The Digital Photography Book
by Scott Kelby
|
List Price: Our Price: $13.48 You Save: $11.51 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $9.37 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Digital Photography Book
Book Review: Great Books for the pragmatic beginner.
Summary: 5 Stars
Dear fellow amazon.com shoppers,
I bought volume 1 and volume 2 of Scott Kelby's books together with my Pentax K200D. As a photo-enthusiast and DSLR starter I really enjoyed reading this two books. Both read very easy and takes you in a fast pace through the basic and intermediate know-abouts of professional digital photography. Volume two picks up right where volume 1 stopped, so both books actualy make 1 big total package. The author doesn't bother you with too technical explanations but takes you with him on a shoot as a friend would do. Every chapter he describes how to best do this and that. Starts with landscape shooting, all the way to sports, macro, weddings, nighttime shooting etc. Every chapter is dedicated to a certain discipline and gives you more usefull information than you'll be able to remember the next time you go out on a shoot. So the book grows with you as your experience grows. You read the chapter again, ie. Landscapes, and hey: i forgot about this and that, let me try that the next time when I'm in the mountains. When you control every discipline described in these books, then and only then you can move on to more technical and specific books. The chapters read very fluently with a great deal of humor and pragmatic 'aah, so that's how they do it' moments.
For the price, get both at once as you really need both to get going!
Good luck improving your photografic skills!
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
I have been taking digital photos for a few years and recently upgraded my camera to have more control over my pictures. I also read a few books to learn specifically about the differences between digital and 35mm photography. After reading the reviews of this book I expected to be dazzled with useful information. I was not. Here are some of the reasons.
*The author is not a very good writer. He tries to be funny and he is not (to my taste anyway). The author is very preoccupied by his own status. He is constantly talking about his famous photographer friends, blah, blah, blah. I thought this was going to be a book about hands-on technique...Show the photos and explain how they were taken.
*The quality of the book is poor. The book is small and the paper and printing are cheap. The paper is magazine quality.
*It seems that nearly half the photos in the book are stock photos, not taken by the author. That surprised me.
This book might be okay if you know abolutely nothing about photography but I found it simple and uninspiring. There was no single photo in this book by Mr. Kelby that made me say "wow".
I found The Betterphoto Guide to Digital Photography (Amphoto Guide Series) to be a far superior book; well written with great photos, all by the author.
Book Review: Must read for a newcomer as well as expereinced photographer
Summary: 5 Stars
Writer is well known and experienced in digital photography field. I used to be a film SLR amateur photographer and moved to point and shoot later due to constraints.
I am planning to take up digital photography more seriously and this book was a good start to rekindle my interest in Digital SLR photography. It helped in building my online shopping cart and provided good pointers for research. After reading this book I have more realistic expectations about my budget and photography.
You need not be top photographer or a professional or a Digital SLR owner to find this book useful. This book can be used by average photographer, it has valuable tips for any photographer (including point and shoot photographer).
Enjoyed my reading and could not stop reading this book.
Some interesting learning's:
- A small trick like using a white board/paper or black valvet/valour cloth as background when photographing flowers or portrait.
- Why you need tripod, we all know that but still we don't think we need one.
- How to show size.
- How to use different weather for photography
- Tips for panoramas
This book will not explain you some basics like depth of field etc. So if you know what is 'depth of field' and other basic stuff about SLR photography and do not want to die reading about it again and again this book is for you.
Book Review: Well worth the price, full of interesting and useful tips
Summary: 5 Stars
Both this book and Volume 2 are full of good tips for taking better photos. I've been shooting for over 25 years, so I'm used to opening books and seeing a certain amount of material that I'm already familiar with, but I still learned a lot. I like the format and Kelby's direct and to-the-point style. The books are designed so that every page covers a certain aspect of the topic at hand and provides some kind of useful tip. There isn't a lot of prose, just a 'do this' kind of approach. It helps if you have some experience, because he doesn't spend a lot of time on the 'why' of what he is saying. In many cases you have to think about it and fill in that part of it yourself. However, this approach has the advantage of not burying the 'what' under lots of theory. I highly recommend these books no matter what your level of expertise. Follow his instructions and you will become a better photograher (unless you're already a pro).
Beware of one thing - Kelby's sense of humour. He does state in the very beginning that you can skip the chapter introductions, as they are just his chance to have a little fun and crack some jokes, so don't take them seriously. If you do, you'll find yourself wanting to get your hands on the non-existent "Floral filter 1B" or whatever he calls it. His humour is a little corny at times and maybe there is a little too much of it, but he did warn you, didn't he?
Book Review: Simply the perfect book for almost any digital photographer
Summary: 5 Stars
What Shrunk's classic "The Elements of Style" did for English grammar, Kelby's book does for digital photography, and it's a lot more interesting! 90% of this great little book is solid, direct tips on how to make the best photo in each situation. The other 10% is lame jokes from Kelby. Groan when these jokes show up, then push on to the incredibly useful stuff.
The style here is as if he's a friend of yours standing next to you while you're about to take a shot. There's not a lot of theory, just practice "hey try this and I think you'll get the best shot." This is a small book, but one you can keep nearby so it's handy to review; mine sits on the edge of my desk.
He covers most every type of photography you can think of, from weddings to sports to landscape. He also gives tips on gear, software, paper and everything else related to digital photography. His first chapter on Getting Really Sharp Photos will improve the quality of your photos tremendously, even if you've been taking photos for a couple decades as I have. He's a pro and so he talks about using pro gear but he also gives ideas where you can make do with something cheaper.
Finally, this book is the best bargain you'll ever find in photography, so you should just go to the top of this page and click the One-click Ordering right now. Then come back and say you liked my review! :-)