Customer Reviews

The Joy of Digital Photography (Lark Photography Book)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rarely do the mastery of an art and the mastery of teaching that art fall to the same person, but Jeff Wignall seems to be the exception that proves the rule. This how-to book lives up to its title - the passionate enthusiasm Wignall obviously feels for his subject matter is joyous and contagious. This book is a well-written comprehensive manual on how to grasp every element of digital photography as well as many elements of classical photography. From beginning theory to advanced technique and insider secrets from the pros, Wignall lays it out in a step-by-step manner. His voice resonates with originality and expertise. Most photos in the book are his and some are quite stunning - the book is fun to leaf through purely for the visuals. Wignall writes super-clearly, with wit, character and humor. He de-mystifies technical details that could easily intimidate amateurs like myself. It's evident that a ton of love, thought and research went into this work and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in digital photography or even just photography in general.

This is a really good book!!~ I'm 15 and just got it for my birthday. It is easy to read and gives alot of info that I never knew about taking pictures. Now, all my pictures are coming out way better then they used to.The only thing I suggest is having you digital cameras' manual with you when reading most of the book; it's helpful to try out certain things on your camera while reading the " Joy of.." book. A great book...big, beatiful pictures, and lots of info!

This is a fantastic book. I bought it because its predessor, The Joy of Photography helped me learn to use my first 35mm camera. Now I have been struggling to master pixels and downloads and I am pleased to say that Jeff Wignall has come through again! This book is so much fun, inspiring and filled with gorgeous photography. There's great information, not only on the technical bits but on taking wonderful pictures. The presentation is beautiful and there's cool things like a digital timeline. This is the best photo guide I have ever owned!

Fantastic !! Superb !! Beautiful !!

Add to those superlatives the fact that is book is laid out in a way that even the busiest among us will find easy to deal with. Jeff Wignall covers all aspects of digital photography in a way that is most informative but doesn't overwhelm the novice. I garnered knowledge from almost every page. This book can aptly be described as a labor of love. Great care was taken at every turn and it clearly shows. A great value. Thanks Jeff for helping me to truly enjoy my digital camera.

Ray Wilson

Garrison, NY

What I like best, in addition to the book's remarkable size and value, are the literary and personal qualities that shine through. Jeff Wignall writes like a trusted friend who teaches photography with skill and care.

It's big & beautiful, packed with inspiring examples and helpful tips. Digital photography has come of age, with fine cameras and a great teacher: Jeff Wignall.

Nice photos. Good binding,good fonts and layout.Enthusiastic prose. For me it was maybe a little too basic compared to other intros. A reasonable introduction to digital photography from Lark Press and a good value for sure,but there are other choices. My preference would be for anyone who wants to get seriously,not skimmingly,an introduction and more enticing details, into digital photography would be to check out the four soft- cover series (also from Lark/Sterling) by Michael Freeman. Freeman's "Complete Guide to Digital Photography" ISBN1-57990-534-X,first volume, was,in my evaluation, a superior introduction to the canvas of topics. And Freeman has two or three other books in the series (caveat: the others have a hard to read light font), all under twenty dollars from FantasticShopping, an Amazon affiliate. Buy the Freeman Complete Guide and the above volume and use the two as you gain confidence and want more meat. Aloha, Gerry

This book and it's author are truly wonderful. Jeff's style of writing draws you in and keeps you interested with his combination of technical explanations and personal stories (he's somewhat of a comedian at times). He makes what could be complicated, simple to understand and illustrates with fantastic photographs that were taken with point and shoot cameras. A must for your personal photography library. I've read it cover to cover once and referred to it many times since.

Lisa Ousley

I found this to be a wonderful book to help anyone learn the basics of digital photography. The writing style makes this an enjoyable read and the photographs are beautifully done.

This book is an enjoyable read for sure. Mr. Wignall's humor and lighthearted style of writing lightens up a subject that can get rather technical. While you don't want to get a book that is a dry as a text book, I suspect that you do want to actually learn something when buying books in this topic area.

As far as what you will learn and how useful this book will be depends on what you want to gain in knowledge. I found this book to be a general overview of digital cameras; digital point and shoot as well as dSLRs, their functions, some basic photography concepts and photo editing.

A multitude of topics are touched on in this book and the author tries to cover a little of everything. Too little on too many different subjects to be of much practical use.

If you are using a P&S a lot of the book doesn't really apply to you and is therefore not very useful. Most of what is covered regarding digital P&S cameras is done for you automatically, or you can either figure out on your own after taking a few pictures or you can learn in the manual.

If you are new to using an dSLR, there is not enough info to actually learn anything. The photos are beautiful but no info such as aperture or shutter speed is included. And as I stated before, there are many nice intros on many useful subjects but they are just that, intros.

If you are just starting your journey into the world of photography with a dSLR I suggest starting with the following three books in addition to your camera manual:

Understanding Exposure and Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson

and the Magic Lantern book written for your particular camera.

This is the book I bought for a friend who is just getting serious about digital SLR photography. Wignall covers all the basics and some intermediate stuff with obvious enthusiasm, and he knows his stuff. Maybe he tries a little too hard to be funny here and there, but not teeth-gnashingly so. Pleasing design, good choice of sample pictures, high print quality, not too geeky.