Book Reviews

For the most part, photography books can be divided into two categories – the artistic, coffee table style books and the informative, how to books. I am a big fan of coffee table style photography books. I have a fairly big collection of large hardback volumes with hundreds of stunning images of landscapes, wildlife, and other nature subjects. Most of these books are pretty to look at, many inspiring, but very few have much educational value to the developing photographer.

On the other end of the spectrum are the informative, how-to photography books whose bulk is made up of instructional text and slightly better than average photographs illustrating basic photographic concepts. For the beginning photographer, they can be a useful reference, but they often contain little information new to practiced and skilled shooters, and rarely do they spark creativity and imagination in the reader.

Text copyright E.J. Peiker, all rights reserved.

Even though I have considered myself fairly capable in Adobe Photoshop for a long time, I jumped at the chance to comment on the new book, Photoshop CS4 for Nature Photoraphers: A Workshop in a Book, by Ellen Anon and Josh Anon.

Authored by: Gustav W. Verderber
Reviewed by: Juli Wilcox

Gustav W. Verderber spent the summer of 2003 as a photo guide for Kodak learning the cracks and crevices of Yellowstone National Park. Photographing Yellowstone National Park: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them is the result of his first-hand experience and a desire to provide an accurate, truly useful photographer’s guide. This well thought out, clearly written book certainly meets his goals.