sitelights
10-10-2006, 07:19 PM
This is a Brit book and I should have taken that into account in my amazon.com review where I accused the photographer of being clueless about after dark images.
It now occurs to me that the British Isles are between 50 and 60 degrees north latitude and the United States are between 30 and 40 degrees north latitude. This puts the UK almost in "The Land of the Midnight Sun" since 60 degrees north touches the southern tip of Greenland.
Is it any wonder then that these images appear to be taken well before dusk when they were probably taken at about 10 PM Greenwich Mean Time?
The book at hand "Creative Garden Lighting", Michele Osborne, ISBN 0-88192-742-2, 2005 copyright Octopus Publishing Group Limited and Michele Osborne, is a large (9" w x 11.5" h) 176 page hardbound book printed in 4 colors (colours) in Hong Kong.
This is a picture book containing zero technical information but many large, full page and double page images; a double page image is as large as a 20" flatscreen monitor. This is essentially a textless book since the "text" is almost exclusively photo captions written in rather gushy prose and telling you only what you are looking at not how it was achieved.
As mentioned above in my rambling pre-amble most of the images have been taken in what I would call broad daylight and ill serve the lighting design and execution. Where was the picture editor when they were preparing to go to press? I see that I have both ambled and rambled in the beginning of this paragraph.
In a kindly way I must admit that some of the pictures have merit but not enough to excuse the cutting down of trees for paper stock (which is glossy).
As usual there were a number of appreciative reviews posted on amazon.com but admittedly they saw substance where I saw nonsense. There are many (most) books on outdoor lighting that are nothing but pretty (sometimes) faces. My test: "Do I know more after reading this book?" has been flunked.
It now occurs to me that the British Isles are between 50 and 60 degrees north latitude and the United States are between 30 and 40 degrees north latitude. This puts the UK almost in "The Land of the Midnight Sun" since 60 degrees north touches the southern tip of Greenland.
Is it any wonder then that these images appear to be taken well before dusk when they were probably taken at about 10 PM Greenwich Mean Time?
The book at hand "Creative Garden Lighting", Michele Osborne, ISBN 0-88192-742-2, 2005 copyright Octopus Publishing Group Limited and Michele Osborne, is a large (9" w x 11.5" h) 176 page hardbound book printed in 4 colors (colours) in Hong Kong.
This is a picture book containing zero technical information but many large, full page and double page images; a double page image is as large as a 20" flatscreen monitor. This is essentially a textless book since the "text" is almost exclusively photo captions written in rather gushy prose and telling you only what you are looking at not how it was achieved.
As mentioned above in my rambling pre-amble most of the images have been taken in what I would call broad daylight and ill serve the lighting design and execution. Where was the picture editor when they were preparing to go to press? I see that I have both ambled and rambled in the beginning of this paragraph.
In a kindly way I must admit that some of the pictures have merit but not enough to excuse the cutting down of trees for paper stock (which is glossy).
As usual there were a number of appreciative reviews posted on amazon.com but admittedly they saw substance where I saw nonsense. There are many (most) books on outdoor lighting that are nothing but pretty (sometimes) faces. My test: "Do I know more after reading this book?" has been flunked.