general

The book reasonably covers most of the ground relevant to landscape photography, is acceptably written, well presented and nicely illustrated. On the other hand, Mr. Shaw spends pages for introductions that could be condensed in paragraphs, which can make the book more readable to some, or get on your nerves while you wait him to get down to what you bought the book for, i.e. the relevant techniques stripped down and discussed clearly and thoroughly. And when he finally seems to get there, more often than not he just skims the surface, this time in a few paragraphs where you would expect to see pages. So the book offers lots of words for little substance, it is often shallow and incomplete even for a basic-level text (e.g. fancy discussing exposure of high-contrast scenes on slide film without a single word about bracketing?), could be better structured, more to-the-point and systematic for a manual, and it certainly adds nothing new.

Plenty of nice pictures, yes, some great; that is, if you like Fuji Velvia's garish colours, which plague the book. You can pick some ideas from them, but in this kind of book you judge pictures for their illustrative value rather than their beauty: what you want to see is different alternatives compared for each technical issue discussed, which is often limited or lacking in the book, and be given full technical details of each shot, whereas here you are left even without the exposure settings.

All the same, useful book if you do not know about basic exposure, what hyperfocal focusing is, what a polarizing filter does, when to use a tripod, the basic characteristics of various focal lengths, the basic effects of different lighting, basic composition, basic ..., etc. But then what you need is a general photography handbook, such as Michael Langford's, which through a both more thorough and concise coverage of these and other topics is more likely to improve your technique overall, including for landscape photography. If you are beyond that level, do save your money and look somewhere else.

Shaw does a wonderful job of 'filling in the gaps' for aspiring amateur photographers like myself. Everything needed for landscape photography - equipment, technique, and vision - is skillfully presented: neither losing the beginner, nor boring the more advanced shutterbug. I highly recommend "Landscape Photography" to anyone interested in landscape/nature photography.

There are a lot of other photography books out there with the same general content as this book -- an overview of photographic techniques, equipment and the creative process as they relate to landscape photography. Although it is not an outstanding book, it is better than average, primarily because of the clear, direct way in which John Shaw writes, and the practical advice which he provides.