Digital Wildlife Photography

At first glance, I was genuinely impressed by the quality of the images illustrating this book. Then I looked more closely and became more and more suspicious, until after a few more careful examinations I grew to hate it!

Before I get to the complaints, though,  there is a lot of good information in here that will be of use to the digital photographer, whether a newcomer or more experienced. If you are confused by all the jargon, and phrases such as ‘shooting in RAW or JPG’ and ‘changing the white balance’ fill you with terror, you’ll be pleased to know that these are explained well, in easy-to-understand language.

There is also a very useful section that helps the reader understand image processing once back at the computer. Saturation, tonal range, sharpening, cloning and re-sizing are all dealt with. However, the author’s cataloguing section bafflingly encourages filing all images on a hard drive, rather than suggesting they be burnt to CD or DVD. Other basic photography tips include using a car as a hide, how to set up portable hides, how to correctly use a tripod and so on, but these have all been covered many times before in far better specialist bird photography books.

That was the good part, but now to the ‘meat’ of any photographic book – the photos themselves. As I said earlier, to the potential unsuspecting buyer who is new to bird or wildlife photography, this book seems packed with images that we would all like to take. But to my eyes the photos began to appear ‘odd’, and after a few phone calls to various contacts I was able to confirm my suspicions that many of them are not of wild animals, but of semi-tame or captive individuals.

There is nothing wrong with taking this type of photograph per se, but what is totally wrong, in my opinion, is to try to pass them off as the genuine article by using misleading captions. And then, worse still, to package them all up in a book with a title like Digital Wildlife Photography – could it have been more accurately called A Few Days in a Couple of Wildlife and Game Parks? For example, the caption for a photograph of an American Black Bear reads: “Successful wildlife photography challenges our preconceived attitudes to the world by producing images that excite us and contrast with our preconceptions.”

The image accompanying this awful caption is of a full-frame bear, perfectly posed on a fallen log, and taken with a 12-24 mm lens! Now, this can only mean that the photographer was virtually face-to-face with the animal, so was he extremely brave or foolhardy? Well, both, if it was wild, but if it isn’t then the caption and the photo are worthless and meaningless, and do not excite anyone at all.

The background for a number of the photos appears to be the same or very similar, and the Raccoon, American Badger and Lynx look as though they have been taken in the same area. I am also baffled as to how an adult Puma can be photographed so closely using a wide-angle zoom without putting the photographer in danger. Surely this is another captive or trained animal? If not then I hold my hands up and bow to Weston’s courage, bravery and skill in taking such images, as I would be running away if a Puma were that close to me!

This book does not cover butterfly, moth, dragonfly or plant photography, but there are 20 or so bird images – none of which are particularly special. One image of an African Fish-Eagle is shown to illustrate flash being used to freeze the subject, but it hasn’t worked in this case, because the image is out of focus. And once again, this bird appears to be a captive subject, taken with a 12-24 mm lens in what looks very much like English countryside.

It gives me no pleasure at all to criticise any book, as I know from experience how much work goes into producing one, but unless you are planning to photograph mainly captive large mammals, then this book will be of limited use to you. There are better guides to explain digital photography and a number of very good books on bird photography.

Sadly, this is an opportunity missed, especially by the publishers, and maybe Chris Weston should follow one of the sections of his own book entitled ‘Expanding Your Repertoire’. I feel that he really does need to get out into the field and take some photographs of genuinely wild wildlife, be it birds, mammals or insects. Maybe then I will be more impressed.

First published in Birdwatch 163 48 (January 2006). For a wide range of birding books, some at excellent discount prices, please take a look at the Birdwatch Bookshop.

Tech spec

• Digital Wildlife Photography by Chris Weston (Guild of Master Craftsmen, Lewes, 2005)
• 176 pages, illustrated throughout with colour photographs
• ISBN 1861084803. Hbk, £19.95