PC Magazine Guide to Digital Photography [Paperback]

Daniel Grotta (Author), Sally Wiener Grotta (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764573721 | ISBN-13: 978-0764573729 | Publication Date: October 1, 2004 | Edition: 1

You have the camera, or intend to. You have the desire.

Now, you have personalized instruction from PC Magazine

"The play of light and color on the human imagination." That's how Daniel and Sally Wiener Grotta define photography. They'll lead you through choosing a digital camera and using all its amazing features, but photography is more than technology. These renowned experts liberally share their knowledge of lighting, settings, focus, file formats, communicating with pictures, and more. Read a little, then go shoot some pictures, study them, and read some more. See what you and that camera can do -- together.

• Go one-on-one with the pros
• Choose a camera that fits your needs
• Understand resolution, compression, pixels, and file formats
• Use shutter speed, lighting, and depth of field
• Learn about white balance and color adjustment
• Organize your shots on the camera
• Shoot photos for company publications or online auctions
• Pick up tips for getting great photos
• Get your pictures out of the camera, easily
• Edit, print, and e-mail photos

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The megapixel hype
The fact is a camera’s megapixel rating is only a measure of how many pixels (photosensitive sites) an image sensor has…. An image sensor is simply one component of an entire system that produces a digital photograph…. So resist buying into the megapixel hype when you’re choosing a digital camera.
—From Chapter 1

You have the camera, or intend to. You have the desire. Now, you have personalized instruction from PC Magazine

“The play of light and color on the human imagination.” That’s how Daniel and Sally Wiener Grotta define photography. They’ll lead you through choosing a digital camera and using all its amazing features, but photography is more than technology. These renowned experts liberally share their knowledge of lighting, settings, focus, file formats, communicating with pictures, and more. Read a little, then go shoot some pictures, study them, and read some more. See what you and the camera can do—together.

Go one-on-one with the pros

• Choose a camera that fits your needs
• Understand resolution, compression, pixels, and file formats
• Use shutter speed, lighting, and depth of field
• Learn about white balance and color adjustments
• Organize your shots on the camera
• Shoot photos for company publications or online auctions
• Pick up tips for getting great photos
• Get your pictures out of the camera, easily
• Edit, print, and e-mail photos

About the Author

Daniel Grotta and SallyWiener Grotta are top name journalists and consultants in the field of digital photography. In fact, they’ve been covering digital cameras and the industry since the early 1990s. As Amy Wohl, the renown computer analyst, has said, “If you don’t know the Grottas, you don’t know imaging.” Among the earliest photographers to use digital equipment, they broke the story of digital photography for some of the top national magazines (including PC Magazine’s first roundup) and have continued to write about it for many newspapers, magazines, and online publications. Together, they have written more than 1,000 high-tech articles, reviews, columns, and features, plus five (now six) books. In addition, they have lectured and taught digital photography and imaging at many schools, conferences and other venues, including the PC Magazine Digital U traveling workshops, which will be premiering autumn 2004.
The Grottas’ company, DigitalBenchmarks, is an internationally respected independent digital camera and imaging test lab. Using new industry-standard tests that Daniel helped develop, DigitalBenchmarks Lab puts digital cameras and related hardware and software through extensive low-level and experiential tests.
While the Grottas have tested and reviewed most of the digital cameras that have been introduced for more than a decade, technology is only part of the story. The Grottas are professional photographers whose pictures have appeared in many publications throughout the world. They understand what it takes to get a great picture in all kinds of situations, from Antarctica to the Amazon rain forest, from war zones to the most difficult shot . . . the group family picture. Regardless of how many cameras they have handled, they have never lost sight of the whole reason they started with all this . . . their fascination with how much more of the world they can see, enjoy, and capture through a camera lens.
An Internet search on their names will bring up literally many hundreds of hits—mostly links to their reviews, articles, and speaking engagements. Or you can check out their Web sites: www.DigitalBenchmarks.com, www.TheWellConnectedWoman.com, and www.Grotta.net.

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764573721
• ISBN-13: 978-0764573729
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,339,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars See the chapter on camera phones, September 30, 2004

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PC Magazine Guide to Digital Photography (Paperback)

Just a year or two ago, photography passed a tipping point. Digital photography usage has increased amazingly, and traditional film is fading fast. Why? Well, this book offers some (actually many) reasons. It goes through what you should know about this new way.

Of necessity, there are sections of the book common to both methods. A chapter on the principles of taking good photos, that could have been written a century ago. Some ideas in photography are timeless.

But the bulk of the book deals with the unique aspects of digital photography. Like different file formats. At least it is easy to convert between these. Plus, with digital, you now have a tradeoff between higher resolution and being able to store fewer photos as a consequence.

A key chapter is devoted to camera phones. Ubiquitous cameras, that can easily transmit their messages wirelessly to anywhere in the world. Ultimately, this may be the most radical upheaval in the entire arena of photography. It means that in cities, from now on, there may often be someone watching and recording you. Even if this is not so, you should assume it. The changes in our expectations of privacy have only begun.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Find, March 20, 2006

By 

Jill Buhler "Photographer" (Port Townsend, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PC Magazine Guide to Digital Photography (Paperback)

As a professional film photographer for years, now venturting into digital, this book is perfect. It offers basic information on the difference between film and digital, but is written at a level that speaks to professionals. It's full of good tips. I recommend it highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Place to Start, May 14, 2007

By 

Blaine McNutt (Round Rock, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PC Magazine Guide to Digital Photography (Paperback)

I'm new to digital photography, and a big question I had before buying my camera was "which one to buy". I'm pretty technical, but photography jargon was beyond me. I felt like I was making a decision in the dark. I lucked out by asking friends who did know about photography, but it made me uncomfortable. It's hard to find a single source who can explain everything succinctly.

I chanced across this book in a bargain bin at Fry's; what a deal. This book answered every question I've had about digital cameras , traditional 35mm, and it compares and contrasts them. It is well written, explains all of the camera settings and how to use them get better photographs.

While published in 2004, it remains current. I bought a camera released in the fall of 2006, and this book is still extremely helpful. It even has a chapter on buying the right camera, and the organization of the book is perfect to build your knowledge before you buy. I definitely recommend this book.