Customer Reviews

50 Fast Digital Camera Techniques

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book resolved numerous unanswered questions I had about my 'prosumer' Canon PowerShot G3 (see review). What benefit is the histogram, for instance? Now I know not only what it's for, but how to use it for proper exposure - that alone was worth the reasonable admission price. I learned about exposure lock, focus lock, exposure (and flash) bracketing, why results with the built-in flash may be disappointing, why fast-action sports photos require a fancier (SRL) camera, the pros and cons of the red-eye prevention pre-flash, and dozens of other tips and features that the camera's instruction manual describes in detail, but leaves it to you to find out the why's and the how-and-when-to-use-it's.

As expressed by some disappointed readers, this is NOT a book for point-and-shoot photographers and/or cameras [you'd be better served by one of the "Dummy" books]. It is meant for the more richly endowed cameras with many selectable functions, some of them mysterious. The title certainly falls short in not making that difference clear. But I found the contents enormously helpful in grasping the camera's potential (even though I couldn't tell apart the black-and-white original and edited vignettes that start each section). The enclosed CD has full-sized color photos that you can edit in graphics software, and a 'slide-show' that shows each and every book illustration in color (albeit compressed to web size). Also on the CD is a protected Acrobat version of the entire book [ie, you can view, but not print individual pages - using PrintScreen, you can copy a page to the clipboard, paste it in Word, then print the page].

Overall: a superb guide to familiarize the reader with the arcane buttons, dials and menus of a complex digital camera. Other books might better serve snapshot photographers.

I bought this book to take on a trip with me with my new digital camera, to have a quick and thorough reference -- I wanted to learn ASAP so as to put my camera to the best use in the shortest time possible. I read the first few chapters in chronological order to get the basics, then jumped around as my curiousity and experience dictated. I found the book's contents immensely helpful to get a basic understanding of techniques that I could then go out and practice using in my daily shooting. Each technique is short enough to be able to digest and even re-read fairly quickly, yet pithy enough to give you plenty to put to use. My pages are all dog-eared and underlined at this point -- the sign of a book being put to good use -- and some weeks later I know there's still a lot more to be gotten from it.

This book has been a great help to me. I am on my 4th digital camera but the first three worked fine in Auto mode and I never challenged myself to learn how to use all the features of the cameras. Having no photography background with advanced film cameras, I was not familiar with using white balance, f stops, depth of field, etc. This book has helped me to understand how to really get the most out of my more advanced "prosumer" camera and it is also full of tips and techniques for taking better photos of all types from landscapes to portraits, panoramas, pets and kids, using off-camera lighting and tripods. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to take better digital photos!

As an experienced 35mm user just switching to digital, I found this book to be the perfect complement to my camera's instruction manual.In a clear and straightforward manner, it addresses a wide multitude of picture-taking situations and accessory choices, from the most basic to the more complex. Each of the 50 techniques is concisely explained and extremely well illustrated in a most logical progression of sections ranging from 3 to 10 pages each. The table of contents and index are wonderfully comprehensive and make finding what you want as simple as possible. The included CD-ROM and associated web site are a beautiful bonus. My only wish is that more of the illustrations were in color, but at the price that would have been too much to expect. All in all, most highly recommended for both the beginner and advanced user.

Greg's new book helped me "move up" to a more complex digital camera and better understand what I just bought. Nothing is really "automatic" in taking pictures anymore. He helped me understand the relationship between various digital functions, and provided me some basic steps and new techniques to follow on how and when to highlight some functions over others - something the manufacturer of my camera failed to provide in its technical description of my camera. He's an expert in this technology and through his book provides an extremely valuable mentoring service to help me become a better photographer.

I've always been a big fan of Gregory's books and the added value of having Larry Berman and Chris Maher co-write with Greg makes this a MUST for any new digital camera owner. I've been following Larry on the digital photography forums and he has been able to produce some amazing images with consumer digital cameras and has been instrumental in my upgrading to the CoolPix 5000, which I love. BTW: Larry and Chris have really defined shooting digital infrared ... sure wish they would publish a book on the subject. ( Are ya listening guys?!), Bottom line ? this is a great book for consumer digital camera users - like myself- and I'd like to see a lot more like it from these authors. --- to bad they only let ya put 5 stars!!!!

I am a beginning digital camera user and bought this book to try to shoot in different scenarios. The information was extremely helpful, and I am a better digital photographer because of this book. I would have liked to have seen more of Larry Berman's southwest images, though.

I have been waiting for this book and just got it in the mail this last weekend. I've read the 50 Fast Digital Photo... and 50 Fast Photoshop... books by Gregory Georges and was not impressed. Gregory seems to know about Cameras and Photography, but his Photoshop skills are amateurish. The reason I bought this book was because Larry Berman and Chris Maher were involved. Larry takes breathtaking pictures of the south west. You should check out his website. Unfortunately this book is mostly written by Gregory. The production of the book is fair to poor. All of the 50 Fast... books are printed on cheap paper and the pictures are printed in black and white. There are a few color pages in the center of the book that you can find some of the pictures reproduced in color. What a pain to have to flip back and forth. If you want to see all of the pictures you have to use the CD Rom included on the back of the book. This book did have some good coverage about advanced digital camera features, but if you want a much better book to teach you how to take better pictures check out Nick Kelsh's new book How To Photograph Your Life.