Customer Reviews

40 Digital Photography Techniques

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40 Digital Photography Techniques is a great book for the beginning digital photographer. Even though this book is written for the photographer using a digital camera, someone using one with film would get some great tips on how to take better pictures. The Introduction chapter has 23 pages explaining the terms used in digital photography from CCD - Charge-Coupled Device - to a comparison chart of the pros and cons between a digital camera and ones that use film. This chapter also contains all the accessories that are available as add-ons to digital cameras.

The size of the book is easy to take along in a camera bag at approximately 7" square. The inside of the cover has a bend over that acts as a bookmark and, of course, there are lots of photos to show what is being described.

Do you know how much light you should have in a picture or how to set up the best shot? These are some of the things Chapter 1 has to offer. It also talks about the basics, a good place to start in a new hobby. Such things as keeping the lens clean, preventing shake and blurring, how to hold the camera and stance, and using a tripod or other objects for support are described. Image size, the quality of the photo, using the focus lock and different type of lenses are discussed as well.

Chapter 2 provides more information on lighting your pictures as well as other things you need to consider when taking photos such as weather, time of day and when and how to use a flash. Remember those old photos that your grandmother had that were that weird brown color? It is called sepia and Chapter 2 tells you how to achieve such pictures with your digital camera. And what about those really close up pictures of such things as flowers or a butterfly? Do you know what white balance is or what is does for your pictures? How is a continuous shot accomplished? These questions are answered in Chapter 2.

Chapter 3 is all about shooting people. Things like close ups, backgrounds, groups of people, camera angle, and filters are all things that are necessary to think about when working with people as your photo subject. How do you get children to be good subject matter? What do I do if I want a self-portrait and how do I do it? Check out this chapter for the answers.

We all love those wonderful countryside pictures of fall trees and waterfalls or that special place we want to remember from our once in a lifetime trip. Chapter 4 talks about the people, places and things that will keep our memories of this trip and the best way to save them in print. But the weather is not always sunny, what happens when it rains or snows or after the sun has set? Several pages have suggestions on how to handle these quirks.

Angle, composition, light and exposure are all things that need to be thought about in order to achieve good photos as well as distortion, glare, reflection and use of a tripod. Chapter 5 explains these and the use of a computer program called PhotoStitch to create a panoramic shot. Did you know your digital camera is able to make movies? No, then read on in Chapter 5 for the how-to of doing this.

The final chapter tells what you can do with the photos now that you have taken them. You have the pictures on the camera, what is the next step? There is that weird name your camera gives each picture. Will you remember even by the next day what picture 000046.jpg is all about? Most of us won't so they need to be renamed for easier organization. What are the different ways of getting your pictures from the computer and into a printed format? What type of computer programs are available for manipulating the photos - from just getting them from the camera into the computer to making color corrections or even doing some cropping? Can you put your photos onto the web so they can be shared with others? Reading this last chapter will answer all of these questions.

Finally, 40 Digital Photography Techniques comes with a CD loaded with helpful software. Trial version of the following can be accessed from this CD: ACDSee 5.0, Photoshop Album, Photoshop Elements 2.0, Print Pilot 1.31 and Screen Saver Builder 3.22. A full version of Coverxp 1.61, a shareware program, will allow the user to create CD covers and is the final program available on the CD.

In less than 200 pages and in an easy to use format, you will be up and running with your new digital camera. If you are new to the digital age of photography, this book will give you a good understanding of how to take and process pictures without the use of film.

If you are looking for photography basics this is the book for you. However, if you are familiar with photography either digital or 35 mm you might want to look elsewhere.

Be aware that none of the material on the CD will work on a macintosh, which is certainly disappointing.

At first read, the book seemed like a promotion for several digital photography products and software. This was enhanced by the fact that the book comes with a useless CD that only can have the purpose of getting people who do not know the range of available software to purchase these. That happens since these are all they learn and the programs will expire after 30 Days or so. I did not install the software. I recommend LView Pro that can be downloaded from the web and is much much cheaper than Adobe products.

On first read, I also found the book to be very elementary lacking depth when I desired more information. But this impression was lessened slightly as I read more in the book. The book repeats the technical material often as more techniques are introduced. This is a repetative type of learning that has two benefits. If a person wants to jump to a specific technique, then the material is briefly covered all together and does not need to read the preceedign material. The other benefit comes to people who start at the front of a book and read to the back, the material is repeated often to help people who are new to digital photography learn the language and how to set their cameras technically. The bad thing was that it lacks technical depth. I found myself wanting to know more about the history of photography, the specific way light is affected by the aperature as it enters the lens and more technical details on the comparison of the digital to film camera.

I went to the bookstore looking for alternate books for a gift for my mother who I think is interested in learning more. I skimmed and read all the available books on the shelf. There are lots of them. Even though this book is short and lacks detail, I did not find another book that could compare for entry level digital photographers. I thought that the for Idiots or for Dummies books would out do it, they did not. I found only one book on the shelf that I liked better but it did not have the elements that this book does in the simple layout.

The benefits. This book is short. Each section is self contained. It has good pictures that illustrate the subject that is being discussed. It can serve as a quick introduction to the subject for people who are afraid of large daunting technical manuals. I did not even consider the dummy books for my mother since they lack color photographs taking away from the approachability of the book. The nice things that I saw in this book is that it covers techniques and how to achieve them for all ranges of camera. If you have a point and shoot digital with sports mode, portrait mode and landscape mode, this book will tell how these settings work and how to use them to your advantage in composing good photos.

The problems. It leaves you wanting more details. It has an accompanying CD that does not cover a range of available software but suggests to the consumer what they should use, and some of these packages can be expensive. Shareware is a viable option. It is complete in the sense that it covers all aspects of digital photography so one of the 40 tips is how to plug the camera into the TV or VCR to share or record or use the camera as a video camera to record directly to VHS. I found the sections that dealt with these sort of things that should be in the camera manual to be useless inthis book.

I saw today that there is a second edition. I did not read that.

In summary, the book is excellent for beginning digital photographers. Particularly people who do not have time to sit down and read a 500 page book. It does not insult them, it draws them in with nice photos. It covers a range of techniques technically and then how to use these techniques in composition. Ignore the trial software which will expire after some time. Check the book out of your local public library and have a look at it then buy it if it suits you. If you want more details on photography, you probably bought a better camera where you can control the aperature and shutter. This is not the book for you. Realize that the digital camera will work just like a film camera and get a good book covering photography techniques.

I am very happy with this book. It blends material on the technical aspects of digital photography work with advice on composition and other simple techniques for getting the best shot. The first half of the book focuses mainly on getting the best out of your camera with focus control, white balance, and using the flash the right way. The second half is on composition in various situations; headshots, panoramas, still lifes, photographing your pets, and more. The example photos also serve to give you great ideas for your own work. A short and excellent book. Definitely a good Christmas present (stocking stuffer) to go along with the digital camera under the tree.

This book teaches the principles of digital photography--the quirks, the problems, the peculiarities, and how to work with these to get the most out of your camera. Most of the other books on the market spend one chapter on these fundamentals and then spend the next 400 pages discussing the functions of expensive, prosumer DSLR's like the Canon Rebel or Nikon D50/70, and post-processing on the computer. This is great if you have a DSLR and are looking to do a lot of post-processing.

However, if you have a consumer level point-and-shoot camera like the Canon Elph, Nikon Coolpix, Kodak Easyshare or Sony Cybershot, this extra material won't apply to your camera because it doesn't have these advanced manual controls. What this book does for the P&S user is teach you why some of your photos are coming out blurry, overexposed or dark. How to frame an exciting picture. How to use the flash to improve some pictures, and when the flash isn't appropriate. How to use the manual controls that are included on these cameras and how these controls can help you succeed in taking better pictures.

If you have a camera with manual controls and know how to use them, this probably isn't the book for you. If the extent of your photography experience is 110 Instamatic, this book is worth a look. If you're looking to buy a new digital camera the information is a little dated (the largest CF card is 512MB?), but the information on desirable features is still valid. Most of the images are OK, but it's occasionally difficult to discern the point being made. For example, you're not going to be able to tell the difference between Normal, Fine, and Super Fine JPEG compression levels on a 2" image of mediocre quality to begin with. Occasionally it's just wrong, like the discussion of pixels overlapping in the CCD causing noise--first, they can't possibly overlap, second noise is caused by the higher amplification needed due to the smaller pixel sizes.

The included CD isn't worth much, nothing at all if you're a Mac user.

A very quick read unless you're a beginner, but not a bad book if that's what you need.

I purchased 8 books on photography after I completed a photography course.
This book was one of them. It covers many of the things I already learned in my course but gave some specific f-stops that my course instructor never told us.
My teacher felt we would learn more by taking the shots ourselves.
I disagreed.
I felt this book gave practical advice on how to set your f-stop to achieve the desired photo.
It is a book for the beginner and easily read.
There are lots of photos but I would have liked them to be a bit larger.
For anyone who did not take a photo course or has not figured out how to play around with your f-stops to get the desired shot, this is a handy book to read.
It also briefly touches upon diffusing the flash, exposure settings and other topics every photographer needs to know about, but in a general way.
Definitely not the book for intermediate or advanced photographers, but recommended for the beginner.

As a semi-professional photographer I am often asked for camera and photography advice which I gladly provide. What I am more at a loss for is what you get is the best resource for someone trying to learn a little bit more of their own. This book is a great solution, for which I am keeping a copy around simply to loan out to those in this situation.

40 Digital Photography Technique is designed for the beginner and maturing intermediate photographer and does an excellent job covering everything from the basics of how to use your camera, to composition, how to shoot in various lighting situations, macro photography and much more. Though it does not go into great depth in any one of these subject areas, it is a great overview and touches on a lot of areas that new photographers may not think of. It attempts to be a beginner's guide and provide ideas and how to use on a wide variety of areas pertaining to photography, and it does a great job.

I highly recommend this title to anyone who has picked up a new digital camera or may have one laying around that they have not gotten as much use of as they thought they might have won about it. Your camera along with this book may become a new hobby and passion that you never knew you had within you.

This book is great for starters in digital (or even film) photography. If you don't quite understand what all the settings in your digital camera are or used for, this book will open your eyes and will have you using all different settings really soon.
The book is very easy to read and explains a lot with pictures to show you the results.
Also, this books talks about lightining, how to take better photos of people, how to adjust the settings to take inside and outside photos. It gives plenty of neat tricks for you to try out with your camera without having to buy extra equipment.
Although if you really want to spend some money, this book also talks about good equipment, like lenses, light bouncers, and more.

This book is written in simple lucid language, with good clear pictures makes it perfect for beginners and 'getting semi serious' photographers,
my pictures have become much better as result of the knowledge out of this book plus i have a better eye on photography on the whole, in the past had never put a thought on clicking a button on the camera..no complains