Digital Photography Digital Field Guide

by Harold Davis

The digital camera has revolutionized photography. Sporting events, breathtaking landscapes, the mood of the sea, or a child's eyes as a present is opened-capture whatever fascinates you. Learn touse your images in ways only highly skilled professionals could manage a mere decade ago. With this practical guide in your camera bag, you'll have professional advice at your fingertips to help you get great shots, use all your camera's features, download...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076459785X
• ISBN13: 9780764597855
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Wiley Publishing
• Length: 219 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Book Worthy of a Camera Bag

Oh yeah! Harold Davis has written a sure winner. In "Digital Photography Digital Field Guide," Davis has accomplished what so many other writers find difficult to do; that is, to make getting into digital photography simple and enjoyable. The book can be read from beginning to end or it can be used as a reference tool. I like the fact that Davis feels about photography the way I do--have fun with your digital camera and don't make it so difficult to learn. Learning to use a digital camera should not take away from the joy of taking pictures, and this book makes learning fun and simple. The Field Guide is organized to get the amateur shooting pictures right away. Most importantly, the guide is reader friendly; by this, I mean that Davis writes like people talk--in plain English. He is also aware that photography is a visual art and thus he includes plenty of photographs and easy-to-read tables and charts. Most readers will find the first two chapters alone --"Exploring the Digital Camera" and "Preparation and Setup"--worth the price of the book. Davis addresses the would be photographer's nemesis: the camera manual. Camera instruction books tend to be written more for professionals than for beginners. More often than not, these manuals make learning and understanding the digital camera baffling, not to mention boring. Davis's writing gets away from the technical mumbo-jumbo and gets down to the business of familiarizing the reader with his or her digital camera and what they can do with it. Davis tackles many concepts like depth of field, ISO, white balance, file formats, F-stops, shutter-speeds, and exposure, describing each one concisely yet clearly -- what it is, and how to use it. Another interesting and well-written chapter is "Photography Basics," which deals with focusing, color balance, proper exposure, and my personal favorite, composition. Chapter four addresses another important part of good photography, lighting, which can make the difference between a snapshot and a work of art. The rest of the chapters cover specific techniques, which are just as helpful and important. All in all, "Digital Photography Digital Field Guide" serves four important functions: it helps shutterbugs understand digital photography, gets them into the field taking pictures, helps them to become more creative, and serves as an excellent reference tool. Buy it and put it in your camera bag.

I wish I had read this book earlier...

I tried to read my camera's supposedly well-written manual to improve my pictures. I hate manuals -- reading it was painful, yet still my photos weren't turning out quite like I wanted them too. "Digital Photography" was a gift that I ended up reading pretty well cover to cover. All those things the manual talked about finally started making sense! The basics are clearly explained from apertures to white balance, with a whole chapter on lighting (my favorite). It's full of little tips and tricks, and in the "Recipes for Great Photos" chapter you get useful advice and guidelines particular to different types of photography, from action photography to water photography. And the section on editing your photos has great tips on how to fix mistakes. I can see this book being an great introduction to digital photography for both beginners and experienced analog photographers too. And very useful even after you've used your digital camera for a while, like me. And if you have a new digital camera you want to take on a trip with you, this is definitely *the* perfect book to take along.

Must-Have Photography Resource

Anyone interested in digital photography will love this book. It is a must-have resource for the unskilled beginner and a wonderful addition for those with experience. I read the review where a reader stated that it was only valuable for a Nikon camera. That's completely erroneous. I have both a Canon and a Minolta digital camera and all the information applied. The suggestions for taking outdoor photos are easy to understand, apply to many situations, and will enhance my pleasure in taking photographs of my grandchildren by ensuring improved results. I wish I had this book sooner.

Digital Delight

Former professional photographer Harold Davis has written a top notch book that peels back all the complexities of digital photography and puts world class photo tips in layman's terms. You're probably reading this review because you're considering buying this book and you want a bit of insight into its value. Well, if that's the case, here's why you should: 1) The explanations and directions on how best to use ISO, aperture, and shutter control are written in very simple straightforward text that is so much easier to understand than those complicated instruction manuals that come with so many cameras. Hey, you've probably spent several hundred dollars on a nice camera....and here's a guide that tell you actually how to use that same camera to take better shots. 2) There are a series of practice lessons that guide you through the best vantage points, the best focal points, even the best time to take photos - whether landscape, portraits or floral shots. Mr. Davis not only helps you set up a shot with this guide, but he'll tell you what the best exposure would be for the shot itself. Now that's helpful when you're out in the field trying to figure out how to capture nature better than through a simple snapshot. 3) Mr. Davis also covers what I would call targeting learning. He takes a subject (sunsets or water for example) and tells the reader the best settings that will produce the best outcome. He also talks about variations on themes, and I found those chapters to be compelling reading. 4) Finally, this volume has a whole section on editing and improving photos after the shot. Again, it is in an easy to read - and easy to use - format that explains the concepts and usage without complicating things. In essence, this book is about two things. Speed of use and speed of improvement. If you want to know how to use your camera to take better photos....and you want to know how to do it without reading dozens of pages about arcane photographic terms, then this is the book for you. This book is one you'll use over and over in your photographic journey. Highly recommended.

Very Useful!

Make no mistake - this little guide is packed with solid information; so much so that I was moved to sign on here to post this review. So far I have found this little handbook to be delightfully useful, with lots of practical information and handy tables. Just about anything that you might want to do with any digital camera is in here, with everything totally applicable even for those of us who haven't (yet!) splurged on an SLR. Most of the shots are outdoor-type scenes and landscapes, but the book has plenty of good info for any kind of shooting. The guidance and tips in these pages have made me think about how I approach my photography, and the writing is so clear and straightforward!