The Digital Photography Book
by Scott Kelby
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Book Reviews of The Digital Photography Book
Book Review: A Great book for improving you Photography skills
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great book for the average photo enthusiast. The goal of the book is to teach an average photographer to take great photos. Its relatively short and each point only takes a page to explain. Also the explanations are short and to the point. Kelby doesn't prattle on about optic theory or other mundane issues, instead he tells you that pros generally do this or that. As Kelby says in his intro, he giving you tips as if you were a buddy out shooting photos with him. Kinda like a photography mentor that is giving you pointers to improve you photos.
The book is arranged by the type of photography being pursued. Flowers, Weddings, Landscapes, People, Sports, and Travel. Kelby is considered a Photoshop authority, so he covers some of that and and also what to focus on to prevent problems in photos that can't be fixed with Photoshop. He also does something that few authors are willing to do; he makes suggestions about equipment and vendors. While this type of information gets dated quickly in a book, its interesting to hear what he thinks is a good product.
His writing style is casual and humorous, which I appreciate. The topic can be rather dry, but Kelby's style of writing and the quick pace of the book kept me awake and engaged. I have read many books on digital photography and most assume that you recently had your brain erased and therefore you know nothing about photography. Consequently, those books start at the most basic of information and don't seem to teach you how to get great shots. They also put me to sleep. This is the only book I have seen that is different.
Is some of the advice oversimplifying it to a degree? Sure it is. Not everything can be improved using the photo recipes that Kelby gives you, but for the average photographer, the general rules will help produce better photos and thats what its all about.
Book Review: Great for Begginers
Summary: 4 Stars
The Digital Photography Book, Volume 1
I have been an enthusiast of the digital camera for the last three years.
Although I am self taught I decided that it is time to slow down investing my money into the photo equipment and start to invest into the post processing and knowledge in general.
I decided to get this book based on the reputation of Scott Kelby.
My overall feeling is that this is an excellent book for a novice wanting to know more about digital photography.
I found that just about 80% of information in this book I already poses and use every day when shooting. I did find a couple of gems in this book and will keep it as a recipe book for future reference. For instance there was a simple guide to making a nice background glow for a wedding photo portrait. That was very useful. Just the thing that I needed and also the reason why I decided to buy the The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby.
I am one of these unfortunate souls that do not identify with Scott's sense of humor but it is easily overcome by skipping a page or so every now and then.
In conclusion, get this book if you are new to digital photography. Get this book if you want to have a recipe book and want to reconfirm your knowledge on things like framing your photos, choosing subjects, overcoming common problems, choosing the right accessories etc. Do not get this book if you are a seasoned photo enthusiast or professional as there will be no value in it for you
Regards
Peter
PS I am currently reading Volume 2 of this book and find that there is more stuff in it for me... more on this will be in the review to of Volume 2 book
Book Review: Practically Mandatory Reading
Summary: 5 Stars
I love photography, but I'm certainly nothing more than an amateur with a DSLR. Like many others, I found that after switching from a point and shoot camera, I knew even less than I thought, and all those "extra" settings and feature actually meant something. Plagued with "How Do I..." questions, I first turned to the camera's manual and then to "replacement" manuals written by people "in the know". That just solidified the realization that I need to take a class. But until I get around to that, I still have a camera, a desire to take better photographs, and a lot of questions.
Enter this title. By the time I was done with just the first chapter, I already had answers to not only existing questions, but quite a few I didn't realize I had. The subsequent 10 chapters were no less informative and vital to beginners. Don't let the compact, picture-intensive, 200+ page size of the book fool you - the information is spot on, in layman terms, and demonstrating real-world methods and practices that are simple to understand and duplicate. The writing style is casual and humorous, but not clogged with unnecessary fluff. Throughout the book the author makes equipment recommendations, and although I typically resent books that have any product endorsements, the author presents only "generic" recommendations at various price ranges; equipment that you'll want to seriously consider once your discover that the results you want are accomplished using that equipment.
I'll still take a class, but with this title under my belt, I feel confident putting it off a little longer, and perhaps skipping the "intro" courses. This book has found a spot in my camera gear and already proved invaluable on more than a few occasions.
Book Review: The tone ruined it for me.
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm going to come straight out and admit it: I hate this book.
Sure, the photography advice is fine. If you're not interested in the theory and you just want to know the best way to shoot X or Y, this book can be quite helpful and would probably be a good one to tuck into your camera bag when you go on vacation.
Unfortunately Kelby's writing is so abrasive to me that despite owning this book and knowing it's on my shelf I will scour the internet and spend hours on trial and error before I resort to consulting it. The author likes to make jokes that I find incredibly condescending. He spends a paragraph spinning an elaborate false definition of the term "tack sharp" only to go "ha ha, just kidding, it just means it's really sharp, like a tack!" at the end. Anyone at all familiar with the term will see through it immediately. Anyone who isn't familiar with it will be pointlessly led on and potentially confused. I can't figure out what the point of these digressions is -- apparently some people find them funny but I found myself wondering if the book needed padding. I felt like the attempts at humor were a waste of paper and of my reading time.
It's also worth noting, although this isn't necessarily a problem with the book, that The Digital Photography Book does not cover the camera theory basics. You won't learn why the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO is how it is. You will learn specific ways to do specific things but you won't necessarily know why those things work. Personally I learn better when I understand the why as well as the how, so this doesn't really fit my style.
Four stars for the photography advice. Minus two stars for writing so irritating I can't use the advice.
Book Review: A phenomenal book
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently made the jump from point-and-shoot to prosumer and I wanted to find out more about the business of taking photographs. I therefore (i) spent a lot of time reading DP sites on the web, and, (ii) bought three books: this book, Miotke's Betterphoto book, and Tom Ang's DK book.
This is the only book of the three which I'd rate as excellent in all respects (on Amazon, Miotke's book has a higher rating than this book; I have no idea why).
If you buy one book about digital photography, make it this one. There are eleven chapters:
(1) Getting sharp photos, (2) Shooting flowers, (3) Shooting weddings, (4) Shooting landscapes, (5) Shooting sports, (6) Shooting people, (7) Avoiding problems, (8) Taking advantage of digital, (9) Travel & city life shots, (10) Printing, (11) Photo recipes.
Each chapter consists of a number of (usually one page) topics which are easy to read and quite addictive (I read the whole book cover to cover,
excluding the last two chapters, in one sitting). Some examples include:
Turn off vibration reduction, Don't wait for rain --- fake it!, Formals: Who to shoot first, Become married to your tripod, Shooting on cloudy days, Pre-focus to get the shot, Which aperture to use, Cold weather shooting means extra batteries, Change your ISO on the fly, Showing movement in the city, and so on.
This book contains nearly 200 tips. It's fun to read. The advice is clear and very, very specific (down to tips on which pieces of equipment to buy). I'm going on holiday to Australia in a few days and this and the camera manual will be the only two camera books I take with me. Please believe me: this book really is that good! Buy it!