, you could write a whole book only on bird or butterfly photography and fill more pages than this book has (192). So, not everything is covered in great detail (for example photographing birds in flight or how to best use a hide to photograph shy animals).
But there is a lot to like in this book. First of all are the absolutely stunning pictures from various photographers. I’ve read many nature photography book but this one belongs to the top 5 when it’s comes to the quality of the images presented. The printing quality is stunning and it is just a joy watching all those amazing photographs and become inspired by them. The pictures alone are worth the price of the book.
The text is mostly written for beginning and intermediate nature photographers. It covers equipment, exposure or how to use light. The chapter on composition is one of the best treatments of this subject I’ve read. It may not be as detailed as in some other books but has many clear explanations illustrated with awesome images and it also covers stuff not found in many other books like using triangles, S- and C-cuvers or Zig-Zags.
One chapter covers special effects like using HDR, multiple exposures, night exposures are using flash. Here more details, especially for using flash would have been great but there is still a lot of useful information to be found. The HDR information is also only basic but given that this is such a big subject, the reader will probably have to buy a separate book on HDR anyway.
In the chapter “Making magical images” the reader can find many tips on how to improve his photography organised by various subjects like landscape, macro or wildlife.
The chapter on digital workflow covers the basics of how to work with your images in the digital darkroom. Given that topics like Lightroom or Photoshop are very complex, again, here only the basics are presented and you will need more detailed books covering those topics.
At the end there is one page with some thoughts on turning pro, a photographic calendar covering interesting locations in North America and some small tutorials on specific topics like photographing autumn color, waterfalls or birds in flight (as I wrote above, the coverage here is basic for some topics. 5 small paragraphs on how to photograph birds in flight are a good start but won’t be enough to make you an expert – but becoming an expert in birds in flight photography can only be done with lots of practice, anyway.

Overall I liked the book a lot. The text is great for beginning and intermediate nature photographers and the pictures are so good that even advanced and professional nature photographers can learn something from them or become inspired by them.

Highly recommended!

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I recently had the change to read Alan Murphy’s “Guide to Songbird Set-up Photography”, an E-book written by Alan Murphy, one of the best bird photographers in the world and published by Arthur Morris’ Birds as Art Store.
Alan Murphy has become famous for all his amazing pictures of song birds and other species which he attracts to prepared perches.
This book, which is only available on CD, covers in detail how Alan does create his fantastic images. The only focus of the book is on how to create the perfect set-ups for attracting and photographing birds. It is not a beginners guide to bird photography. You should know how to handle a DSLR and a telephoto lens.

The title is not entirely correct as the book does not only cover song birds but also some other groups like hummingbirds, woodpeckers, ducks or grouse.

A few topics covered in the book are:
- Hummingbirds in flight
- photographing woodpeckers
- birds in a cactus
- photographing Bluebirds
- attracting birds to feeders
- using water or fruits to attract birds
- how to choose the right perches
- ground birds on stumps
- owls
- kingfishers
- water birds
- birds in flight

Every topic is explained in detail with pictures of the set-ups Alan uses and what he does to get the perfect shot. This all is illustrated with many of the best bird pictures ever published in a book about nature photography.

The writing style is very easy to follow and very inspiring.

On a little more than 100 pages, the book contains more practical tips than most other books on nature photography.
Don’t worry if you don’t live in North America. The tips and tricks can be applied everywhere in the world. I try to use a lot of Alan’s tips during this spring and summer and I already found a few places where I will create my own set-ups.
I live in southern Germany and there we don’t have all the species described in the books. But what works for Bluebirds in North America can also work for a European Robin, a Song Thrush or a Blue Tit.

Alan’s Book is one of the best publications on bird photography I’ve read. I highly recommend this outstanding E-book to every bird and nature photographer, no matter how experienced you are. You will definitely learn something from Alan.

More information:
Product Description at the Birds as Art store

Alan Murphy’s website. Be sure to visit. The Website has many amazing images and a very interesting blog. Alan also offers workshops where you can learn from the master himself.

A while ago, I published a review about the book Digital Nature Photography: The Art and the Science by John and Barbara Gerlach. I really liked their book and found that it was one of the best books on digital nature photography available.
Recently I bought and read John and Barbara’s new book, called Digital Landscape Photography, which is simply fantastic.
The book has about 200 pages and is full of great information for the digital landscape photographer.
The book covers many topics, including:

• Cameras, lenses and accessories
• Exposure
• Getting sharp images
• Light and composition
• HDR and panoramas

Everything is explained in great detail. The book contains a lot more text than many other books on landscape photography. Especially interesting was the chapter on getting sharp images. I often wonder when I meet photographers in the field with expensive cameras and lenses but not using a tripod or other techniques to get sharp images. This book tells you how to get the sharpest image possible and the author’s advice works!

The chapters on light and composition are equally interesting. Although I’ve read many books on those subjects already, I always learn something new in a good book. This is because every photographer works different and also composes his or here photographs in a different way.

The text is easy to follow and never gets boring. I finished the book in 3 days.

The images in the book are simply fantastic and a great inspiration. I always judge photography books by the quality of their images. How could you believe the text if the images are bad? In this book, every shot is stunning and perfectly executed. The authors really know how to take great landscape photographs.

There is nothing in the book I don’t like. It would have been interesting to know the technical details of the images (focal length, f-stop), but where really necessary, the authors mention those details.

I highly recommend this book to everyone nature and landscape photographer!

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Birds are among the most popular subjects among nature photographers. But taking good pictures is not easy, one reason among many is that birds are often hard to approach.
Because of this, some people think that creativity is only for landscape or flow close-up photography but for birds it’s enough to get a sharp, correctly exposed and frame filling picture of a species.
But good pictures of birds can be as creative as landscape or close-up photographs. They can be art as well.
Bill Coster, a famous bird photographer from the UK, has recently published a great new book called “Create Bird Photography”. This is not another book that explains in detail what lens you need, how f-stops work or that a DSLR is better than a compact camera. True, there is a small chapter on technical requirements like cameras, telephoto lenses or tripod heads but all the rest of the book is devoted on how to make amazing bird pictures that are more than just sharp and correctly exposed.
The book covers the various aspects of bird photography and the daily life of birds and how to create good pictures in those situations. Topics covered are birds in flight, the life cycle of birds, action, behaviour, food and drink or taking shots during dusk and dawn.
In each chapter, the author shows many stunning pictures from birds around the world and explains the story behind the shot: Where is was taken, what equipment was used, which decisions the photographer made while taking the picture, why he used a certain technique, shutter speed, composition, etc.
For some pictures the author also explains what could be better. This is a great help, especially for beginning photographers.

For me, the pictures alone are a great inspiration but with the text next to the pictures the book becomes even more valuable and you can get many ideas for you own shots, whether you are on safari in Africa or photographing song birds in your backyard.

For me, this was one of the best books on bird photography I’ve read.

Highly recommended for bird photographers of all levels!

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There are many books on the market that offer a collection of tips for the digital photographer. Not all of them are worth reading. The book reviewed here is different and I think is one of the better tip collections on the market.

This is not a book for the complete beginner. You should at least know some basic terms like aperture, ISO or shutter speed.

The book is divided into 9 chapters.

Chapter one covers the basics. Some of the advice here may seam trivial like to shoot RAW or to just shoot when you see something interesting – instead of waiting and missing the shot. But it’s worth reading through the tips as the author has good arguments in most tips.

Chapter two covers exposure, something many photographers have problems with. The author covers important topics here like dynamic range and how to find out what the dynamic range of your camera is or how to judge the dynamic range of your subject. I also liked the tips on histograms and how to shoot for the highlights.

Chapter three covers color with topics like how to make white balance simple, color contrast, hot to shoot for black-and-white and more.

Chapter four is about technical details. Here, Michael Freeman explains how to best check for dust on your sensor, how to clean it or how to check if a picture is sharp. He also explains proper hand holding techniques. Many beginning and intermediate photographers may think they already know how to handhold a camera but I definitely learned something new here. Wrong hand holding technique probably leads to more out of focus pictures than anything else. Other tips are how to weather proof your camera or how to handle your camera in cold weather.

Chapter five covers composition. Composition is complex and easily a topic for a whole book alone. So in this chapter it is not possible to completely cover photographic position. But the author manages to explain many important points like how to look for rhythm or how to apply verticals or curves.

Chapter six is a rather specific chapter and it covers stitching. The author explains what possibilities are there for stitching and how to photograph a scene to get the most out of the stitching process. If you plan to do a lot of stitching, you will find great advice here. If you haven’t considered stitching an option so far, this chapter may give you some interesting new ideas.

Chapter seven explains how to use multiple shoots to get the best out of one picture, for example by blending exposures or using HDR technique to increase the dynamic range or to get rid of noise.

Chapter eight covers photography in low light and how to best deal with and avoid noise.

The last chapter covers some basic digital processing techniques. Of course this is not a complete Photoshop or Lightroom manual but has some great ideas in it.

Conclusion:
I like the book and I although I already know many of the topics covered in the book, I nonetheless learned a lot and also got some new ideas for topics I thought I had already understood completely.
The images throughout the book are great for explaining the theory in the text and are always beautiful to look at. But Michael Freeman is not only a very skilled photographer but also a great writer. The text is always interesting to read and easy to follow.
I highly recommend this book to beginning and intermediate photographers and I think even professionals can find something interesting in the book.

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(The book has different coves in Europe and the US but it is the same book)

The best book on sharpening will soon be published in a new edition covering all the latest aditions to Photoshop, Camera Raw and Lightroom. Lightroom coverage is very important for me as I use this program as much as possible before moving to Photoshop.

According to the publisher’s website for the book the publication date is August, 14th. I hope to get a copy soon after that and then I will publish a review on this website.

Preorder the book from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk or amazon.de: