Chasing the Light E-Book Review

Ian Plant is a world-renowned professional photographer, writer and adventurer and the very nice person.  I attended his lecture at the New England Camera Club Counsel this past July and also spent time talking with him in the evening over a pitcher of beer with my friend Greg Bosco.

Approximately five years ago Ian released his first e-book entitled Chasing the Light.  He recently decided it needed an update but rather than just updating the book, he created an entirely new book still entitled Chasing the Light.  Ian did keep some of the basic core of the old book, but the new book is exquisite.  It contains 240 pages of material related to the light, color and exposure.  What makes this book a great buy is that he talks about light in all its phases throughout an entire day from nighttime through sunrise, the middle of the day, twilight and sunset.  He teaches you about direction of the light, bright sun, clouds and and intermingling color into the equation.  The book is not just landscapes but also wildlife.  It teaches you to have patience, look at a scene, very the way you take a picture, use your feet to find different aspects of the scene and to continually practice.



Here is a sample page from the book

This book is great not only for a beginning photographer, but even an expert photographer by giving them a new view on how to take pictures.


15% Off Sale!
To celebrate this new release, EVERY ITEM IN THE DREAMSCAPES STORE IS 15% OFF FOR THE REST OF THE MONTH! There's no need for a discount code—everything is 15% until the end of September. Happy shooting!

Chasing the Light is a 240 page PDF format eBook filled with essential tips for taking great photos. Only $19.95! ($16.96 during the 15% OFF SALE!)

Book Reviews

The last couple of days have had a number of new e-books published and one re-published.  I have been reading them and I will offer you my opinions.

The first book is being republished by Ians Plant's Dreamscapes Company.  It is on mastering Photoshop workflow, a great complement both to Ian's Creative Digital Processing videos and Michael Frye's Landscapes in Lightroom 5 ebook, which we have added to our Digital Darkroom Mastery Suite.  This book was written by my friend Glenn Bartley and I have reviewed it previously on my blog http://photobee1.blogspot.com/2013/10/post-processing-simplified-by-glenn.html

As before, this is a great book with an easy to follow guide plus time-saving and expert tips and at the end of each chapter, there is a homework assignment to help you improve and learn how to use Photoshop.

Ian also released a new Mini Guide "Wildlife Photography Mini Guide" in the mini guide series Ian takes a subject along with a photograph and tells you how to do it.  An example is "mixed light" in which he tells you that it can be tricky to work with but if you can find an animal spot lit and surrounded by areas of shadow that will make you wildlife subjects standout in sharp contrast to the surroundings.

There are three other guys in this set: slot canyons, sand dunes, and coastal photography.  Each one of them are available at a cost of $4.95 each or $16.95 for the complete set of four.

You can order any of the above books or all of them at  Click here to visit Ian Plant Photography.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that I am very interested in photography of the night sky. David duChemin, Craft & Vision is offering a 120 page PDF e-book by David Kingham entitled "Nightscape A Complete Guide to Photographing under the Night Sky."  The book also includes a download link to 22 of David Kingham's custom Lightroom presets..  Until May 26 the book is being offered at a 20% discount for $9.60 and you do not need a code.

In the book David Kingham expertly explains every aspect of this style of photography as he covers topics like: stars, constellations, meteors, moon phases, galaxies, scouting, gear, field work, shooting technique and post-processing.  

Original Processed Version

New Processed Version

The book is written in clear English and I did try out some of his presets and they really made the picture pop.  This book can be ordered by  Click here to visit Craft And Vision.

The Visual Flow Companion, Volume 1"

Approximately one year ago Ian Plant published his e-book "Visual Flow: Mastering the Art of Composition" it is an excellent book for learning and reviewing composition with beautiful examples and how to do it. I enjoyed reading this e-book as it improved my way of looking at the world around us.

Now, Ian has written a first anniversary update "The Visual Flow Companion, Volume 1" in which he gives new images, new analysis and new insights. In this book he also looks and gives his thoughts on to paintings by Rembrandt and Singer-Sargent and how they relate to photography. This e-book is a worthy addition to the original and stands alone on itself. In fact after reading this book it is already helping me with my photography.

Sample Page

For you who want to learn more about composition or get more insight into composition this is the book for you. The set is also a great gift for a photographer in your life.

Right now  "The Visual Flow Companion, Volume 1" is on sale for $7.95 plus if you use the DECEMBER code you get an extra 15% off.

If you haven't bought the original Visual Flow, right now you can buy the original and companion volume together for only $29.95 Click here to visit Ian Plant Photography.

Also remember to utilize the code for the discount, the discount is available on all the items in the store

Black Friday Deals from Ian Plant and Topaz Clarity use on the Milky Way

Dreamscapes Black Friday Promotion
15% off EVERYTHING
starting 12:01 am 11.28 Thanksgiving Day
ending 11:59 pm 11.30 

Greetings,

A quick note to let you know that starting first thing on Thanksgiving (and by first thing we mean 12:01 am!), we will be running a sale on EVERYTHING at the Dreamscapes Store, Reductions will be taken at the shopping cart automatically (no need for a discount code) and they also CAN be combined with any of our existing discount codes,  The sale will continue through 11/30 (ending at midnight MST.)  

Click here to visit Ian Plant Photography.

As I have been saying  my Main go to Plug-in is Topaz Clarity.  I have recently read an article on using Clarity to imp[rove  Milky Way Images: http://thehdrimage.com/topaz-labs-brings-clarity-to-the-milky-way-photographing-the-milky-way/   I created plug-ins in Lightroom and Photoshops as the article suggested and here are the results.

  I was just notified that TOPAZ Complete Collection sale starts tomorrow and runs through December 2nd. Here are the details again in case you missed them, the Complete Collection will be on sale for $199.99 (normally it’s $379.99) with this promo code: blackfriday2013

Original

New Post-Processing