Mr. Simmons's book has helped me to look at bird photography a bit differently, and given me permission to be happy with the good shots I do get. Although he covers many of the basic tenets of bird photography, such as knowing your subject, having the right equipment, and shooting techniques, the true gift of this guide is his concept of showing the birds in their environmental setting. Most of his photos are those wonderful bird portraits in larger than life detail we would all love to take, but he makes a good case for showing birds in their habitat, providing enough detail to identify the bird. Most of my photos are of this type, because although I am fairly good at stalking and being patient, my longest lens is still only 420mm with a tele-extender.

He gives information on how to shoot various aspects of bird behavior, such as courtship, nesting and flight, and this information is all helpful. He also gives ideas for various categories of birds, such as shorebirds. The book is guidebook sized, so it can travel into the field with you. If you wish to become more serious in your efforts to take photos of birds, whether in the field or at your backyard feeder, this is a great resource.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Basics of Bird Photography for Intermediate Photographers.  Apr 15, 2005
By mirasreviews
National Geographic's field guide to bird photography is a short, basic handbook for photographing birds in the wild and in your back yard. The advice by Rulon Simmons is simple and straightforward. Tips are provided by Bates Littlehales, who took most of the approximately 100 color photographs that illustrate the book. The techniques discussed range from simple to advanced, but most are not described in great detail. The guide is best suited to photographers with at least intermediate-level experience, since it requires a 35mm or digital SLR with interchangeable lenses and doesn't provide photographic instruction on metering, exposure, or how to operate equipment.

The Field Guide starts off by explaining what equipment you will need, with emphasis on long lenses, although the advice on film is deficient. There is advice for luring and photographing various species of birds at bird feeders, approaching birds in the wild, photographing birds at their nests with and without a blind, photographing birds in flight, and the challenges and opportunities presented by diverse weather conditions. The final chapter lists the author's favorite places to photograph birds in the U.S., 34 locations in 15 states, with a brief description of each birding spot. There is a sort of appendix of "Useful Information" in the back of the book, which includes recommended methods of getting close to birds, listed alphabetically by species, recommended feed and type of feeder by species, lists of essential and optional equipment, web sites, magazines, and books about birds and photography, and an index.

4 of 5 found the following review helpful:

Excellent Book  Jan 30, 2003

This book is wonderful. It gives great ideas for photographing birds. I was impressed how Rulon Simmons goes about getting the pictures in natural settings. I even found a website for his work at http://rulonsimmons.tripod.com .

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Good book, left me wanting a bit more....  Aug 29, 2007
By bondservant "Jeff"
This is a good easy to read book that has good information about getting closer to birds. Really good techniques for building a blind and outstanding web site and information in the back of the book. There are some very neat "tricks" that he tell about how to get that great shot. However, I was just left going... hmmm I would like a bit more.

But for the price, shesh, it is worth it. Used for just over $1, yeah buy the book. Great for a reference book if anything.

Good ...  Mar 07, 2012
By Darwin's Bulldog
This is one of many good photography books from Nat Geo ... good in that they contain a lot of useful information and are certainly worth the price. My only complaint about this series of books are the words "Field Guide" in the title. I can only surmise that these word refer to the size of the book and not its intent for use. A bird photgrapher will likely take a good bird ID guide along on a photoshoot. But the material in thsi book needs to be read and understood before you make any images, rather than pack in your camera bag for use in the field. Just will not work. Still, a good introduction to bird photography.

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