OurColony.net

with all due respect to Mr. Cohen

Customer Rating:
With all due respect, Mr. Cohen, there is no photography without manipulation. The lens used, where one chooses to point it, the depth of field chosen, the film used, how digital files are processed, and as you say, "cropping," are all subjective interpretations. The only way to purely record nature's beauty is to look at and remember it. The moment it is recorded by an instrument by a human being, the image becomes subjective and interpretive and its purity is gone. It's the nature of the process.

And it is a fact that the quality of cameras and lenses used directly affect the quality of the file. P&S cameras with IS really can't hold a candle to a more professional system.

Not the Book to Start With

Customer Rating:
This is not really the book to start flower photography with. I say this for several reasons. It requires elaborate camera and equipment. It deliberately teaches techniques that distort the perspective that one might have using their own two eyes.

I am more of a purist and believe that Nature's beauty is everywhere and that it can be captured relatively simply using new and inexpensive digital cameras particularly those with image stability and macro functions built in.

I published an entire collection of photos without any manipulation except cropping to fit the page. Matt CohenZen of Watering Your Garden

Fine Art Flower Photography: Creative Techniques and The Art of Observation

Customer Rating:
This is a fabulous book! It has great ideas. The techniques used in each photo are described in easy to understand language. I also like the fact that there is not much written information so solely focused on each photo and how to produce the same image. Great book for the money!

Too stylized

Customer Rating:
The pictures in this book are very beautiful, but I was hoping for more discussion of the basics of outdoor nature/flower photography, like lighting and composition. This book spends a great deal of time with mutliple images and zooming and "special effects" which are interesting but not really helpful if you are trying to take better pictures of flowers. Also, it seemed sort of repetetive at times.

WOW....LOVE IT

Customer Rating:
Cool...abstract photography. Clear pictures, great as a table book or as a useful 'textbook.' Pleasure to look at; pleasure to read. Well worth it!