The Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques

It's usually difficult to write a nature photography book that's useful for the beginners and at the same time gives valuable advice to advanced amateurs, but Mr Shaw has just done that in this book.This book contains very valuable advice for advanced ones especially on close-ups and flash photography and at the same time he covers the basic rules (thirds, sunny f/16) from an interesting perspective. I found his advice about filters and field gears invaluable.Read this book if you want to take stunningly realistic nature photographs.

This is another of John Shaw's excellent books on photography. Liberally illustrated with examples and interspersed with his commentary and notes I found tremendously useful. Shaw covers almost all aspects of photography - from the rule of 16ths, exposure, film, tripods, lenses, closeups, depth of field, composition, backlit photography, etc... Reading this book before you start using that brand new SLR of yours will save you a lot of frustration and trial and error:) A lot of the tips in the book are also equally applicable to people using point-and-shoot cameras also.A very useful feature in this book is that almost all photos have exposure details listed. Some of his other books do not have these details, which I miss.This book is highly recommended if you are just beginning photography and are looking for a good introductory book.

I doubt if this is the only book that you will ever need on this subject, but it is certainly one that you should not be without. I frequently use it as a quick reference/refresher before "going on a shoot." The topics are organized into 2-4 pages each that provide a lot of explanation without getting bogged down in chemistry and physics. Lots of great photos to illustrate the major points.

John Shaw has provided an excellent guide to those interested in outdoor photography. I just purchased a 500 mm lense for photographing wildlife. This book is filled with tips for this and many other purposes. The photos illustrating various techniques are excellent and full information is given on the settings for each photo. Don't let the word "Professional" scare you, this book can help anyone. For me, a great companion to the book he wrote on close-up photography.

This is the best singular book on Nature photography I have found. I have worn out one copy, purchased another for myself and am purchasing my fifth "give it to a friend" copy. If you only buy one nature photography book in your lifetime, this is the book to get.ps: I have been a "paid" professional photography for over 31 years, have over 300 photography books in my studio and still use this book as a reference.