The Digital Photography Book

Kelby’s book is a great start if you are new to the world of digital photography. The book is divided into topical sections which covers each of the major issues surrounding photography in general and digital photography in specific. This book is not a lengthy technical exposition of optics and camera hardware; rather, it is a hands-on guide that helps us both compose and capture the best photographs we can from even our sometimes diminutive and inexpensive cameras.

Although the book is aimed at novices, there are some nice tricks and tips that even seasoned photographers may not have considered. But its main audience is the novice or mid-range user who simply wants to make sense out of the process photographers use to take great photographs. For example, we learn about aperture, shutter speed, and exposure, and how these three are related on to another. But more importantly, we learn what effect CHANGING aperture and/or shutter speed will have on the resulting photo. We learn about how to take sharp, crisply-focused photos, and what it means to say a photo is “tack sharp.” We learn about some basic and inexpensive add-on hardware that can completely alter the quality of most any digital camera (some costing as little as three dollars), and as a person who as actually tried most of these suggestions, I can say that knowing and learning these things really can move your photos into an area of quality that is surprisingly good. Kelby’s suggestions are born out of years of experience, and his ability to explain exactly what does and doesn’t work is clearly demonstrated on most every page.

The introduction of digital technology to the analog camera has revolutionized how we view and take photographs. I, for one, could never get “into” photography while it was in its film variant, the process being too cumbersome and intricate (and expensive) for me to wish to pursue it to any degree. When Sony introduced the CCD sensor in the mid 1990’s and made digital photography available for the average guy, I, like millions of others, started experimenting with photography for the first time. That means that there are millions of people walking around with relatively sophisticated digital cameras who don’t know a whit about how to leverage them to take the best photographs. Kelby’s book admirably fits the bill for those people, demystifying the process of simple composition, explaining basic concepts and controls, and then giving us those added tips and tricks that can really serve well on photographing expositions. To boot, the book is beautifully illustrated with full-color photographs and is reasonably priced. Use this book as a stepping stone into the larger world of photography. You might be surprised just how good a result you can achieve with a sub $200 camera using some of these useful strategies.

Review by Ray

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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