The Digital Photography Book: The Step-by-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros, Volume 1 by Scott Kelby

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
What makes professional digital photographers' work look so great? In this book, Scott Kelby has rounded up some 150 tips and techniques the pros know and amateurs typically don't. Each technique gets one page, max -- and we're talking about specific information, not abstract theory. Do what Kelby says, and you'll get dramatically better images -- period.

Up-front, Kelby explains why professional shots are so much sharper than yours -- and how to create "tack sharp" images of your own. It starts with the right tripod (and Kelby offers recommendations for every budget). But it doesn't stop there. Kelby covers everything from DSLR mirror lock-up features to steadying handheld shots to sharpening in Photoshop.

Then, it's on to six of the most common areas of digital photography: shooting people; landscapes and wildlife; sporting events; weddings; travel and city life; and flowers. Each gets a full chapter of tips: both for using your camera and for the non-technical stuff that'll affect your work. (What's the best way to get a big group shot where everyone's got their eyes open? How do you schedule wedding photography to get the best shots of the bride and groom, and still leave time to catch Uncle Arnie?)

What's the best way to shoot fireworks, waterfalls, forests, newborn babies? If you miss the winning goal, what do you shoot now? How do you avoid white balance problems? In which season is battery life shortest? How do you keep from accidentally erasing memory cards? How do you show movement in nighttime city shots? It's all here, and with the exception of a few "throwaway" tips at the front, it's all immensely useful. Bill Camarda, from the December 2006 Read Only

From the Publisher

Scott Kelby, the man who changed the "digital darkroom" forever with his groundbreaking, #1 bestselling, award-winning book The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers, now tackles the most important side of digital photography—how to take pro-quality shots using the same tricks today's top digital pros use (and it's easier than you'd think).

This entire book is written with a brilliant premise, and here’s how Scott describes it: "If you and I were out on a shoot, and you asked me, 'Hey, how do I get this flower to be in focus, but I want the background out of focus?' I wouldn't stand there and give you a lecture about aperture, exposure, and depth of field. In real life, I'd just say, 'Get out your telephoto lens, set your f/stop to f/2.8, focus on the flower, and fire away.' You d say, 'OK,' and you'd get the shot. That's what this book is all about. A book of you and I shooting, and I answer the questions, give you advice, and share the secrets I've learned just like I would with a friend, without all the technical explanations and without all the techno-photo-speak."

This isn't a book of theory—it isn't full of confusing jargon and detailed concepts: this is a book of which button to push, which setting to use, when to use them, and nearly two hundred of the most closely guarded photographic "tricks of the trade" to get you shooting dramatically better-looking, sharper, more colorful, more professional-looking photos with your digital camera every time you press the shutter button.

Here's another thing that makes this book different: each pagecovers just one trick, just one single concept that makes your photography better. Every time you turn the page, you'll learn another pro setting, another pro tool, another pro trick to transform your work from snapshots into gallery prints. There's never been a book like it, and if you're tired of taking shots that look "OK," and if you’re tired of looking in photography magazines and thinking, "Why don't my shots look like that?" then this is the book for you.

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents