Photography Essentials: Waiting for the Light

by David Noton

Waiting for the Light is a breathtaking visual celebration of David Noton's work to date as one of the world's finest landscape photographers. A long-awaited exploration of David's images, this book showcases the very best from his extensive global portfolio, with photographs from every continent. Accompanying text places an emphasis on his use of light, and his ability to capture the essence of a place through outstanding landscape photography. David offers amateurs and professionals inspirational and practical advice on how to achieve this in their own work. The book also includes an invaluable chapter exploring the incorporation digital techniques. Beautifully displayed images combined with explanatory captions and practical, revealing text, make this an indespensable must-have for any photographer.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2008

Reviews

[Lucinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Waiting for the Light" is a beautiful book to look at; David Noton definitely understands the art and the technique of making a photograph.

I was disappointed in the book because I wanted to learn more on how to take the picture and the book does not give enough detail on how David got the shot. The pictures should be labeled with which filter he used, what f stop, what iso, what lens speed and all the other technical things.

Yes the pictures are beautiful and he does give some information about the shots, but I want more.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It displays a beautiful collection of David Notons portfolio, along with notes on how the pictures where taken. However, it doesn't go into too many details about different techniques etc.
The most important lesson - at least in my opinion - to take from this book, is that you have to be patient and persistent. In many examples David explains how he waited several days until the conditions where just right for his envisioned shot: an important reminder in todays age of flashy instagram photos.

[Fernando · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great book, beautifully illustrated and very insightful.

This book focuses mostly on landscapes, but I do believe many of its insights apply to many different types of photography. Although Noton does not spend much time detailing the technical specifics of each photo (film speed, aperture, etc.), which really would only apply to a specific set of circumstances, he does provide some good tips for different environments and situations, as well as some important things to keep in mind as one develops a proper artistic vision. By far my favorite thing about this book, however, was the continued insight into the kind of work it takes to really create beautiful images. With the advent of inexpensive, high-quality camera, and now with the recent improvements in camera phones, there seems to be this general attitude that anyone can be a great photographer, just snapping shots with ease. Mr. Noton's book exemplifies the fact that truly great images take a lot of time and effort, with the photographer's well-honed vision, exercised through lots of practice, and bringing together the right setting, lighting conditions, the right tools, etc. to create something fantastic. Can someone simply snap a picture on their smart phone, run it through instagram, and end up with a nice shot? Sometimes. But true, spectacular images like many of the one's in this book take real work with very few or no shortcuts, and that is something that applies to all photography.

[Nathaniel Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning imagery, interesting & insightful text

[Richard Gombert · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book.
I will try to use some of these tips in my photography.