Customer Reviews

Blue Pixel Personal Photo Coach: Digital Photography Tips from the Trenches

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

 

 

Title: Blue Pixel Personal Photo Coach
Author: David Schloss
Publisher: Peachpit Press (September 28, 2004)
Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN: ISBN: 0321305280
List Price: US $24.99

Blue Pixel was founded with one mission: to have leading digital
photographers teach their craft from an unbiased, real-world
perspective. Each of the contributing photographers for the
Blue Pixel Guide to Travel Photography have from 20 to 40
years of photography experience (photojournalism, commercial,
teaching).

The book is divided into 12 chapters. Just about every page
has at least one color photograph (with red colored descriptive text) to further explain the topic being discussed. Most pages also have a blue colored text tips section in which the authors/contributors give their real-world experience
(tricks of the trade).

Having just read the Blue Pixel Guide to Travel Photography, I didn't know what to expect from the Personal Photo Coach by Blue Pixel.

Chapter 1 describes how to use your digital camera. This title is
misleading. It does not teach you how to use your digital camera.
Refer to the owner's manual of your camera for detailed instructions on this topic.

Chapter 2 describes how to compose your pictures. This chapter
provides some good rules, tips and suggestions on composing
your pictures.

Chapter 3 describes how to use your digital camera's settings.
This chapter thoroughly explains shutter priority, aperture priority, ISO settings, and color balance. This is a must read for the beginning photographer.

Chapter 4 describes how to use your flash. This chapter
covers various flash settings and their affect on your
picture/subject. I liked the use of showing the same
photograph with and without the proper flash setting to
see the affect of various flash settings and techniques.

Chapter 5 describes how to download and organize your
photos. This chapter describes USB 2.0 card readers,
EXIF and IPTC formats and backup/archival recommendations.

Chapter 6 describes how to fix your photos. This chapter
attempts to provide the reader/photographer with some
image editing techniques to improve/fix your digital
photos. Your time will be better spent reading
the owner's manual of your image editing software
and or buying a third party book or video on your software.

Chapter 7 describes how to share your photos. This
chapter describes resizing your photos for uploading
to websites.

Chapter 8 describes how to make a great print. This
chapter describes the theory of sensors, pixels and image resolutions. All of which are good to know if you plan to make your own prints.

Chapter 9 decribes how to take a great family photo.
Using many photographs and tips the author does a nice
job providing the reader on how to shoot portraits
in different settings and situations.

Chapter 10 describes how to take a great sports photo
using various techniques like panning and zooming.
The author follows the same method (photos and tips)
as chapter 9 to explain the concepts.

Chapter 11 describes how to take artistic photos. Here
the author allows the reader to explore their imagination
and different camera settings to achieve a different look
to their photographs.

Chapter 12 describes how to trick out your camera.
Finally the author mentions additional equipment
(like a tripod) to consider to enhance your photographs.

Overall I recommend this book for the beginning photographer.
Earlier I mentioned that I had just read the Blue Pixel Guide
to Travel Photography. The Photo Coach does include some
of the same information but there is enough unique information
in the Photo Coach to make it a worthwhile read.
It is a good value if you buy it online with a discount from
Peachpit Press or Amazon.com.

I got this book to self-tutor before a trip to South America and I wasn't disappointed. It is a must-have book for any camera buff...
Has a great mix of pictures with "how-to" text and examples of real-life situations.
Highly recommend!!