A book of stunning nature photography and how to do it yourself
Nature Photography – Learning from a Master
Photographs by Gilles Martin, Text by Denis Boyard
Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 2003
ISBN: 0 8109 9116 0
Like Martin’s other book, Macrophotography, this is a profusely illustrated 300+ page book that is a must have for those interested in nature photography. Unlike this previous book though, this one concentrates on larger subjects.
The book is divided into the following chapters:
* A Brief History of Wildlife Imagery
* The Wildlife Photographer’s Professional Code of Ethics
* Tools of the Trade for Nature Photography
* Photographic Technique
* Building Images
* Film
* Nature Photography in Practice
* Getting to Know Wildlife
* In The Field
* Shooting Techniques
* People and Animals
* Landscape Photography
* Photography in all the World’s Ecosystems and Climatic Conditions
* Processing and Distributing Your Photographs
* Glossary
This book is basically totally film oriented, but that really does not detract from the usefulness of this book, since nature photography is mostly about various techniques, methods and approaches that are no different for film and digital. The book does a great job of both inspiring and then covering the techniques used to capture such images. Techniques from the simple to the complex are covered. Now the complex techniques get pretty complex, including floating blinds to hide in and remote controlled cameras. But, of course, you do not need to get that complex and the book can help you with much simpler issues of getting the shots you want.
This is a great book. A great mix of fantastic photography, great illustrations showing technique and informative text, this book is a must have for anyone interested in nature photography. It belongs on every such photographer’s bookshelf. Highly recommended.