David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

by David Pogue (Author)
Key Phrases: electronic photos, photo tray, web albums, Fixing Your Photos, The Digital Shoebox, Paper-and Everything Else (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
If you're ready to jump into digital photography or would like to increase the skills you already have, David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual is just what you need. Bestselling author David Pogue provides a no-nonsense guide to the entire process, including how to: buy and use a digital camera; get the same photographic effects as the pros; manage the results on your Mac or PC; edit photos; and, finally, share the results with your adoring fans -- on paper, online, or on mugs, jigsaw puzzles, and blankets.

After reviewing hundreds of digital cameras and photo services in his weekly New York Times column, David Pogue knows digital photography. With this new Missing Manual you will:

• Get expert advice on how to choose a digital camera, including information on the only specs that matter. (Hint: it's not about megapixels).
• Learn the basics of lighting, composition, and shooting lots of photos
• Understand how to choose the best camera settings for 20 different scenarios
• Unravel the problems of correcting images and storing them
• Learn David's tips and tricks for sharing and printing images
• Get a special troubleshooting section you can turn to when things go wrong

David Pogue's witty, authoritative voice has demystified the Mac, Windows, iPods and iPhones for millions of readers. Now, he offers step-by-step instructions and plenty of friendly advice to help you join in the fun and get real satisfaction from digital photography.

About the Author
David Pogue, Yale '85, is the weekly personal-technology columnist for the New York Times and an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News. With 3 million books in print, he is also one of the world's bestselling how-to authors. He wrote or co-wrote seven books in the "for Dummies" series (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music); in 1999, he launched his own series of complete, funny computer books called Missing Manuals, which now includes 30 titles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Pogue Press (January 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596154038
• ISBN-13: 978-0596154035
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,680 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #35 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Algorithms > Digital Image Processing
  #47 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Reference
  #72 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Digital Photography

• This item is part of The O'Reilly Missing Manuals Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and Up-to-date, January 30, 2009

By	kwilk - See all my reviews

David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual is an outstanding resource for beginning and intermediate photographers. If you are buying your first digital camera, or trying to decide whether you should trade up from a compact point-and-shoot to a digital SLR, this book will answer all of your questions. Using an informal, conversational and friendly tone, Pogue covers the features and functions of all kinds of digital cameras, including recent developments such as geotagging and face recognition. He also tells how to improve your photographic skills. I especially liked Chapter 4 in which he discusses the "Ten Decisions" you should make when you are getting ready to take a photo. Chapter 6 explains how the professionals get the kinds of shots you see in magazines. His explanations are concise and easy to understand.

He goes beyond the shoot itself when he talks about what you can do with all your digital files. Chapters 8, 9 and 10 cover two popular photo storage and editing programs, iPhoto and Picasa. Chapter 11 is an excellent guide to printing your photos (he explains concepts like resolution and aspect ratio), and Chapter 12, Electronic Photos, explores the many ways to share your photos via email, web galleries and slideshows.

I would have liked more captions explaining exactly what the example photos are supposed to show, and I thought the use of blue type for emphasis was an annoying gimmick. But those are minor gripes. This is a clearly-written, up-to-date guide to every aspect of digital photography.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent primer, February 2, 2009

By	Michael McKee "mystic cowboy" (Port Townsend, WA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

If you are new to digital photography or haven't gotten beyond the shoot and print stage, you should find a lot to like in this book. The explanations of various technical camera and photography subjects are easily among the clearest and most easily understood I've come across. Kudos to Pogue for making such a jargon laden subject easy to understand.

I happily recommend this as a first book on digital photography. All the basics are covered from understanding how cameras work and what all the terms mean, to buying the right camera, to basic photo cataloging and editing. Pogue also covers the equipment extras that enhance photography quality like tripods, memory cards and the like. There is also a good primer on how to compose and shoot interesting images.

Pogue also includes is some introductory coverage of the image cataloging and editing programs that come with common cameras as well as Adobe's Photoshop Elements. As with any book that offers coverage of multiple programs, it doesn't take you beyond the basics of any of them.

If you're one of the holdouts from film photography who wants to understand the what and wherefore of digital, this book does that, and should get your started. However, It's pretty basic. If you are an experienced photographer and understand what you are doing, don't look to this book to take you to the next level.

It definitely doesn't offer the in-depth coverage that some other Missing Manual books do. That's not a complaint, just an observation. As someone who teaches photo editing, it's great to have a basic manual to recommend. As an introductory book I absolutely recommend this for its clarity and good writing.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And the winner of "Best in show award is"......, January 28, 2009

By	M. A. Filippelli "Marc12074" (Elk Grove, CA, US) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The white dog on the cover of David Pogue's Digital photography the missing manual, and the winner of "Best in show award" for books on Digital photography is Digital Photography The Missing Manual.

Pogue covers many camera types from DSLR's to phone cameras. Pogue covers the basic hardware in each of these camera styles like CCD's, stabilizers, memory cards, view finders etc. for the person looking to buy a camera but is unsure about which camera style to buy there is a section that will help you determine your needs where you can then get an idea about a camera type that will best suit your needs.

Pogue goes into detail about the basic functions that almost every camera has and what effect it will have on the shot. Digital photography the missing manual also goes into situational shooting like night shooting, sporting events, portraiture and nature shooting.

Pogue has a number of tips and notes that are highlighted through out the book. The Tips highlights are mostly keyboard shortcuts on the computer for getting to options faster. The notes highlights are about what ever software or camera option is being covered at the time. Users will find these very helpful. There are two free digital software's that Pogue uses in the book, they are iPhoto (comes with the Mac) and Picasa, he does not use Photoshop in the book. In the sections covering the software there are ample screen shots to help the reader follow along. In The Camera operations sections of the book there are color photos that help illustrate the section and the photos them selves are outstanding.

Pogue covers everything about digital cameras with a depth and detail that is very easy to understand and he uses screen shots to enhance the book. Digital Photography the Missing Manual will satisfy a wide range of users because of the scope of coverage. I very highly recommend this book for the novice to intermediate user.

What it Digital Photography the Missing Manual covers.

Chapter 1: Camera kinds
Small medium or large
Camera phones and iPhones
Where to buy a camera

Chapter 2: The only features that matter
A big sensor
Stabilizer
Zoom
Shutter
View finder
Manual controls
Face recognition
Auto focus
Flip out screens
Memory cards
Burst mode
Hi-Def jack
Battery
Movies
Scene modes
Wireless
Touch screens
Mega pixels
SLR shopping

Chapter 3 taking the shot:
Composition and screen displays


Chapter 4: The 10 decisions

Auto mode
Scene mode
Manual mode
Burst mode
White balance
RAW or JEG
Exposure
ISO

Chapter 5: The Anti- Blur chapter
Shutter speed
Aperture
Image stabilization
Flash
Tripod
Timers

Chapter 6: How they did that
Sports shots
Vehicles
Panoramas
Trailing car lights
Fireworks
Lighting
Star trails
Sunsets
Underwater
Close-ups
Portraiture

Chapter 7: The SLR chapter
Lenses and accessories

Chapter 8: Camera meets computer
Picassa and iPhoto
Transferring and importing photos
File formats


Chapter 9: The digital shoe box The source list
Working with thumbnails
Selecting photos
Hiding photos
Creating Albums
Photo info
Flagging photos
Backing up photos

Chapter 10: Fixing photos
Editing photos
Reducing red eye
Fixing colors
Saturating
Sharpening

Chapter 11: Photos on paper-and everything else
Making your own prints
Resolution
Printing in Picassa and iPhoto step-by-step
Creating slideshows