Mastering Landscape Photography

Master di fotografia #2

by David Taylor

The definitive guide to capturing beautiful and compelling images outdoors

Landscape photography can be a solitary experience, but award-winning landscape photographer David Taylor believes creativity requires a certain amount of peaceful contemplation to flourish. What skills or requirements, therefore, does a successful landscape photographer need? An ability not to mind getting cold or wet is one that springs to immediately to mind, but a landscape photographer also has to understand how the weather and the seasons affect the landscape. Navigational skills are useful to find potential subjects. Above all, empathy for the natural world is a prerequisite. Beginning with a comprehensive guide to the choice of cameras, lenses, and other equipment and accessories, Taylor goes on to discuss the fundamentals of exposure - aperture, shutter speed, ISO, dynamic range - and an appreciation of the effects of light on the landscape, at various times of the day and in all types of weather. Practical advice on planning for an outdoor shoot covers the basics of assembling a travel kit, using maps and choosing a location, consulting sunrise and sunset times, weather forecasts, and predicting tides. The author's own stunning photography transports the reader from coastal regions to hills and mountains, through woodland and moorland, in all seasons and weather, in the light of day and the dark of night. Authoritative text explains the theories and "rules" of composition: the importance of balance, harmony and symmetry, the power of leading lines, visual weight, and the ability to create depth in an image. A final instructive chapter details the practical techniques of postproduction workflow, from the processing of images to proofing, to displaying or printing the final results.

Genres: Photography

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2014

About the author

This is the author who writes about photography techniques & camera guides.

http://www.amazon.com/David-Taylor/e/...

Reviews

[Zayneea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up by chance from the returns trolley in the library. I was attracted by the photos in it. All the photography in the book are absolutely stunning and the advice in it is brilliant. Not too interested in doing Landscape Photography myself at the moment as do not travel very much, but picked up some useful tips which I will try to remember (I will probably just have to borrow this again or even buy before I go somewhere to do a little recap). Great book I would advice to photographers of all levels.

[Thomas Hillring · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice introductory book to landscape photography. Taylor touches on a lot of different aspects of the genre, but never goes deeper into anything. As such, it's a very broad book that really shows a lot of different aspects of the craft. It's up to you to get more into each aspect.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This touched upon most of the main topics you would expect to see in a landscape photography book. The photos used helped demonstrate the discussion points and the writing was easy to follow. So from that perspective the book was well constructed.

The main reason I didn't rate it higher was this was a mastering book, not an introductory book. It had broad but shallow treatment of the topics and if you have some awareness of landscape photography then you would get limited value from it.

Ok for beginners. Not recommended for others.

[Skord · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the subject.