Road Reads

"Landscape Photography -- A Guide to Taking Better Pictures," by Peter Eastway

BOOK: "Landscape Photography -- A Guide to Taking Better Pictures," by Peter Eastway (Lonely Planet, $16.99)

TARGET AUDIENCE: Beginner to intermediate photographers.

For such a small volume -- 5-by-8 inches, 163 pages -- the scope of this book is remarkable. Eastway covers equipment (film and digital), planning photo outings, technical elements such as exposure, composition, photo editing and even picture framing. He also includes sections on specific subject types -- storms, rainbows, mountains and so on. These are chock full of tips, such as overexposing snow scenes if you don't want dingy gray snow and watching out for lens flare when shooting sunsets.

The book is richly infused with Eastway's own work. Many are simply examples of excellent photography. Others are grouped to teach a lesson; for example, how an image will differ when shot with different lenses.

With that much breadth, there can't be a lot of depth. The inexperienced photographer will get a good introduction to a wide variety of topics but then will want to read books on specific topics.

Alas, while the author earns kudos with this book, the publisher does not. The type is so small it's fatiguing to read. And the mini photographs only hint at what they could be. For example, the three photos illustrating the use of different lens apertures are so little they look identical. This is not a field guide; there is no reason to make it so small.

-- Gary Anthes