Complete Idiot's Guide to Photography [Paperback]

R. Dodge Woodson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan Distribution (1996)
• ISBN-10: 002861092X
• ISBN-13: 978-0028610924
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #842,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

R. Dodge Woodson (Brunswick, ME) has over 20 years' experience as a home builder, contractor, master plumber, and real estate broker. He is the author of many McGraw-Hill books, including Be A Successful Building Contractor 2/e, and National Plumbing Codes Handbook 2/e.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some good information, but poorly organized, February 4, 2000

By 

Jon Harris (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Photography (Paperback)

This book tries to cover many aspects of photography from equipment selection to photo technique/composition to technical jargon to home dark rooms. However, I found the organization quite poor, with topics such as exposure popping up in various places and other inconsistencies. Also, the author has a definite bias and preaches it strongly. For example, he basically states that you cannot get good pictures from a point and shoot camera, which is certainly not true in all cases.

Also, the information seems somewhat dated, as APS and digital are given zero coverage, and he discusses topics like manual film winding quite a bit.

On a positive note, the chapters on different photographic specialties (macro, portrait, landscape, art, etc.) were well done and informative.

If the writing and organization was tightened up, and new chapters on newer technologies were added, this would be a much better book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother, December 17, 1999

By 

Jon B. Lupfer "qdivision" (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Photography (Paperback)

Perhaps this book's title is too accurate. It's very elementary, doesn't go into depth about anything and as a result, is not a good reference. Yes, it has the answers to basic photography questions but not much more. I haven't picked it up since I got my Kodak Guide to 35mm Photography.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars From the bookshelf to the basement in 2 weeks, January 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Complete Idiot's Guide to Photography (Paperback)

This book covers all the basics, but nothing more. No in depth material at all and it's shocking how so many pages are filled with so little information. This is the first and last "Complete Idiot" book I will buy, and I guess the author was just trying to stay within the limited guidelines of the title. Also, I think any photography instructional book should have good photographs in it. The art direction, photos imparticular, are terrible. This book explains, in basic terms, how cameras work and what equipment you might want to buy, but not much else.