Product Description: 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 page covers 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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Great for beginning photographers
Great book. Fast read, gives a ton of great pointers for the beginning photographer. I bought both volumes 2 years ago when I fist really started to get into photography and they really helped improve my images by giving pointers on equipment needed to set up a home studio, how to get the best lightingn in various scenarios, how to get sharper images, how to pose people for portraits, tips for landscapes, etc. Great book.
Rating: - Very good book
Author has sense of humor and explains tricks and techniques of digital photography with humor and plain English.
Rating: - Recommended for beginners
This book was recommended to me by a friend that won a photography competition. He said this book is very easy to read & understand and that it is a must if I want to get serious about photograpy. He was right. This book is very helpful and I have already ordered its second part.
Rating: - Good for beginners
This is a great book for beginners or some one moving from a point and shoot camera to a DSLR. The layout and content are great but if you have some experience either through a photography class high school or other you'll likely not find something you didn't already know.
Rating: - Great book for beginners who want to cut to the chase.
I saw this book at Barnes and Noble looking for a good book to help me get sharper pictures (which has been my vice.) Coming across this book, I flipped a couple of pages and was sold - I put down the big heavy technical book I was holding and went straight to the register. And I was not sorry that I bought this book, either.
Sure, there is the thing about his humor. I could care less most of the time, except that the beginning is weighed down by him trying to explain to you in detail how the book works, and spending an exorbitant amount of time taking pride over the titles of the first few pages. I learned my lesson - I skipped the intros and went to what I needed.
Already, the first day reading, I was excited and ready to run out and take professional looking photos, I was so encouraged. (It was night time, however, and the irony is he doesn't cover night time photography in his book. Not this one, at least. I can't say for the second book.) I've experimented on my cat and the flowers in my garden and already I can see a difference in my photography. Not only that, but even though this isn't a technical book, I have a much better understanding of my camera!
What I love best about this book (and what truly sold me on it) was the last chapter about "photo recipes". He tells you exactly the environment he was in in order to get the shot, the camera setting, what number to set aperture size or shutter speed (things I had not gotten the hang of yet, so it HELPS), and what equipment he used. The book may be short (just over 200 pages), but it's straight to the point, so you don't need to swim through the technical aspect of things. His examples are beautiful works of art and he even gives us a peek into his bag to see what he brings on shoots. I've also kept in mind some equipment recommendations.
All in all, yeah his sense of humor is a little much, but it's a wonderful glimpse for the amateur photographer as to how to pros work.
- Great for beginning photographers 
- Great book for beginners who want to cut to the chase.
