An Essential Guide to Bird Photography

Rating:
Summary: Solid advice for novice and expert alike
Review: This book offers some ideas and techniques I hadn't really encountered elsewhere. For instance, Mr. Young suggests and even encourages new bird photographers to spend lots of time photographing common or even tame birds at parks. For most of us who become serious about bird photography, we have come to it as birders, and you know how *they* can get! If not, read The Big Year, and you'll find out. Point being, as birders we seek the unusual, and when we become photographers, we will do the same. Mr. Young elegantly makes his case for the birds in the park, suggesting that learning tricks of exposure, flight shots and all the standards can be learned with a bit less waste of film.

He also gives some good advice for equipment that might be less costly for those of us without the income to support supertelephoto lens habits. I had not heard of the photoadapter setup he shows, but will probably explore this option.

Most of all, he gives excellent advice on all aspects of bird photography; equipment and film selection, location and approaches, and various techniques. I found his liberal use of side by side photos showing the same bird shot with different techniques and approaches to be very helpful. Mr. Young is not afraid to share his mistakes as a teaching tool. He also includes a chapter on archiving, so that one can begin to learn from mistakes made.

All in all, I have gained much from this book and highly recommend it. For me, the one downside is that he is based in the UK, so he is talking about birds and locations there, but this added a bit of fun, as he discusses shooting such rarities as the American robin!

Rating:
Summary: Solid advice for novice and expert alike
Review: This book offers some ideas and techniques I hadn't really encountered elsewhere. For instance, Mr. Young suggests and even encourages new bird photographers to spend lots of time photographing common or even tame birds at parks. For most of us who become serious about bird photography, we have come to it as birders, and you know how *they* can get! If not, read The Big Year, and you'll find out. Point being, as birders we seek the unusual, and when we become photographers, we will do the same. Mr. Young elegantly makes his case for the birds in the park, suggesting that learning tricks of exposure, flight shots and all the standards can be learned with a bit less waste of film.

He also gives some good advice for equipment that might be less costly for those of us without the income to support supertelephoto lens habits. I had not heard of the photoadapter setup he shows, but will probably explore this option.

Most of all, he gives excellent advice on all aspects of bird photography; equipment and film selection, location and approaches, and various techniques. I found his liberal use of side by side photos showing the same bird shot with different techniques and approaches to be very helpful. Mr. Young is not afraid to share his mistakes as a teaching tool. He also includes a chapter on archiving, so that one can begin to learn from mistakes made.

All in all, I have gained much from this book and highly recommend it. For me, the one downside is that he is based in the UK, so he is talking about birds and locations there, but this added a bit of fun, as he discusses shooting such rarities as the American robin!