Tweets,
When I saw Ian's post on this, I thought "oh no, not another North
American bird field guide!" I really did think there are enough of
them, but I was wrong! These plates are works of genius (any one by
itself would make me stare open-mouthed), and I can't imagine the
amount of time it would take to put together each of them. I take my
hat off to Richard Crossley's Photoshop skills, assuming he did that
all himself. And if he took all the photos as well - wow! I'm not
flummoxed by the perspective from near to far, but I am by how
seamlessly he makes that perspective work.
It will be very interesting to see the text, to see how it complements
the plates. There are no numbers on the plates. Will the birds be
numbered, or will a facing-page plate have the birds in silhouette
with numbers and captions, as has been done in some guides? The latter
is more pleasing aesthetically but more difficult to comprehend. Or
will he merely let the viewer decide which bird is which? And how can
there be an expansive text with photos that probably take up a page in
the book, with the huge list of species to treat? Several volumes? Or
will they be reduced in size to two or four photos per page? Maybe the
book won't be field-guide sized. If only those 34 plates are finished,
may we wish Richard a long and productive life!
As many photos as there are, there are still gaps - I didn't see a red-
capped juvenile Downy Woodpecker or a very brown PNW bird, a first-
year male redstart, or a breeding-condition Tricolored Heron (a
spectacular bird), and I'm sure there are other plumages not
represented. I hope the absences aren't a consequence of his not
having such a photo, as those photos are certainly out there.
I'll buy this one just for those astonishing photos.
Dennis
On Sep 9, 2009, at 12:00 PM, tweeters-
request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:
> Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:29:30 -0700
> From: Kevin Purcell <kevinpurcell at pobox.com>
> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] forthcoming photo guide
> To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Cc: Kevin Purcell <kevinpurcell at pobox.com>
> Message-ID: <A4A147A8-23EB-4DC9-ACD9-875D858C9685 at pobox.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
> You can also find a set of 34 plates (i.e. more than that original
> link) at
>
> http://www.crossleybirds.com/gallery/THE-I-D-GUIDE-coming-soon
>
> I don't think he's shown any text yet just the teaser plates.
>
> One might suspect that something similar to his "Shorebird Guide"
> style will be brought along at least for the species info and range
> maps though I suspect the photo captions might be rather different.
>
> As all the pages I've seen seem like full page plates I think I'd
> prefer a facing page perhaps for text. But that's a lot of color
> pages. I suspect the plates and the text will be split (like the
> Shorebird Guide). But it's all just speculation until someone sees
> some page proofs.
>
> The problems I have with the plates (but I do like the diversity of
> images) is they way it plays tricks with your mind. See the
> Oystercatcher plate (or the Skimmers or Mergansers) for example. G-I-
> A-
> N-T Oystercatchers invade the beach. OMG! I can't stop my brain from
> thinking that. I think it's the background context photo that causes
> this because I don't get this same feeling with the Cooper's Hawk
> plate -- the same effect that makes the Moon look larger at the
> horizon than when it is high in the sky.
>
> http://server1.birdingonthe.net/imgs/crossley/American%20Oystercatcher.jpg
> http://server1.birdingonthe.net/imgs/crossley/Cooper%27s%20Hawk.jpg
>
> The win though is the multiple angles, distances and lighting (again
> like the Shorebird Guide) which I think is a win for a more JISS style
> of ID.
>
> Viewing the plate is more like looking at a piece of modern (semi-
> abstract art ... like a Cubist or other multiple perspective painting)
> than looking at a representationalist image. But my visual system
> won't believe what my "art critic" system is telling it!
>
> On Sep 8, 2009, at 10:34 AM, Ian Paulsen wrote:
>
>> I have just learned of a forthcoming photo guide to North American
>> birds
>> by Richard Crossley. Some sample plates are here (click on the
>> species
>> name):
>>
>> http://server1.birdingonthe.net/crossley/slides1.html
>>
>> Has anyone seen sample text yet?
>
> --
> Kevin Purcell
> kevinpurcell at pobox.com
> twitter: at kevinpurcell
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20090909/c7e20d08/attachment.htm