  Decent but disappointing
Jon Cox knows all the basic rules of photography, knows the ins and outs of operating a camera, knows the rules of composition and does a fair job of communicating all that to his readers, effectively telling what he knows about taking close-up nature photos, although there are one or two places where he absolutely gets it wrong, such as when he says that the conversion factor for a digital SLR results in a 1:1 macro lens producing a larger than life size image on digital SLR's. That's all reasonably well and good. If you're a newcomer to close-up and macro photography, this book has some value for you, no two ways about that.
But I'm not a beginner, so my problem with the book is that there's very little for me to learn here. Also, I want to be inspired by the author's work, I want to see photos that make me want to go out and take pictures myself, photos of the highest technical and artistic quality, something to aspire to. I don't get that from this book. In my opinion, the author's photos are for the most part unexceptional and uninteresting. Some are downright bad: not sharp, poor compositions, overexposed, etc., about as far from inspiring as you can get, at least for me. There are a few keepers, but for the most part, the photos in this book are just not anything special.
So I'm quite disappointed with this book. It's not without value, but if you have John Shaw's book on close-up nature photography, save your money, you already have what you need to know as well as some exceptionally good photos to inspire you.
Expecting too much!
Maybe I was expecting too much from this book based on a fairly excellent customer reviews at amazon. I maybe expecting too much cause because to my surprise, the book dealt with point and shoot aside from DSLR cameras. I was kind of disappointed with that. I own a Nikon D200 and a Nikon 105mm f2.8 macro lens to learn the art of macrophotography and to my surprise coolpix camera shots were there....honestly i was turned off with that! If you are expecting a purely DSLR macrophotography on this book you may have to look elsewhere! I felt that there was something missing in this book. I know some of you out there knows what I mean...it lacks some oomph!!
Digital Nature Photography Closeup
This writer put some very nice photos into his book. He lists the camera and lens that he made the shots with but not the camera settings he used, which would be helpful to someone learning the art.
This is a beautiful book
This book is exactly as it says on the back cover....A Complete Guide to Macro Digital Nature Photography. And well done. Well worth my investment.
Polished, but basic
I've noticed a problem with specialized photography books: not enough specialized information. Digital Nature Photography Closeup is well organized, clearly written and very attractively designed with some striking photography. Unfortunately, more than half of the book is devoted to basic photo equipment and concepts.
What I've wanted - and have yet to find - is a book on macro photography that assumes I have basic or intermediate photo skills and want to extend them into a new space. The chapters of the book are:
- Equipment
- Camera features and techniques
- Light & Color
- Composition
- Flash
- Working with Histograms
- The Digital Darkroom
It could be the outline of almost any photo book - and much of the content in each is applicable to any photography, not macro in particular.
If you're relatively new to digital SLRs and have an interest in closeup photography, you'll probably get a full meal here. If you're beyond the basics, it's not much more than a light snack. Well presented, but not very filling.
|
DigicamHub
