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Professional Techniques for Pet and Animal Photography

Debrah H. Muska

Amherst Media, Inc.

• List price: $29.95
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• Lowest used price: $15.50

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Photography for Pets

I must say it is an involved process. It is not just a lucky snap shot of your dog or cat in the act of doing something spontaaneous. It is more in depth about behavior and everything.

I Was Disappointed

I rarely bother with negative reviews, yet I was quite disappointed by this book. I guess I read the positive reviews too quickly and didn't spot the little clues that this book would not meet my needs.

What are my objections?

1) This is a skimpy book. I know that probably sounds like the patron who sends back his soup in the restaurant and says "This soup tastes like bacon grease mixed with rotten tomatoes . . . and the serving was WAY too small!" But there simply isn't much here.

2) Muska offers almost no technical advice, and what she does offer is curiously dated. She apparently shoots with a terribly expensive film camera in the medium format. That, I guarantee, is not the equipment that will be used by 90% of her readers. We are in the digital age now, for Pete's sake.

3) Muska has one basic way of photographing most pets, which is (to me) a dated and limited way. That is, she shoots those artificial portraits with the pet posed against an artificial backdrop of some sort. It is important to know how to do this classic "studio" portrait, but there are many other ways of shooting great pet portraits, including photographing the animal in the field in motion. Muska is so limited that her big decision about a portrait seem to be whether or not to include some sentimental prop.

4) Finally, Muska is an endless fountain of hollow suggestions, such as the advice that the photographer should study the personality of each pet and try to see the best way to work with that animal. Gee, I knew that before I bought the book, but when I was done with it I didn't know any more about HOW to work with fidgety, neurotic, aggressive or phlegmatic pets. She runs out of words just when she might be getting specific enough to be interesting.

If you get much from this book, God bless you. You REALLY needed a basic book.

Love this book!

The auther covers everything you would ever need to know about animal photography. The photos in this book are beautiful! The book's main focus is studio photos, but there is on location information for photographing horses. I love this book and would buy it again in a heart beat.

Professional Techniques for Pet and Animal Photography

The title of the book is self-explanatory as it defines the contents well.

This is a well written and illustrated book for any photographer who is interested in specializing in pet photography as a profession. As expected, the book assumes that the reader already understands photography. It is not for the casual photographer.

Great book

The authors passion and experience with both animals and photography are conveyed in this easy to read manual.Its content is deverse enough for the hobbist aspiring to improve their technique.All the recommendations on lighting,studio setup,and composition are thoroughly explained. Overall, alot of great information!!