The Traveling Photographer book review

Review by Chuck Hajdú

The Traveling Photograher

By Sandra Petrowitz

Over the years I have developed a passion for both photography and travel. I have been fortunate enough to have traveled to 48 of the 50 United States and countries on several continents. In the distant past I even spent a year living in Japan and that was where I first found a love for trying to take better photographs.

This book was a perfect fit for me because the author is just as passionate as I am about the same subjects. The author writes in a pleasant style that is simple to read and understand and not at all threatening to the reader.

As I read through the book I kept notes on some of the more interesting (to me) subjects and I’m going the share them now.

One of the devices used by the author is the classic comparison shot. Show one picture using certain equipment or techniques and then have a comparison picture next to it. That works fine, normally. However, there were some examples that just didn’t work. The two pictures on page 29 were meant to show the differences between taking pictures with a compact camera and a high end dSLR. There were two glaring differences that negated the author’s opinion. The two shots were not shot with the same focal length lens nor with the same composition. In addition, the author neglected to mention the polarizing filter that was clearly used on one shot. Please, if you want to compare pictures keep the comparisons equal.

The author seems to stress having an object (usually a person) in the foreground to give perspective, While this works fairly often, I feel the author over stresses the importance of what is very often an unimportant or distracting element.

Chapter 10 does an excellent job of explaining the benefits of using portrait mode instead of landscape mode more often. The explanation that is given makes perfect sense, human eyes are side by side, not on top of each other.

However, it is my humble opinion that the portrait/landscape argument has already shifted. Why? Simple, more people are using their Smartphones as point and shoot cameras and the natural way to hold one is in portrait mode.

I enjoyed the authors explanation of flash modes very much. Most people just leave their camera in Auto-Flash mode and accept the results. The explanation of when to use Fill was very informative and recommended to all photographers.

In Chapter 18, On To Something New, the author hits a home run. The 7 tips for getting yourself out of a photographic rut include some of the tricks I have used for many years.

My two favorites are using shallow depth of field to isolate a subject and using prime lenses instead of zooms. My ”get out of a rut” technique for many years has been to shoot with a really fast (f/1.8 or faster) wide angle lens to force myself to see things differently.

One of the best quotes in the entire book is: “Good pictures depend much more on the abilities of the photographer than the technical specifications of his or her cameras.”

I have seen this proved many, many times. Andre Kertesz was one of the greatest photographers who ever lived. He took pictures during World War I with what we would call a POS camera today. They are beautifully framed and composed. He took better pictures with simple equipment than the vast majority of people could ever take today with the most expensive equipment on the market.

Take the authors advice and go out and start taking pictures. Develop your own style and “eye”. You’ll be a better photographer for it.

eBook: $16.95

Print & eBook: $36.25

Print: $32.95

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