The Digital Photography Book Scott Kelby

Summary

The Digital Photography Book is a new take on beginners guides to photography: instead of trying to explain what a focal stop is (or how it works) Scott Kelby simply shows pictures and descriptions of how he took various photos and his tips that he's accumulated over the years

Although Scott talks about relatively high end photography equipment it's not essential (it's just that you may not have some options on your camera, and the place where you set those options will be in a different place), this book has been recommended by lots of people from high end camera owners (Nikon or Canon), Pro-sumer Cameras (for example the excellent Panasonic Lumix range), standard digital cameras that everybody has and even Nokia N95 mobile phone users who want to use their camera effectively

This book is expanded by Volume 2 - see Scott Kelby - The Digital Photography Book Volume 2 - More tips for taking great photos

Scott Kelby - Brief Biog

Scott has been publishing books for a while, and using cameras for even longer. He's the author of The Photoshop CS Book for Digital Photography and The Photoshop Elements (6) Book for Digital Photography and editor-in-chief of "Nikon Software User" magazine.

What's in there?

Scott's approach is simple for those of us who want to use Digital Cameras but really don't want to have to know everything about it. He takes the same approach as a manual for driving - he concentrates on the driving (the taking of photos) and ignores most of the machinery underneath - there's no complex diagrams of how lenses work, or what an ISO setting is - leaving a book that allows you to pick up techniques to take better photos without worrying about detail.

He splits the book into different sections: How to shoot flowers, weddings, landscapes, people and general tips on what to do and what not to do to get great photos

All parts of the book are illustrated with nice example photos (some of which are truly excellent) and the text is kept concise and readable

What will I learn?

You'll learn the basics of how to take photos which you can use as a base to progress with. Then you'll refer back to the book in future to top up your skills and to point it out to your friends who ask how you take such great photos

How does Scott Kelby Describe his book?

Scott's premise is "if you and I were out on a shoot, and you asked me, 'Hey how do I get this flower to be in focus with the background out of focus?', I wouldn't stay there and give you a photography lecture. In real life, I'd just say 'Put on your zoom lens, set your f-stop to f/2.8, focus on the flower, and fire away'. That's what this book is all about: you and I go out shootting where I answer questions, give you advice, and share the secrets I've learned just like I would with a friend - without all the technical explanations and techie photo speak"