Greetings—
I’ve been a fan of Harold Davis’ photography online via his blog, “Photoblog 2.0″ for a number of years now. The photos are simply stunning and I really enjoy reading his little vignettes about the photos. But as the blog is not very tutorial intensive, many times I’ve come away saying, “How did he *do* that?” This is especially true with his night photography, a genre I’ve dabbled in over the years with mixed success.
So I was very excited to pick up a copy of his new book, “Creative Night: Digital Photography Tips and Techniques.” Here, Davis covers every aspect of the night photography experience; safety precautions, gear, exposure settings, subjects and composition, post production digital darkroom tutorials, the whole nine yards. And, in what I found to be the most compelling aspect of the book, Davis throughout reflects on the feelings of freedom and wonder one can experience while out in the night with a camera and with few, if any, humans around; how one can be alone, but not at all lonely.
I was particularly impressed with the chapter called, “Stacking Star Trails,” in which Davis explains, step by step, the technique of taking a series of shots of the night sky and then combing these into a single image in post production. I’ve heard of this procedure for years and have never been able to quite wrap my head around it. Now, I’m pleased to say, I have a handle on it and look forward to finally giving it a try and know that it will succeed, as opposed to past efforts.
A quality book for sure, for anyone who wants to brush up on their skills, just look at fabulous photos or for those with basic camera knowledge who want to get started in this fascinating discipline of photography; concise, educational, easy to understand and written in a very personable style. Needless to say, the images are stunning. I now feel much more confident that my attempts at night photography will be much more successful than they have been in the past.
I’ll be writing a much more in depth review of this fine book for the December issue of PhotographyBB Online Magazine, so keep an eye out for that.
Slainte,
Gareth — The Celtic Camera Photography
