The Digital Photography Book
by Scott Kelby
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Book Reviews of The Digital Photography Book
Book Review: Good Info, But Didn't Like Kelby's "Fooled Ya!" Sense of Humor
Summary: 3 Stars
I really wanted to write a glowing review for "The Digital Photography Book"... I've been looking for a good tome of insider tips for digital SLRs for a long time, so when I found Kelby's book I was ecstatic! A quick skim showed many great tips; however, after reading the first page of chapter 1 where he carried on about the phrase "TACK SHARP" I began to lose faith.
Here is an excerpt (talking about the origins of the phrase Tack Sharp - meaning a "clear photo"):
"TACK stands for Technically Accurate Cibachrome Kelvin (which refers to the color temperature of light in photographs), and SHARP stands for Shutter Hyperfocal At Refracted Polarization. Now, these may seem like highly technical terms at first, but once you realize that I totally made them up, it doesn't seem so complicated, does it? Now, you have to admit, it sounded pretty legitimate at first. I mean, I almost had ya, didn't I? Come on, you know I had you, and I'll bet it was that "color temperature of light" thing I put in parenthesis that helped sell the idea that it was real, right? It's okay to admit you were fooled..."
Is this for real? Maybe his editor was asleep. He makes a lame joke out of trying to fool the reader, then carries on for half a paragraph laughing at how clever he is! I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he continued with this 'fooled ya' theme by writing fake subheadings on the next SIX sections:
The Real Secret to Getting Sharp Photos
"sorry about duping you with "The Real Secret to Getting Sharp Photos" headline..."
Perhaps Even More Important Than That
"Again, ignore that headline. It's just a cheap come-on to get you to keep reading."
If You Skip This, Throw Away Your Camera
"Still a fake headline. Don't let it throw you."
If You Do This Wrong, It Will Lock Up
"It's not as good as the last fake headline, but we're only one more page away from the real chapter content, so I'm backing it off a little."
It's Time to Get Serious
"I have good news: Not only are we at the end of this "fake headline" thing, you'll also be happy to know that from here on out, the rest of the book isn't laced with the wonderfully inspired (lame) humor you found on these first few pages."
Oh... Okay - so he's dropping the annoying stuff. Good. On to learn.
But NO! In Chapter 2, right away he's at it again! Below he describes ways to get around the problem of pollen dulling the color of flowers (???)
"Now, there is a special photographic filter (called the Flora 61B from PhotoDynamics) that can help reduce the effects of this pollination and both bring back the sharpness and reduce the graying effect, but because of U.S. trade sanctions imposed by the Federal Trade Commission, we can no longer buy this filter direct. Especially because I totally made this whole thing up. I can't believe you fell for this two chapters in a row. Seriously, how are you going to get good flower photos if you're falling for the old Flora 61B trick? Okay, I'm just teasing you, but seriously..."
I hate having to stay on constant patrol for full paragraphs of combed cr*p when I'm trying to learn something new! I don't care how good the "real" content is, I'm not going to sift through fertilizer to get to it!
If you find this type of humor funny, or wonder what I'm making such a big deal about, then you'll probably find this a very fun, interesting read.
If you don't like wondering whether or not the author is "pulling your leg this time, too", then you'll probably want to chuck this book out the window by the third chapter.
Book Review: AAA+ Rated
Summary: 5 Stars
Im 37 years young and just starting out in photography (well you could say that, even though I have owned a number of cameras since I was a teenager, both film and digital, I just took photos, where as now Im just getting into making a hobby out of it).
I got this book because I wanted to know about the different aspects of photography like shutter speed and appature control (plus many other aspects to many to list but the above were the most common two). Prior to now I always used my cameras in auto mode if the shot worked it was OK if it didnt I would flip up the flash and try again. But since reading most of this book I am becomming more adventurous like putting the camera in manual mode and experimenting on different settings. I would read a section of the book and go ahh ok then pick up my new sony alpha SLR and try what scott was refering to. and low and behold Ive seen things I have never seen before, like getting a photo that has a blue tinge to it, which tells me my white balance is out of whack (hey does that mean I have just learnt something from reading a book? and I have never liked reading books my whole life. Who says ya cant teach a old dog new tricks).
What I liked about scotts book was his humour added to the book and his whole aspect of the book is set up. On page 2 he explains that the book set out out as thou its just you and scott out on a photo shoot and while you both are shooting you have lots of questions and he gives you a answer like as if you were mates, basically he is going to answer them in the book like he would answer them out there in the real world. {(straight and to the point, without teaching you all the technical aspects and behind the scenes technology of digital photograghy.}
Each page is set up as one aspect per page or in other words one question and answer per page. for expample on page 2 he writes {if we were out shooting and you turned to me and said, "hey scott, I want to take a shot where that flower over there is in focus but the background is out of focus. How do I do that?" I wouldnt turn to you and give you a speech about smaller and larger apertures, about how exposure equals shutter speed plus aperture, or any that stuff you can read in any book about digital photography(and I mean any book - its in every one). In real life, Id just turn to you and say, "put on your zoom lens, set your aperture at f/2.8, focus on the flower, and fire away."}
Thats how the whole book works basically. I also found his humour to be much like mine so it made it more a pleasurable read. What scott has acheived in this book is what my teachers back in school tried to get me to do many years ago..... Read more books. I hate reading or simply dont. but since reading scotts book I find myself going thru book stores and searching amazon.com for more books on the two most things (well you could call em hobbies at the moment) in my life now, Photography and cooking (not always in that order thou) so much so that I am thinking of going further than a hobby and trying to make money out of photography. and if I could incorperate the other things I love in life into photgraghy I'd be the happiest man alive......mmmmm thinking do you think there is any money in taking photos of sex or food???.....just kidding
Once I have got more experienced on the taking of photos side Im gunna try the other aspect of photography the editing side in photshop cs2. Which I hear scott is a excellent teacher of that too. Might have to get some of his books on that subject too.
Book Review: Nice concept, flawed execution
Summary: 2 Stars
At first blush Scott Kelby's "The Digital Photography Book" is a useful series.
Kelby's writing is concise and engaging. I personally don't find Kelby's humorous asides off-putting as do some other reviewers. The occasional humorous remarks do support the overall message of each topic rather than being humor just for the sake of humor.
Kelby offers an extensive collection of photography tips. His subject matter is wide-ranging, covering gear, workflow, and many different genres of photography (e.g. portrait, sports, wedding, landscape, macro, ...).
If you're just getting started in photography, the series may give you some insight into the possibilities. If you've been working (or playing) as a photographer for a while, you may find that some of the one-page topics stimulates a new avenue of exploration.
But here's my problem with the series. All photography books have a shelf life. The latest gear becomes quickly obsolete. Processes and workflows evolve with the technological base - granted not as quickly as next month's gear, but the landscape does change with overall movement in the technology of photography. Every photographic writer, unless presenting what is mainly a discussion of their portfolio in book form, must decide how to best manage the shelf life of their books. This is where Kelby, I think, has made some poor choices.
Each topic reads like a magazine article. It's short, to the point, and contains a nugget or two of information that will be useful to some reader. As I noted above, I see this as a benefit rather than a liability. However, some of Kelby's topics don't yield to the one-page treatment. Rather than giving these topics the extra space they need, Kelby rigorously adheres to the one-page treatment. (There are exceptions in which Kelby places footnotes for the previous topic on a facing page, but these are rare.) Much more often, the reader is directed to a web site for additional information. Often the web site is Kelby's own. Less often it's a commercial site or a well-known photography site.
Referring to external content has two distinct disadvantages. First, the book is no longer self-contained. Under this format, many articles are teasers for the real meat of the topic. In other words, you probably won't want to read this book unless you have your computer handy. Second, links to web pages tend to evaporate over time. Few sites preserve the behavior of old links when they restructure. Some sites don't preserve older content for long periods. Once in a while a site simply vanishes forever. In other words, the value of Kelby's series will decrease over time as the external references become obsolete.
Kelby and his publisher (Peachpit Press) could of course update those links and publish a revised edition. An edition that'll cost you more money and put you right back on the treadmill of planned obsolescence. Think about that before you decide to spend your hard-earned money on this series.
If the planned obsolescence angle isn't cynical enough, you should be aware that each volume includes several pages of advertising.
At first blush Scott Kelby's "The Digital Photography Book" is a useful series. Upon closer examination, I'd advise that your money is better spent elsewhere.
Book Review: Completely useless for both beginners and advanced photographers
Summary: 1 Stars
I find it hard to believe that I'm writing this, but I simply must save unsuspecting readers from frustration I experienced. I'm amateur photographer and always willing to learn something new, so I was lured to this book by positive reviews in my quest for knowledge and better pictures. I failed to heed the warnings in the negative reviews (which I normally do) and now I'm terribly regretting this because every bit of critique appears to be true.
I usually read introductions and acknowledgements, so this book immediately alienated me with author's ill-conceived sense of humor. The funny part though is that author realizes (admits it in the book) that his humor attempts are "lame" at best but still insist of occupying at least 5% of the book with this trash. What also contributes to the injury is the author's writing style and "pro" reference in each paragraph. Basically each tip is aimed not at learning something new, but rather at "looking like a pro". I find it ridiculous, but it surely attracts all those photo-wannabes that give this book positive reviews.
Now let's look at the content. Each page consists of paragraph(s) of text with some "useful" tip and a picture to illustrate the tip. Do not assume that pictures illustrate a technique, and you could learn anything from them. Most of the time pictures are pointless and/or of questionable artistic value. You will see plenty pictures of cameras, camera menus, camera controls, authors family and friends and even mindless clipart in cases where author was too lazy to actually come up with the photo. Bogus pictures occupy exactly half of each page, so you could surely cut the book in half and convert it to nice pocket format without losing anything.
The quality of tips in the book is of dubious nature. I would say that about half of them is just a common sense. Trust me, you do not need a book to figure out that camera has to be steady to make sharp pictures or that by throwing away you picture CDs you are risking that somebody might gain access to your work. It also unlikely that you bought this book to be reminded that your work has to be backed up (several "tips" devoted to that).
Now the tiny part of the book that actually contains some useful information is misdirected. For people that spend some time shooting (i'm not even talking about ubiquitous "pros" here) all the "tips" are self-evident and are on borderline with common sense. Many of them are blatantly oversimplified of just plain incorrect. For beginners those tips do not make much sense because they lack the basics which are not covered by this book.
In general this book is the worst disappointment I ever had (in books at least :). Spend your time and money elsewhere. There are plenty of good books for beginners and advanced photographers out there and this is just happens not to be one of them. If you really want to improve your pictures better read Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition) or Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting. The latter, especially, going to make you a better photographer, guaranteed.
Book Review: A valuable book that is an excellent value
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently purchased a very nice digital camera for work. The one we had before was good for taking photos of our students for the roster, but every photo I shot of a live speaker or group events was just pitiful. So we popped for a Canon EOS Rebel XT and I figured I'd better learn how to use it. After all, what good is the investment if I still take lousy photos with it?
Scott Kelby's The Digital Photography Book is every bit as straight and to the point as its title. Well let me qualify that slightly. While Kelby does get to the point, he doesn't do it with a straight face. His writing is infused with a sense of humor that worked well with me. I wasn't sure what to expect when I got this book. I just knew that I had a knack for taking ho-hum photos, digital or otherwise, and any instruction had to help. I guess I expected a lot of "use this kind of lighting" and "set your f-stop at..." sorts of advice. There are those kinds of tips to be sure, but there are also an amazing number of forehead-slappingly simple things and insider insights that make a world of difference.
Kelby jumps right into the basics of how to get "tack sharp" photos, reasoning that "If your photos aren't sharp, the rest doesn't matter." He starts out with the equipment you need over and above your camera to get the kind of shots you want - tripod, ball head, cable release, level, etc. I'm sure that will have many of you reaching to protect your wallet, but have no fear. In many cases he gives alternatives that you can use in a pinch. Granted, he generally represents them as what to do when you are caught without all your equipment, but they can also be considered low-cost alternatives. In most cases when he suggests new hardware he is very specific about brand and models he would recommend at various price ranges. I found this very helpful. It's one thing for someone to tell me to buy a tripod, but have you ever gone looking for one? Not only are the choices overwhelming, but the number of ways you can configure them are as well. Kelby makes it much simpler.
After laying out the ground rules for equipment, settings and terminology he jumps right into a series of practical chapters such as Shooting Flowers Like a Pro, Shooting Weddings Like a Pro, Shooting Sports Like a Pro and more. He has chapters which deal with some of the problems and advantages unique to digital cameras and digital photography. Did you know you should bring extra batteries when you are shooting in colder weather? I didn't. He wraps up the book with two very useful chapters - How to Print Like a Pro and Other Cool Stuff and Photo Recipes to Help You Get "The Shot". The latter is just one shot scenario after another with the keys to making it work.
Since I am such a novice I didn't know what I was looking for when I picked this book up other than tips on how to take better shots with my digital camera. After reading it I fell like I got hit with a Mack Truck full of tips. Lucky for me, I did get the number of the truck that hit me. It is "Scott Kelby" and I recommend stepping into his path as soon as you can!