Customer Reviews

Digital Photography For Dummies

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I guess I don't think of photo editing as digital photography. When I think digital photography, I'm thinking of the art of photography, taken with a digital camera instead of a film camera. That's all.

Photo editing, to me, is different. If you are looking for a book explaining aperture, exposure, shutter speed, f/stops, etc., this book only has 41 pages on those subjects.

There are 354 pages total (not counting the glossary) and 194 of them are on the photo editing Elements program.

I found myself skipping and skimming and flipping for more information. As if I had missed something, I would find myself going back and re-reading and still being let down. I wanted a book on taking better pictures, not taking OKAY pictures, and fixing them later with an outside program - and maybe that's my fault with the definition I have in my head. I didn't want a book on Elements, as I don't have that program.

Digital Photography for Dummies is the first Dummies book I have read. It is fully updated and revised now in FULL COLOR.
I can't imagine understanding all about RGB, CYMK and other colorful acronyms in chapter 2 if the diagrams were in black and white, color speaks volumes.
Digital Photography for Dummies shows you anything and everything you need to know about Digital Photography.
There are 16 chapters divided into 5 parts.
Covers understanding the differences between digital cameras and film cameras, also the pros and cons of digital photography.
It also gets involved with color, resolution and image size, some nice diagrams of RGB Channels, nice section of pixels and print quality, what's the difference in 300ppi, 150ppi, 72ppi, if you didn't know you do now.
Take a look at the shutter and aperture in a traditional film camera, worth a look.
Comparing SLR's and point-and-shoot cameras, also covers digital cameras removable media types.
A great tip on using non digital lenses with a digital body (Not all cameras do this) a great tip.
It also takes a look at transferring images to your computer, imaging software.
Making initial set up decisions, involves files, format understanding quality and picture size settings, this book really gets to grips with digital characteristics of your camera, resolution, white balance options, using flash, tweaking exposure.
Do I use flash or not? Here is the answer.
A blurry image is it poor focusing, or an unsteady hand? How you hold the camera is very important.
Covers capturing action shots, panoramas, zooming and camera noise, also camera raw, transferring files via camera to computer.
A good section on digital photography, choosing a printer, inkjet or laser. Choosing paper, the paper you choose can make your images have a completely different effect.
Using your photo's on the web, preparing your pictures for the screen. Making changes to part of a picture, why and when.
A good glossary in the back explains all those technical words.
I liked the use of the icons throughout the book, bringing important information to your attention.

Conclusion:
This is a very good book for readers who are new to digital photography. Advanced users may know most of the information but again the book is for Dummies.
Full of great information may be some information you will never need, but the information is better in than left out.
Diagrams are clear and clean, it's also nice to see screen shots from windows machines.
You don't get a CD with the book, bet you don't need one.

I give this book five (5) out of five (5).

[...]

I'm pretty computer savvy, but knew little about digital cameras or photo manipulation software until I read this book. It's a very good primer and especially strong on the uses of graphics software. It's extremely readable for a computer tome, but yet has enough detail to use as a reference. I also found the programs on the enclosed disc to be a good sample of what's out there.

As a newbie to the field of digital photography, I found Julie's book to be extremely helpful. If you are new to this field like I am, disgregard the prior negative review. She does a very good job in explaining digital cameras and how they work. The included softward is outstanding and worth the price of the book alone. I read the book from cover to cover and can recommend it wholeheartedly.

I found this book to be a great guide for a person who uses digital photography as a hobby. It was easy to understand and following the step by step directions made one feel good about the finished product. Whether using digital photography for fun or for more serious production, this book is a great help.

I found this book to be very helpful in producing excellent digital images. The examples were extremely well explained. Editing and creating a final product are important when using a digital camera and this book covered the topics really well.

I have never read the any of the "Dummies" books...I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this particular "Dummy" book. Digital Photography for Dummies contains just about anything you need to know about the world of digital cameras: storing images, transferring images, printing etc. and a bunch of (well marked) trivia you'll never use but you'll be glad you read....

It seems digital cameras and taking photos with aforementioned equipment isn't quite enough to fill an entire book. To skirt the lack of material afforded by concentrating solely on the taking a good picture and being done with the whole mess Digital Photography for Dummies includes plenty of pages spent on various digital image-editing programs. This may seem odd to those of you who are used to the way some traditional photography books read (many focus on getting the picture right the first time) but once you accept the benefits of going digital the inclusion of methods to manipulate the image is necessary. As Julie Adair King notes: you can make a pretty average picture into a pretty good picture if you spend a little time with a decent image-editing program. Don't believe Julie Adair King? That's okay Digital Photography for Dummies is packaged with a compact disc that contains a bevy of useful software including a Photoshop Elements demo so you can actually see for yourself just how powerful digital photography can be.

One of the better features of Digital Photography for Dummies is the photo examples found throughout. Julie Adair King's visual examples are the best use of figures I have ever run across. Every point Julie Adair King makes with a figure is very well made...Digital Photography for Dummies also includes something that I once thought I would never see in a twenty-five dollar digital photography book: Color Plates. Jammed right into the middle of Digital Photography for Dummies are sixteen pages of color plates. These pages are particularly informative and you're not going to get close to Digital Photography for Dummies's level of instruction with a book that is entirely grayscale.

Still, Digital Photography for Dummies has some miscues and errors. I'll focus on one: Apparently Photographers are ignorant to the standards of science...on the whole the book is very good. The inclusion of color plates is outstanding and Julie Adair King's touch with the visuals is remarkable. Go to your local bookstore and toss any books without color plates in favor of this one...

Basic digital photography can be learned from this book. But there are too many pages of fluff and filler. More space is devoted to the value of using a tripod than making the most of basic camera functions.

Book devotes alot of space to using Photoshop Elements for editing. Valuable if you happen to buy that product. Product sample is included on CD. But book is VERY unclear on how to use the components of PE. Far from step-by-step. Big gaps are left in the explanations and it is rarely possible to follow an editing process from beginning to end.

Can't recommend this book. Not a credit to Dummies.

This book is an OK overview of some basic photo software techniques, but really fails to say much about digital photography, that being the use of digital cameras. If you want a book that's mostly about photo editing software you could do much better, and that's the fundamantal point to this book. If you actually want to learn about digital cameras and digital photography look elsewhere, because this book has very little to say on the topic.

Covers all the important things that you had to learn as a film photographer. Lots of great ideas for getting the most out of a digital camera, like things that you had to pay Kodak for in the past. Calendars, cards, stationery, photos in data bases are but few of the tips offered. Intros to the software available for touch-up too.