The Art of Landscape Photography

Livre complet et rempli de bons conseils pour ceux qui souhaitent se mettre à la photo de paysages. Il vous apprend entre autre à bien cadrer et à réfléchir à la composition de votre photo en tenant compte des règles de base et de l'équilibre des éléments visuels. Je l'ai lu durant mon voyage en Italie, et j'ai pu mettre en pratique les bons conseils présent dans cet ouvrage, accompagné d'ailleurs de photos assez réussies!

Scritto da due grandi fotografi, molto semplice e comprensibile per chi è agli inizi. Chi è più avanzato può comunque apprezzare le ottime foto.

I have been an avid photographer for more than four decades, and have written many published articles and several books (now out of print) on the subject. My favorite is landscape photography, and when I was younger (OK, in my twenties) I thought I knew all there was to know about landscape photography, but a chance meeting with a fellow photographer at a gallery show showed me there was still a lot to learn. So, over the years I buy photography books in the hope that each will add something to my skillset, or give me new challenges or ways to look at photography. One of the better landscape photography books is this one! The book is not really intended for novices who don't know their way around their gear. The book assumes you know how to use your camera, filters, and so on, and doesn't deal with camera technology very much, but it does spend the majority of the book looking at technique. There's the expected discussion (throughout the book) on composition, which is to be expected, but also a lot more on the emotional value of the photos and how to elicit a reaction from the viewers. This is where the technical discussions come in, such as looking at the effect various filters or post-production tweaking can enhance an image and elicit more emotion. In general, it's more about taking the photo correctly from the start than Photoshoping the image afterwards (a particular sore point with me; too many photographers relay on editing to correct bad photos, when it's a lot better to get the image right at the start!). There's a lot of examples of what the author is talking about throughout the book. Indeed, this is one of the more heavily illustrated landscape photography books I know of, which is good! My bookshelves contain dozens of books on landscape photography. But, if a friend asked me which one book they should read to become a better photographer, this is the one I would recommend. While assumptions are made about basic knowledge, they are safe assumptions, I think, and let the author focus on the subject of actually taking photographs, not how to use a camera. And maybe that's the key to what makes this book so useful for people of all skill levels, including grumpy old photographers like me!

A year ago after being in the photographic doldrums for quite a while, i made an effort to improve my photography. I did but recently I again felt that I had to improve and I wondered how to do it. I found this book. It opened up or reinforced lots of ideas for me such as the use of corners and pointers, and foreground interest. And the example photos in support of the text are perfect.

This is an excellent and lovely book that focuses on the technical but more on the artistic side of composition in photography. The key word in the title is "Art". Key chapter headings: Balance, Depth and Perspective, The Geometry of Composition, Light, Types of Landscape, Processing, Developing a Personal Style. It includes wonderful photos that illustrate their content. This is a keeper that will be read and re-read often.