basic books

Duncan16

Duncan16

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Duncan
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Hi all,:wave:
I was reading the other night about some good basic books to help the beginner understand photography. However I did not put pen to paper??:bonk:

Please could you let me know which of the many books should be in a beginner’s library...

I would like as basic as possible with step by step guides, anyone know if there is a dummies guide to Canon? I am not a reader who can pick things up easy so a little guide to in the explanation would help.

Thanks for a fantastic forum.:clap:
 
Hi duncan 16 there is a DLSR book for dummies it's about £15.00 you should get it on amazon , or better still join your local libary (try before you buy )
 
Hi Duncan, while I haven't bought it myself - I've seen dozens of recommendations for Understanding Exposure on another forum I've been on longer. Might be worth a look, the amazon reviews are mostly very positive.
 
Personally, I'm not particularly keen on Understanding Exposure - over-rated IMO. There is a publication called "The Complete Canon SLR Handbook" available from WH Smith (misnamed as it's bigger than A4, hardly a "Handbook" !) - it covers pretty much all the bases,though it does have lots of typos.
 
Interesting, thanks Bernard. Hard to make any judgement off t'internet!

Maybe the best bet's to find the biggest bookshop you can, browse its tiny photography section and see which one makes the most sense :)

I get the feeling most of us go through a lot of books of which each one has a chapter or two or some use and a lot of pretty filler! I've had most benefit out of hanging around in forums and just playing about with the settings ;)
 
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Understanding exposure by Brian Peterson.

I have to admit I set this book down to read another. I found it slow and not much info that I had not already read on the web. However I picked it back up and I'm about 3/4 through it. Although it started out slow it seems to be picking up now. I dont think it gives a direct path to a lot of the answer I'm looking for but it has me asking a lot of more question on different subjects that I would not have found on my own. At least not right away. I think that is valuable. I know for a fact that I will be referring back to it as I progress. I recommend this book. It is a top seller. Like a wise man once told me "everyone can not be wrong"....
Good luck.
 
Understanding Exposure is simple and straightforward. It's criticised for being too simple, but it's easy to forget how complicated everything felt as a beginner. I'd still recommend that one to any beginner. You'll outgrow it, but that's the way with education.

I'll also add in either Hot Shots or The Photographer's Eye as useful. The most useful thing you can learn is how to see the world through a camera. That way you'll take interesting photos that people will actually enjoy looking at. And you'll probably take fewer of them, so people won't age quite as fast whilst doing so.

I bought the digital field guide for my camera (40D), it was useful for a few weeks whilst I got the custom menus set-up.. but I haven't referred to it since. I'd forget about getting a specific book for your camera model, almost all that type of information can be found by searching the forums and online.

Has the Dummies guide improved in later editions? The version I read about three years ago was utter tripe.. definitely have a flick through that in the library or Waterstones before buying.
 
As a beginner the photography magazines had a lot of tips on technique and ideas. A few years back I had a subscription to Digital SLR Photography that I enjoyed seeing arrive on the doormat...but, they *all* repeat articles about every 6 months. Treat them as a rotating "for dummies" book :)

Best tip - sign up for the (always present) subscription special offer, it'll be 3 months for £1 or 6 months for a fiver. Then cancel when the offer runs out and move on to the next one...you'll get bored of them in a year or so, but as a beginner they're quite good.
 
Another for Understanding Exposure.

As a beginner it got me to use manual mode
 
As a beginner myself I've also seen countless recommendations for Scott Kelby's digital photography books. There's 4 volumes and each discussing a differing area of photography. I've purchased the first for IPad but not got round to starting it yet. You can get them on amazon for £6-7 each.
 
Yet again I should mention that Understanding Exposure practically ignores the importance of the histogram or the flashing highlight alert

Both play a large part in exposure and modern everyday photography, a glaring omission I reckon

Borrowed this book from the library to see what all the fuss was about, very glad I saved my money
 
From what I remember of reading Understanding Exposure, it was strong on what settings he used but very short on why,
 
BeeJayEff said:
From what I remember of reading Understanding Exposure, it was strong on what settings he used but very short on why,
Click to expand...

I could not agree more. That's why I said earlier that it got me asking myself a lot more questions. It simply touches on subjects without much detail. Dont get me wrong I am learning. 3/4 through at this point I think its a pretty good book but a bit over rated.
 
i've been reading dslr photography for dummies (yellow books) and have found some interesting tips in there ive also got the dslr photography and nature photography for dummies to read next, my local library has quite a good section on photography and i'm just waiting on understanding exposure to be returned
 
I also bought "canon eso t3i rebel 600d from snapshot to great shoot" but I only read a few chapters so far. I have a feeling that this book will be more useful because it covers the exact slr I have. It should cover what all the controls are and what to use them for. You might want to check this out for your slr. Hope it helps.
 
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