Secrets of Digital Bird Photography (1 Viewer)

[bmajoros]

Fellow birders,

I've just finished the first draft of a very lengthy instructional manual called Secrets of Digital Bird Photography. The web version is freely available (no advertisements or pop-ups, no registration required), and I hope to make a provisional PDF downloadable soon; the PDF is approximately 800 pages long, and is copiously illustrated. I've received many highly encouraging remarks and compliments from both novices and professionals who've read many of the chapters (see the Reader Comments page for some of these), but what I'd like now is some constructive feedback to help improve the value of this free resource for future readers. There are surely errors in the book remaining to be found, and topics that remain inadequately covered. Anyone who reports a nontrivial error (i.e., excluding spelling errors or simple formatting issues) to me directly (via *email*) will be gratefully acknowledged in both the electronic and print editions of the book (plans for a print edition are only very tentative at this point). The web address for the book is:

http://www.DigitalBirdPhotography.com

Constructive comments can be sent to me directly at [email protected] (I don't visit this forum very often, so email is the only reliable way to get your comments to me).

Many thanks,

W.H. Majoros
Duke University

 

[lmans66]

This is a great book so far...I have only gotten into the first two chapters and although not editing for editing...I like the look of it. This is a good so far for beginners as the information lends to that so far. But that is great for that is what is missing, a definitive and all encompassing source...well done ...I will keep reading and book mark it. jim

 

[Musoman]

This is a rivetting read ! Thanks for posting this up. I've only gotten a little way into the pages, but i shall continue to read on.
A .pdf version would be excellent

 

[bcl05]

Thank you very much for posting this. I'm a birder with next to no knowledge about photography, but I'm interested in getting into it. This was a very approachable and readable introduction, but still has enough depth to be more than just an intro for beginners. Overall, its brilliant. One subject I'm curious about though that isn't addressed is the "superzoom" class of cameras. They seem like an appealing "intro" level camera. I currently find myself intrigued by bird photography, but don't have the funds to make an investment in a nice new SLR with appropriate long lenses. The superzooms seem like a good bridge to get some skills/practice while I save up for a "real" bird photography rig. I'm curious what the real bird photography experts think of these...

Thanks again, its really a wonderful resource.

 

[Musoman]

I'm not an expert, but i do have some decent gear. Main cam being a Canon 40D, plus a point & shoot Lumix FZ18 with 18x zoom + permeraal adpater + Olympus TCON 14B 1.45x Teleconverter, which gives a zoom of around 26x overall...and this is for when i cant be bothered to lug heavier weight gear around.

The FZ18 is a fab little camera, but cant / wont replace my DSLR canon

 

[Bill Atwood]

All of the people I know who tried the cheap route into bird photography by purchasing superzooms were very disappointed with the results.

 

[Bill Atwood]

Regarding the OP...sorry I don't have much constructive criticism to offer. For the price the book looks amazing...giving away advice that others are demanding $$$ for. I'm not thrilled with the all the colors used, although I suppose it mainly the TOC that screams at me. I prefer "simple yet elegant" when it comes to pages i need to read through, black print on light or white pages with a nice easy to read font.

 

[fugl]

A very good book. I'm about an hour into it at this point & have learned something on just about every page (& I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about photography). I have no problems with the layout, BTW, including the white-on-dark text. The abundant illustrative material--photographs, charts, drawings--is uniformly excellent.

 

[Duke Leto]

for the children in us all, there's some stunning images for those that just want to graze.

 

[jacksnipe]

thanks for this free book,its magic,thanks again.

 

[markgrubb]

A phenomenal piece of work, Bill. many thanks. Worthy of a good book.

I think too that you should get an award for 'speaking in plain English'. You have a great talent for explaining technology in simple terms that the ordinary man can understand

 

[primeone]

Nothing to add but more thanks

Robert