Pet Photography: The Secrets to Creating Authentic Pet Portraits

It is a puzzle whom Norah Levine envisioned as the reader for her quite comprehensive book Pet Photography. It is obvious from the text that she is a professional with a large set of sophisticated photographic equipment and thorough technical knowledge. Was this written for photographers aspiring to be professional in this field? Levine uses technical terms that are often undefined, leaving the reader searching for definitions elsewhere. In this book, she covers every aspect of photography and particularly those concerning photographing pets. She has three specific chapters on photographing the most popular pets: dogs, cats and horses. The book, as expected, is profusely illustrated with her photos, hundreds of them. Too bad she prefers quantity over quality. The photographs, despite state-of-the-art equipment, are no better than any photographer with an inexpensive camera or cell phone would take of his or her pet. Artistically, they are weak and not many catch the eye as excellent. She gives a short explanation under each photo, some with technical information. Her writing skill is insipid at best, and the text is uninteresting. Occasional sidebars may be somewhat informative.