The Beginner's Photography Guide: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Manual for Getting the Most from Your Digital Camera

I've done film photography since the 1970s and know a lot about the photographic principles and processes. In the digital era, I got lazy and had never really learned how to translate my pre-digital photo knowledge into setting up and using digital cameras effectively. I mostly stuck to Auto, I'm sad to say. Camera manuals are pathetic, so what I really wanted was to learn exactly how digital cameras do what they do, and learn to use my digital cameras' settings more creatively than you can do on automatic. As one example, Gatcum explains beautifully the differences between all the possible settings such as Auto vs. Program, and what the benefits and limitations are for each one. This is one example of a topic the limited and badly translated camera manuals are silent on. This book assumes limited photographic knowledge so it would be fine for photo newbies, but it's actually extremely well laid out with brief but useful explanations and really great illustrative photos that anyone could learn and benefit from. I got a lot of good ideas from the various subjects the book. Another good point is that the topics and descriptions are clear, precise, but not too wordy. Just enough to illustrate the subject well both in description and with visuals. I have recently bought several similar books and this one is my favorite and I learned what I wanted to learn. Very useful for those in my situation as well as for total beginners, and highly recommended.

Big fan of DK editions. This one shines, as always. Excellent work.

The title does not lie...It is really a beginner's guide. Guess I was hoping for some more advanced tips, but this is my own fault. The guide is good and will walk you through how to use different settings to achieve different effects. If you are buying a camera that is beyond the point and shoot variety this book will help you a lot.

This is an excellent beginners (or a refresher) guide to getting the most from your camera. It covers every setting and how and why to use it.

This is a wonderful book for beginners and gives you the basics that you need to know in order to understand how to get the most out of your new DSLR. If you're a beginner that doesn't know what's the difference between focus, shutter speed, or aperture, then this book will help you tremendously on your way to figuring out how to use such settings to produce the picture that you want. After I was done reading the first 3/4 of the book, I felt like I had the necessary knowledge to not only get the pictures I wanted, but to troubleshoot any out-of-focus or improperly exposed images as well. The book didn't make me an expert (I imagine only time and practice will do that), but it has definitely given me confidence in making manual adjustments to my camera. I bought the camera specifically to take pictures during vacations and attached are some of the first photographs that I took with my DSLR.

This book is invaluable for a person just starting out. It explains things i.e. camera jargon, camera settings etc., in an easy to understand way. Highly recommend.

Super cool book with a lot of great tips!

Excellent guide for beginners. This book provides so many useful illustrations to help you understand the different settings for exposure, different priority settings, etc. They show you not just how the picture should look, but also what it looks like when settings are wrong. Very easy to understand and doesn't overwhelm with lots of technical jargon when you are just trying to get started. Absolutely recommend!

After I bought my first SLR which is D5300, thought to buy a book through which I can learn some Nitty-gritty of Photography. Fortunate enough I purchased this book ( Fresh 2nd edition, fully revised and updated. ) I chose Flexibound format, found it much better and light in weight, cheap in price. Buying a hardcover has no difference except the cost. Books are forever, keep it neat and safe and it'll be with you forever either spiral or Flexibound. Now about the content:- --------------------------------- If you get this book I can assure you will learn a lot about Photography and it is more than best for a novice Photographer. You will get to learn in very simple terms, very easy and straight forward English, no heavy jargon. Book will tell you know your camera man!!! This book can easily teach you about the most important aspect of Photography which is Exposure and that comprises of Aperture settings, Shutter speed and ISO. Also teach you about SLR body parts, you will know your camera better then. Many of us beginners got confused on f-stop values related to aperture size and here this book take your boat to the other shore. This book includes almost all the matter related to a modern SLR's settings and photography modes like P S A M and much more. CHAPTERS: ---------------- 1- Equipment 2- Exposure 3- Focusing 4- Lenses 5- Available light 6- Flash 7- Image enhancement Well arranged Glossary and Index on the back. The page quality is super glossy and thick. I should say it's much more in this price tag and thanks to DK Publishing for keeping the price minimum for this awesome book. I loved it!! Thank you for taking your time reading this review and if you found my review helpful, please give me a like dear friends!!!

Excellent book. Well written and illustrated. It does start off VERY basic but soon gets into the technical stuff which is explained in a clear and concise way. It is very focussed (sorry for the pun) on Canon for camera operations but the info should transfer. I paired it with Digital Photography Basics Pocket Guide which has lots of practice assignments and I find the two books complement each other well.

Great and well designed. I loved the book, but if you were also taught how to take pictures using a smartphone, the book would be better.

ES EN INGLES. MUY DIDACTICO ES UN MAGNÍFICO LIBRO PARA PRINCIPIANTES DE TODAS LAS EDADES

Great book for beginner at photography. As other great DK guides actually!