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The Essential Underwater Photography Manual by Denise & Larry Tackett
The Essential Underwater Photography Manual by Denise & Larry Tackett
I've never met Denise and Larry Tackett, but I've travelled in their dust, so to speak. When I checked the acknowledgments at the back of their The Essential Underwater Photography Manual, I recognised many names I knew and places I'd been.
People at distant dive centres often ask me if they are friends of mine. They must think I would get on with them. That's unusual, because I have been known to be critical of many books on underwater photography. I don't like those which pontificate on the subject, especially when the end result, the picture, should be able to speak for itself.
So I was agreeably surprised to find that this book is written in no-nonsense plain English. I can forgive the couple their mis-spelling of 'colour', as they are American. I was also agreeably surprised to find that the information contained here was equally no-nonsense. It all made good sense!
The book is sub-titled A Guide to Creative Techniques and Key Equipment, and it does what it says on the tin. The authors have approached the subject as an aft-deck inter-dive discussion. They tell you all you need to know in a straightforward and what I consider a factually correct manner.
So who are the Tacketts? All I can tell you is that they make a living from taking photographs, and in an underwater photography world dominated by dilettantes, that is unusual in itself. I believe they are icthyologists and have written books on marine life too.
The book is well-structured, and illustrated with relevant photographs. Even the chapter Film or Digital? is right on the button.
The Tacketts have used their enormous combined experience to put together a very useful guide.
My only complaint is that if you all buy it, you'll all know how to take good pictures under water, and it'll be even harder to make a living at it. John Bantin
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The Essential Underwater Photography Manual by Denise & Larry Tackett (RotoVision, ISBN 2880467373). Softback, 174pp, £20
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