The Art, Science, and Craft of Great Landscape Photography

I consider myself to be a serious amateur photographer who reads a lot and does quite a bit of experimentation. That said, this is the best book I've ever read on landscape photography. It's a very comprehensive book written for digital photographers. It covers the technical issues of camera set up and composition, but is also covers a lot of issues that I haven't seen elsewhere in one place. These are all consistent with the way that Glenn takes photographs and so everything fits together nicely. There are sections on how light interacts with the atmosphere. (Yes, it really is relevant if you really want to consistently take good landscape photographs) He discusses the various software programs available to predict sunrise & sunset times, as well as the compass headings so that you can plan your shots way ahead of time (eg months, if necessary). There is a chapter on getting perfect exposures and on photographing high contrast scenes. Since digital photography is as much about composition and camera work as it post-processing, he discusses how the various programs like Lightroom, Photoshop, and Photomatix can be used to solve various problems. I found that all of the post-processing techniques described in the book are current with Lightroom 7 and Photomatix Pro 5.1. (I don't use Photoshop) There is an excellent section on high-contrast scenes that covers camera techniques and post-processing HDR techniques. He does a great job of describing the details and I was able to easily reprocess some difficult high-contrast landscape photos that I struggled with using his HDR post-processing techniques. I was amazed at how well this worked based on how good my photos looked afterwards. There's an entire chapter dedicated to shooting panoramas and once again, Glenn goes into great detail about camera setup and some special gear that can be used to shoot perfect panoramas. And in this section too, he discusses the various software packages available and techniques that can be used to stitch together perfect panoramas. I recently started photographing the Milky Way at night and his camera and post-processing techniques provided a lot of guidance to get the best photos. I can't say enough good things about this book. It took me several months to get through it because I'd read a chapter or two and then spend a couple of weeks applying the new techniques that I learned. One of the greatest revelations that I got from the book is that there is A LOT of planning to get excellent photos and thinking about how you'll be post-processing the images while shooting is also an important piece in the puzzle.It seems like most photographers don't really want to tell you everything you really need to know about landscape photography when you read their book. Perhaps its because they don't want to divulge their secrets. Not with this book. All of the techniques are well documented to the point that it was straightforward for me to implement. For that, I've very appreciative that Glenn wrote this book. I will be using it as a landscape photography handbook for many years to come. I also like the book because I live in Colorado and within a day's drive of most of locations of the photos in the book.

I am an experienced amateur photographer and I am enjoying this book. Always good to hear from the professionals. Looking to pick up tips and inspiration.

Overall I learned quite a bit from this book but, compared to other landscape photography books, I found it lacking in composition guidelines. The author does cover the "rule of thirds" and gives a few more hints but not much more. The strength of this book is the science of photography. He gives repeated examples of the necessity of planning your shot (e.g. ensuring the moon is in just the right spot for your arch shot) and does an excellent job coving lighting, photographing rainbows and night skies. Great info but I didn't feel it was complete.

When Glenn Randall says the "art, science, & craft" of great landscape photography, he means it. This book is rich with technical details on the making of wonderful images. There are so many topics covered I'd literally never even thought of that it blew my mind.Since I'm a sucker for Colorado landscapes, I was instantly drawn in and had trouble putting it down. While it is very, very technical, he manages to make it a fairly easy read. And it's hard to deny that he knows what he's talking about once you view the photos featured in this book. I couldn't find one that wasn't stunning.I've only been learning photography for a little over a year, and this book is without a doubt my most in depth read to date(and I've read a ton). But I've truly enjoyed it and feel like the details in this book are what I need to take my photography to the next level. I can't wait for an upcoming trip to Colorado to test out some new ideas I've gotten from this book.I won't lie, I'm likely going to need to go back and re-read the whole thing again. But with all the wonderful imagery in it, that doesn't feel like much of a task.Overall, I can highly recommend this book for the serious amateur shooters or professionals. It might be a little too dense for a first book for the budding photographer, but you'll at least enjoy the photos in it.

This book is fantastic. The author packs a lot of information in this book. It's not about the basics of exposure. You need to understand all of that before reading this book. It's about understanding how to capture great landscape photographs, key techniques to process them, and the basic science behind vision and things like rainbows to give you a better understanding of how to capture them. The chapters on processing multiple exposures to achieve the equivalent of using filters (but better - think irregular shapes on the horizon) are well worth the price of the book alone. To be clear on what I mean by processing, it's blending and minor adjustments. He does talk about HDR, but only for producing natural images to more closely simulate what the eye sees vs. the dynamic range of the camera. This is not a book about plugins, replacing skies, or any trickery. If that's what you are after, you'll want to look elsewhere.I can't recommend the book highly enough.

This book includes many great pictures. Unfortunately, however, the text is pretty dull. The author spends too much time on the science, and not enough on the art and craft of photography. This one will not remain on my bookshelf but will be donated to my local library's annual book sale.

A very good book worth the buy

Tecnica, arte e scienza della fotografia: esattamente come promette il titolo il libro è ricco di informazioni, fotografie, dati tecnici, elaborazioni in Lightroom/Camera Raw/Photoshop e molto altro.Una cosa importante il libro non è adatto a chi è alle prime armi. Non si parla di velocità dell'otturatore, diaframmi e messa a fuoco. Non spiega nulla di tutto ciò. E' indirizzato a chi ha già conoscenze nel campo fotografico e vuole arricchire il suo bagaglio culturale nel mondo della fotografia paesaggistica.Il volume è molto ampio e vale sicuramente la spesa.

This is an excellent guide for photographers with some experience. Lots of great advice on post processing and using visualization to help capture the best landscape scenes possible.

In my opinion the best book available on the subject. The perfect blend of inspiration and technical insight into the art and science of landscape photography. The fact that it is crammed full of photographs of Colorada and Utah makes it for me, a superb book as this is where I spend many of my holidays and I recognise places like Arches National Park and the views of the Colorado Rockies that will forever evade my own photographic capacity......although with this technical and motivational book on my desk, perhaps my own abilities will start to improve.

This book is written in a fluent "American" style. There is a lot to be learnt from the author. He explains some science, which is rare in a book about photography. On the one hand he uses astronomy to find the spot and the day where and when to be in order to increase the odds of taking a spectacular picture. On the other hand he uses meteorology for fine tuning the time in the day. He explains why, as a preparation, scouting is necessary. In addition to his photographic equipment, the author carries with him a GPS, a compass, and a protractor (Winkelmesser), and keeps notes for future use. The author advocates to photographically exploit the surroundings, where it is easier to return to under various conditions. Clearly he has advantage over many of use, since he happily lives in Colorado, USA, which along with Utah offers spectacular scenery. The author, with twenty years of experience under the hood, teaches us the craft of landscape photography, in a very personal manner. His motto is: practice the craft, us science, and the art will follow. Wise man!