Debbi Allen

A dos-a-dos large-format paperback from the DP stable, bringing into one place a lot of the magazine's accumulated wisdom on landscapes and wildlife photography. DP is, in my view, one of the best photographic titles on the newsstands these days, with high production values and an approach that holds no barrs when it comes to the professionalism of those who shoot and contribute to it, even though plenty of them are actually talented amateurs.

Having said that, this compendium of articles and shots from various ediitons of the magazine is a little disappointing; some of the articles feel as though they have been re-edited down to aim for a broader target audience; as this was marketed as a "bookazine" (appalling marketing term) exclusively through the UK chain W.H.Smiths, this may have been the plan. The equipment reviews and some of the articles also display a considerable bias towards Olympus equipment - indeed, a couple of the articles read like advertorial. Even as a satisfied Olympus user myself, I found this a bit jarring; it's not a fault the regular magazine suffers from, so there may have been some sort of sponsorship deal in getting the publication onto the shelves. On the other hand, there is sound advice in these pages, including (for the first time!) someone challenging the accepted wisdom that shooting in RAW is preferable to high-end JPEG, though they don't go into this in any sort of detail. But that's an argument for another time...

But it's still worth looking out for if you are a beginner in either of these areas and want some sound advice.… (meer)