Customer Reviews

The Betterphoto Guide to Exposure

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have learned so much from this book, it is an excellent resource for anyone who really wants to understand the nuts and bolts of taking great pictures and deepen their knowledge of photography. I recently stepped up to a DSLR and decided to become more serious about understanding my camera and developing my photography skills. I've purchased several books over the last six months, beginning with an introductory to digital photography with Jim Miotke's book from Betterphoto, and a David Busch's book for my specific camera (also highly recommended--the user manuals that come with cameras are awful). I also bought a book on landscape shooting (Fitzharris) and Sean Arbabi's book on exposure. Reading all of them has given me quite an education, but Sean's book, The Betterphoto Guide to Exposure, was particularly good at helping everything come together and make sense. If you really want to capture great photos and would rather spend your time out-n-about taking pictures instead of sitting in front of a computer "photoshopping" them, this book will get you on the right track. It offers a plethora of specific information on aperture and shutter speed and how they work together along with the metering capabilities of your camera (and you) to produce a properly exposed photo. After reading this book thoroughly and going back to it as a reference, I now choose to shoot most of my pictures in manual. I actually find it easier than fiddling with exposure compensation and other adjustments in the more automated modes of my camera. I've had many "lightbulb moments" reading this book and continue to do so as my experience has grown; I find myself referring back to it regularly. I can't say enough about the educational value of this book--and the pictures within it are beautiful as well. Thanks Sean for making a better photographer out of me!

Sean makes it very easy to understand Exposure. He loves what he does and you can feel that in the way he teaches. The book is written in terms that anyone can understand. He added assignments to do that follows the current chapter and his charts for different lighting conditions are very helpful. I carry this book with me when I go out shooting, of course it stays in the car when I am walking about but I note the conditions and then use the book to help me decide how I will shoot my images in the current lighting.

I've read plenty of photography books and this one is my favorite by far. From the beginners to the pros, everyone will enjoy this book. Its full of beautiful high quality pictures with captions explaing how he took the shot. Plenty of useful advice for beginners and if you haven't picked up your camera in a while, this one will get you up off the couch and out shooting. I'm excited all over again about photography. I pretty much have photography down pack as far as the technical side and I still learned a little bit more. Bryan Peterson's book, Understanding Exposure, use to be my favorite. This one blows it out of the water. BUY IT, you won't be disappointed. Highly Recommended. I've owned it for a few days and I can't put it down. Sean Arbabi, you hit the ball out of the park with this one.

Sean Arbabi has put together an informative and visual photo guide to Exposure. This book helps anyone who is doing photography whether new or experienced. He is a teacher and this book teaches you through "lessons" and gives examples with his own photographs. There are some great chapters in this book. "Combining f-Stop and Shutter Speed is an amazing lesson. The new photographer usually knows nothing about f-stop and shutter speed other than seeing them in the meta-data renderings. Sean gives a great review of how one affects the other with a nice visual chart. He includes a photograph showing you an end result. Nice. In addition, Sean throws in a technical chart of exposure values for those who want a chart to guide them. This book is sophisticated for the professional and practical for the beginner. One of the better exposure books on the market.

This an an excellent book for amateur photographers. It provides a solid foundation for those seeking to understand how to expose for certain ligthing situations. The explanations are easy to follow and understand. The charts and diagrams also aid in understanding the text.An all around great book.

While trying hard to improve my photography, I read several books on exposure, including one that was recommended consistently as the leading authority on exposure. However, Sean Arbabi's book was THE ONE for me! He explained everything in a way that really clicked for me. The stunning images throughout the book add another plus. A big thanks to the author for making a confusing subject to learn so very clear!!

This book came to my attention thru another blogs comment section and I ordered the book for my flight read from NY to the Eastern Sierras workshop with Moose Peterson. My timing on ordering the book and the book's content could not have been any better !

Here is a book written by a Master Photographer with excellent field and fine print sales credentials. For author, Sean Arbabi this is his first book copyrighted in 2008, after 20 years as a pro-photographer. In the the book's introduction he had me hooked by writing ...... 'This is what the art is all about, especially in outdoor and travel photography, to notice the beauty of the world, catch the details, and stop a moment of time, recording it for all to see and appreciate. And it all starts with exposure'

For me, I have been plucking exposure gems of information from a few publications, workshops, discussions, and trial and error on how to master exposure. I find it difficult to accept the KISS philosophy of setting the camera to aperture priority, tune up/down EV compensation and fire away...that may come to me with another few years of experience..but for me, on my journey, there is more to the art and essence of using exposure in my ImageThe BetterPhoto Guide to Exposure (BetterPhoto Series)s. The KISS philosophy bangs up against the tonal dynamic range and working with stops of light from shadow to highlight. It seems fraught with error to embrace that with just the DLSR's metered 5 1/2 to 7 stops (contrast vs the eyes 12-15 stops), that you can simply have the correct exposure by adjusting for blinkies with your EV after LCD review.

No, not for me anyway, selectively using my metering mode, (spot/matrix), and using shutter and aperture in manual mode appears to be my preferred picture taking process. How to understand the light, how my camera sensor sees the light and to creatively set up my DLSR using all of its capabilities to capture the emotion of the Image that I am experiencing...and do it repeatedly, accurately and adaptively that is my primary goal and future knowledge baseline for me right now.

This book is not just a how, although it does, provides step by step lessons, guidelines and learn by doing assignments. The subject mater contains technical information relating to DLSR metering, equivalent exposue, basics such as shutter stepup and aperture charts. Author/pro-photographer Arbabi, provides guidelines on the qualities of directional lighting (frontlite, backlit, sidelite), choosing metering modes, ever changing light, creative tips, flash...then there are the images as examples, this man has been all over the world, quality images published by Watson-Guptill Publications, abound from Yosemite, Alabama Hills, Mexico, Borneo, Florida Big Cypress, Patagonia...it is one thing to write from the office but another to lead and teach thru field experiances.

This book is now my go to tool for understanding and improving my exposure at point of capture.... the journey continues, and I'm loving it....

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Comparing this with the other books i have read about exposure i can say that this book presents quite an original approach in determining the "best" exposure. Instead of giving recipes for all kind of situations the methods described by Sean will teach you how to make your own way through by using an empirical method. I can for sure recommend this book to anyone who wants to take photography to another level.

Excellent book for those interested in understanding the foundation basics in digital photography. The book has terrific photo examples and a well written text. This is a very helpful digital photography book!

I just finished reading the entirety of Sean Arbabi's "Better Photo Guide to Exposure", and give it a FULL FIVE STARS. The book is well laid-out, understandable, image-rich, and very well-written; I highly recommend it to those with photographic aspirations for learning the basics, but intermediate and advanced photographers will really appreciate the detailed explanation/reminder of the fine art of metering and shooting in Manual mode. This is without a doubt, one of the best books in my collection.