So you've just gone and spent a wad of cash on your fancy new SLR, but your photos all look like poo. Well this book could help sort that out, or at least help you venture out of Auto a bit more. A highly rated photography book and this is around $5 cheaper than anywhere else I can find it.
See some reviews here:
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Edition-Pho…
kindle version is US$16.99.
For a book that's largely based on photo-comparison and visually explaining things through such photos, you're largely defeating its purpose by viewing it through a monochrome low-def medium.
Also, excellent book - got me started on my DLSR journey 3 years ago :)
Is it still grayscale or b/w even if I read it from my xoom with kindle reader?
I have personally read this book when I wanted to understand how to shoot with DSLRs. Thought it was just an instructional book at first before I started reading it…but it turned out to be one of the best books out there to teach you about the basics involved in taking a picture..and how they correlate with each other. All in layman's terms with examples.
Since then, I have bought couple more of Bryan's books and follow him around on his youtube and G+ channels. Highly recommend this book to anyone new to the world of photography :)
Any suggestions for books to read after this one?
http://photo.tutsplus.com/tutorials/shooting/understanding-u…
The zone system: Turns getting correct exposures from an art into a science. Easy to learn, fun to practise, and I do not understand why it isn't taught in more courses and explained in more books.
Two quotes (with slight editing) from http://photography-on-the.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-1125… neatly summarise the problem with light metering:
the meter sees the world as a medium grey and it is also colour blind
point the meter at white snow but if you don't change the exposure from what the meter reads, you will get snow that appears mid grey. We all know snow is much brighter than that, so you will need to make an adjustment to render the snow as white
How much do you adjust the exposure? The zone system will give you an answer based on science and not based on "my extensive experience". (The answer, by the way, is +2 EV or 2 f-stops if the subject of the photo isn't the snow, or +1.5 EV or 1.5 f-stops if you want to capture details of the snow.)
I highly recommend reading this after Understanding Exposure. Bryan Peterson's Learning to see Creatively.
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-See-Creatively-Composition-Ph…
It will help you overcome the dilemma of "there is nothing to shoot here really". It tells you about practices and common tricks to look at objects and environments from a different creative angle.
Watch this video after that. I would suggest that you subscribe to B&H's youtube channel and keep an eye on their seminars and workshops…some of them are quite insightful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtcD84l9eUw&list=WL2D781D46C4…
Once you get the good understanding of exposure, you can venture into different aspects. My recommended one is: composition. This is about understanding of "rules" that make the photo beautiful. Book like The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman is an excellent start (http://www.amazon.com/The-Photographers-Eye-Composition-Digi…)
This is an excellent suggestion. All of Michael Freeman's books are great. Also, David Duchemin's 'Within the Frame' and 'Photographically Speaking' and Bruce Barnbaums 'Art of Photography'.
Then maybe, just maybe, you will stop taking crappy greensquaremode overexposed snapshots of cats, babies and sunsets. Maybe.
http://www.amazon.com/Within-Frame-Journey-Photographic-Visi…
http://www.amazon.com/Photographically-Speaking-Deeper-Creat…
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Photography-Approach-Expressio…
…And now you've spent $20 and you have a book and your photos still look like poo.
Only if you are taking photos of poo!!!
Yes but your photos of poo will now be well exposed :)
The cheapass in me is coming out…but does anyone know any FREE courses/websites that can explain DSLR photographer to beginners in layman terms?
youtube can be quite helpful
Not exactly free, but if you are around Gold Coast, couple of day trips with me and beer my way can earn you the knowledge. :)
Got one. Thanks OP.
this is a great book… i got it for £12.29 back in 2009…