Customer Reviews

The Basic Book of Photography, Fifth Edition

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Just starting out in SLR photography? You will probably learn a lot more by reading this book than you will in a beginners photography class (at least I did). This book covers in detail all basic technical aspects of SLR photography including; exposure, f-stops, shutter speed, light, film, and equipment selection & operation. There are also sections on composition and traveling tips. This book is well written and will provide you with a solid foundation of photographic skills

This book was the only photography book that I really needed. It covers all the bases for learning photography (regardless of equipment) geared to a nonprofessional from a practical (non-academic) perspective. This book is loaded with practical advice on how take good pictures even when your equipment isn't operating well. There is specific information on how to get the most out of your point and shoot cameras as well as SLRs. This is a great book to read BEFORE you buy any (more) photography gear. It has a good section on what you may want to buy and what you may want to avoid. It also pointed out that the photographer is the most important part of making the picture, not the latest gear. There is good information on composition as well as tips when traveling with a camera. This book is inexpensive and to the point. I have found the information more valuable than books that I have bought at more than four times the price! The book does not contain color pictures (but spends most of its time discussing color photography). That is my only complaint with this book.

This book may be the best general guide to photography ever written for beginners, but should not be described as a reference for professionals. It will tell you, for example, all about depth of field, but does not illustrate how it works or provide any formulas for DOF calculations. It will not tell you how exposure value relates to actual exposures, or how to cut a mat, and states that average skin reflects about one stop more light than than a midtone gray, without mention of race. (Oops!) Overall, it contains few charts or tables of data, but seems to have an adequate glossary. My point is not to criticize the book, which seems excellent for the guide that it is, but to criticize the seller's synopsis and descriptions calling it a reference for pros, which it is not. I therefore gave it three stars which is halfway between five, as a guide, and one as a reference. I wish I'd had a book like this when I started out in photography, a long time ago...

I love this book! It has everything I wanted to know in one photography book. I thought about buying Photography for Dummies, looked at it, hated it. It was written soley for APS cameras and not SLRs or ZLRs. The Basic Book of Photography has 500 clearly written, up-to-date, informational pages. It also has a 50 page glossary that is extremely helpful. I couldn't recommend a better book for any beginner or hobbyist who needs a great reference.

This book simply is the most well-written and approachable all-in-one guide to photography that I've ever read. It goes from from beginning (picking a camera) to end (basic developing). The book is written in a very no-nonsense down-to-earth style that is very approachable. While it's certainly longer and more wordy than books like 'Photography for Dummies' and 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Photography' there is no fluff. My only very minor quibbles with the book are these: (1) no specific equipment recommendations are made, though brief mention is made of camera brands, (2) no comparison of APS versus 35mm quality is made and (3) while there are quite a few pictures in the book, I wanted more examples (some in color would've been nice).

I have had a Minolta 400si SLR for a year. It is an entry-level SLR camera. up until I read Tom and Michele's wonderful book, I never took good photographs.

When I read their book, I finally understood f-stops and metering. I now understand why the first 50 rolls I shot all had underexposed skin tone. The first role I shot after I read the book cover to cover gave me more "keepers" than any roll before it.

There is no better book for the SLR novice to understand the functioning of his camera than this one. And do not get taken in when the rocket scientists of Photography belittle your particular brand of camera -- apply the Grimms' advice and you will find dramatic improvement in the performance of your camera (well it is actually the photographer that has improved :-))

The book has a very good chapter on composition. However I wish it had more chapters on the "Art" of photography. Things like how to find interesting subjects, how to shoot subjects, etc.

This book is excellent for understanding how an SLR works, with some good advice on composition thrown in.

Readers will find this book to be very compatible with "Photography for Dummies", which deals more with how to take photographs.

I was given this book as a present, and it has remained part of my library. But, for those looking for a book on actual photography instruction, this may not be the book for you. The book contains a lot of basic information about a lot of different topics and it explains things like the difference between 100 and 400 speed film very clearly. Most of the sections may not have been updated since they were originally written (including the pictures!) but new sections have been added as technology has advanced (including digital cameras).

If you just want to know generally what exists and the basics of how it works, this is still a good book. But if you are looking for a book that will teach you about the photography while helping you produce more creative and higher quality work , the book comes up short.

This book is one of a handful of books on my bookshelf that hardly ever get used. The style of writing and editing, and the contents, lack cohesiveveness and are so convoluted that every time I try to use it I find it severly lacking.

Beginner's books, in my mind, should make it easy to learn from and not interfere with it.

The authors' approach seems to be a long stringing together of paragraph after paragraph that blend together with minimally defined borders.

On page 65 they discuss "Comprehending Shutter Speeds". The first paragraph has the following topics packed into it:
- A cursory definition (by no means definitive)
- Visual display for older and more modern cameras
- The physical components of shutters.
- Description of how to set shutter speeds.
- An extra "note" about limitations of shutter speeds.

All this, if you can believe it, is all rolled into a *small* paragraph that barely touches upon what the importance of shutter speeds are.

I disagree with this approach. Each sentence has scant information, but the remainder of the chapter (and book) is constructed in the same manner. That means that in order to compartmentalize and understand specific components of shutter speeds, you have to grab a sentence here, and a sentence there, and almost act like your own editor of the book.

Later in the chapter is a discussion of "Lens Openings" (wait..isn't this technically "aperatures"?). The chapter inherits the same painful approach. There is a poorly designed chart on page 70 that is a waste of ink and the full page that it was printed on.

To follow up, the authors write: "Confused? Don't worry about it; better mathematicians than we have worked out the f/stop scale number. Just accept it as fact."

"Accept it as fact"?!?! THAT IS EXACTLY WHY I BOUGHT THE BOOK! To learn about photography!

Another example: Depth of Field. Where do you go to find out abou that? Well, if you look in the index, there are a couple of dozen page references, some bold (?), some not. Hmmm, well the biggest page span is 81-87, so let's go there and see.

Flip to page 81 and it jumpstarts you into "Dealing with Depth of Field". Never mind I'd like to know WHAT depth of field is, but the authors believe I should just skip ahead and "deal with" it.

The authors then take a couple paragraphs to discuss it without formally defining it. Again, I hate this approach. It's like a student asking a question in class and the teacher, incapable of answering him, tells him to hold on because they are going to be talking about it and then never answers his question.

On a positive note, I found a book that has a lot of promise. It's called "Understanding Exposure" and is very well written. Their explanation of Depth of Field is the most concise and clear that I have read. In one sentence, the author of Understanding Exposure explained DOF that the authors of The Basic Book of Photography could not do in several paragraphs.

In a word, this book is excellent. It covers everything you need to know about photography in order to start producing good pictures in almost all conditions. It doesn't delve into a lot of composition, but there is certainly enough to get you started, and that's the goal of the book. It has one of the best sections on filters I've seen, and while it is dedicated mostly to SLRs, even a point and shoot user can derive some value from this book(and after reading this, or any photography book, you will be wondering why even expensive Point and Shoot cameras don't have tiltable flashes). Color pictures would have been nice, but then the book would have been either skimpier in text or more expensive. As it is, for $20, you get A LOT of bang for your buck.

Bottom Line...If you want color examples, buy something else. If you want 90% of everthing else, buy this book. I looked at several beginner's books, and many gave good examples, and had some neat color pictures. This book explains how everthing works, with easy to understand explanations. Some books tell you to set your camera to this and that to get a particular result. This book explains how and why, in a way that you will understand and remember. If you want to read up, say on depth of field, or types of film, it is a great reference book. So, if you wanna capture the writing on a missile traveling hundreds of mph from 50 miles away in low light conditions, maybe something else would be better. If you wanna get out and start experimenting with some good solid photography basics, and understand why things turn out the way they do, then buy this book! I give it only four stars because it would be nice to have some color examples. I guarantee if you want to start learning photography, or expand the little bit you do know, this book is will do it.