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Reviews: A Diver's Guide to Reef Life & A Diver's Guide to Underwater Malaysia Macrolife by Andrea and Antonella Ferrari
 September 26, 2007 @ 02:00 AM (EST)

You should recognize the names Andrea and Antonella Ferrari. The dynamic duo husband and wife team have been contributing to DivePhotoGuide since earlier this year (Lembeh, Kapalai). They are also associate editors of FINS magazine and run an independent book publishing business, Nautilus Publishing.

Based in Italy, in the 1990s, they began publishing natural history books, eventually setting their sites on the underwater realm, focusing primarily on Southeast Asia.

The Ferrari's have published popular titles such as Malaysia Diving Guide, Malaysia - an Underwater Paradise, Reef Life, Sharks, Oceani Segreti - Secret Oceans (awarded the World Grand Prize at the International Festival of the Underwater Image in Antibes in 2004). They also publish in Chinese on DiverChannel.com. The most recent titles are A Diver's Guide to Underwater Malaysia Macrolife and A Diver's Guide to Reef Life, both for Nautilus Publishing.

Next up on deck - will be the much-awaited for A Diver's Guide to the Art of Underwater Photography. Luckily all have been best-sellers and have been enthusiastically welcomed by the diving community worldwide

A Diver's Guide to Reef Life

This 478-page identification and reference guide covers a staggering 1,200+ reef denizens worldwide. From the Red Sea to the Caribbean to the Indo-Pacific. From invertebrates to fish, coral, reptiles and mammals - this book pretty much covers it all.

The book combines striking photo galleries among categorized sections complete with detailed information on distribution, size, habitat, and life habits, for each species.. The added bonus (as if a comprehensive and detailed reference guide with beautiful imagery wasn't enough) underwater photo tips are sprinkled throughout the book. Combined with the "life habits" behavioral information for each species, this can be an invaluable resource for photographers looking to build their portfolios. I found myself staring at the Pontoh Pygmy Seahorse on page 115, a species on my portfolio list that still eludes me.

 

A Diver's Guide to reef Life can be a great field guide to pack in your dive bag. It may just help you nail a few shots that you otherwise may have missed due to not understanding your subjects' behaviors or habitats.

A Diver's Guide to Underwater Malaysia Macrolife

Macro critters are arguably the most interesting creatures in the ocean. With 467 pages and over 600 Indo Pacific species cataloged, this guide is an extremely detailed reference guide for any underwater photographer or videographer shooting macro in Malaysia. Additionally, much of the content would pertain to species observable in other Southeast Asian destinations such as Indonesia for example. The book does reference the varied distribution of each species.

Some example of the unique images in the book include a rare schooling behavior among ornate ghost pipefish on page 29, an action sequence of a lightning fast and eerie looking strike of a feeding mantis shrimp on pages 212 & 213, and a whopping 16 page frogfish section! The saragassum frogfish on page 275 is absolutely beautiful. I've never seen that coloration pattern before.

 

On A Roll...

The Ferraris are on a roll. We look forward to the release of the new guide, A Diver's Guide to the Art of Underwater Photography,.later this year. Stay tuned for the review.

 

 

You can pick up your copy of these fabulous guides at Amazon.com

             

 

 

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