[.ca] Artists Photo Reference Landscapes (ISBN 1581804539)

Wonderful:
I think this reference book is absolutely wonderful. The author has written permission to photocopy out of the book and tips on how to make a collection of pictures into one. I also just love the variety that it comes with. I was saddened that there was no rain, but everything else widely overcomes it. If your looking for a book full of pictures, this is the one to get!!

Wide variety but too flat:
Most of the photographs are too bland to use. Too much sun, too many similar photographs, not enough mood photographs. Where are the rainy days, why are there so few foggy pictures, why no gardens? I can photograph pictures like these. What I wanted from this book are photographs I can't shoot. Windy days, mountain towns. I am using it, but it's hard to find a good subject and combine it with others, they are so similar.

Need art reference material?:
As a painter you're always looking for fresh reference materials, often frustrated by copyright restrictions. Gary Greene, the author of Artist's Photo Reference Landscapes, encourages the reader to copy the photographs to use as is or combine them into fresh compositions. What a novel idea! The photographs are superb and well conceived making for thousands of new compositions for your art reference library.

More is Less:
A photo reference should of course contain plenty of photos, but here there may be too many, or maybe it's that they're crammed four or five to a page. I've worked with small print photos of my own as a reference and it's no bother ( I can enlarge them if I need to), but when a smallish image is one of a group on that same page, well...it's just too crowded. Perhaps less would be more. Maybe it's my merely-intermediate stature, but I'd rather a larger format, such as a volume called "America" (or "American Landscapes") that I found at the library, with one or two great photos to a page. "Artist's Photo Reference: Landscapes" is helpfully organized into categories and sections within those categories, and offers a few demos. That's a good thing. I may not unload this book, but I'll more likely hit the library for some general photography books.

Good Reference Book For The Studio:
This is a really good reference book for landscapes. I use it often when I need a good outdoor scene for a painting. I really like to use the landscapes that depict sunset/sunrise. This book has most definitely been the most used art reference book in my studio. My only complaint is that I wish he had incorporated scenes that invoke Alaska. Other than the absence of glaciers this is a pretty good book. I hope if there is a second edition that he remembers to include glaciers and frozen ponds. Afterall, the Alaskan landscape is a part of America too.