Reddit reviews The Digital Photography Book

Get Scott Kelby's guide to digital photography. It's an amazing book. It works with the D90 mostly. I also have a D90 and I find that the Nikkor 18-200 mm lens that I have is so versatile that I can get basically any shot I want. What type of accessories were you thinking about?

Edit: the book name is "The Digital Photography Book" It's only $15. Here's the link to it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/032147404X

Here's his vimeo!

This guy is seriously awesome. Amazing photography. And he's a redditor!

Cheers, Terje!

My friend wrote this, for real, check it out. It's awesome, trust me.

1. Get yourself an entry level consumer dSLR and use the lens that comes with it. A Nikon D60 or if you have a large budget, a D90. Or the equivalent Canon.
   
   
2. Buy some books to learn the technical aspects. When I got started I found John Hedgcoe's Photography to be very helpful. Scott Kelby's book is a good one as well. My best advice is to peruse the books at Barnes and Noble or Border and pick one you like best.
   
   
3. Take lots of pictures. Experiment. Don't be afraid to do things "wrong".
   
   
4. Join Flickr. Share your photos. Find photos you like. In your head, try to deconstruct how those photos were taken. Also search for critique groups, photo tips groups, feedback groups, and groups dedicated to your equipment and techniques that you like.
   
   
5. Did I mention take lots of pictures? I mean lots of pictures. Every day. Every time of day. Every lighting condition. And mess with settings. The great advantage of learning photography today is that you're not paying for film - so shoot, shoot, shoot. Underexpose, overexpose, get close, get far, get wide, get narrow, try lots of different settings just to see the different results.This is by far the best way to learn.

When my husband got his first SLR, I got him this.

The writing is a bit cheesy, but it does a good job prescribing what settings you'll need for what type of picture. This allowed him to start snapping immediately rather than trying to study the camera for ages before getting started.

As for collections of great photographs, try National Geographic's collections if she likes landscapes.

The best thing you can do is
1: read your manual
2: get a book to help you understand the basics of photography. One book that did wonders for me: http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photography-Book-Scott-Kelby/dp/032147404X.
3: Go out and shoot as often as you can and shoot on manual mode as often as you can if you camera has a manual mode.

• Digital Photography School
  
• Ken Rockwell's website to learn about lenses/cameras
  
• This Scott Kelby Book (this is what I read, his other's might be good too)
  
• Also you're camera's own field guide is pretty useful to figure out how to do all the things mentioned in the above sources. Should look something like this

This was a great help for me back when I first started. It goes over the basics and necessities and briefly covers different types of photography. And it's cheap. There are other volumes too, but I haven't been able to look at those yet.

That's true, but even so it's perfectly understandable that she'd be upset about having her genitals photographed and made accessible for the law enforcement community. I think at the least the deputy made an unwise of photographic angles. Possibly he should read this book.

Surfing, Scuba Diving, kayaking, randomly capitalizing words For no reason, photography, painting, drawing, graphic design, gaming.

To start surfing: Get a long board. Less maneuverable, but easier to learn on. You can rent a "learner board" for fairly cheap.

Scuba diving is expensive and requires certification. Best way to check this out is to find a cheap event that will cover all the costs and has someone to watch your ass so you don't have to worry about certification (which normally takes several weeks).

If you pick up photography before you try scuba diving, you might be able to take some awesome pictures with a cheap underwater (disposable) camera, or a higher priced "usable up to xx feet underwater" camera. As a new diver, I doubt you'd go below 50 feet, so you could probably reasonably get one that is safe up to that depth.

There are photography resources everywhere, but for the sake of concision, you might just get [this book.] (http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photography-Book-Scott-Kelby/dp/032147404X) Scott Kelby is decent about explaining things succinctly without being horribly boring.

Kayaking, go to a marina and rent a kayak and paddle around. It's more fun to do with a few friends, but if you have an area nearby with interesting landscape features, you could just go check them out yourself. Again, if you pick up photography before this, you could get some interesting shots, provided you have a water-resistant camera.

Drawing is hard, because it isn't something that I think can be picked up quickly. I would suspect they have videos on youtube that might be helpful.

Painting, honestly, seriously, listen to Bob Ross. For someone who has never painted before, he's a pretty good instructor, and he can show you results who never would have thought you could get. I showed him to a few art-illiterate friends and they all had pretty good luck with him.

Graphic design for me has always been more about obtaining desired results than exploring and experimenting, so what I would say for you to get into this, is come up with something you want. I want an icon I can use for my own personal logo, or I want to make myself a new desktop for my computer, or whatever. And do it. Learn what you need to learn to accomplish your goal. Others will be a better resource for this, I mainly do graphic design for work, but I had friends who did it for fun who could make some really incredible images.

Gaming, I would say pick up Steam, and go to town. Awesomenauts has had my attention a lot lately for being fun, fast-paced, competitive, and requiring that teams work together to succeed, but any online team-based games might be good for you to check out for a lark, and they would give you a chance to socialize to an extent.


Socialization seems to come along with competitive pastimes in general, so find out what is around you. I injured my knee a while back so I'm not much for bowling, but a ton of my old coworkers formed their opwn league and would go every week. Find a local bowling alley and practice some, you could meet people and have a good time, but you might also consider going to a driving range and renting some golf equipment or any number of other sports. Your options are open, though I would avoid contact sports until you feel a little more confident in yourself. Maybe around week 30 or so.

I always suggest The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby to any new photographer. Well, actually, I've only had my SLR a couple years, I'm new too.

There are two volumes out, and another being released in August. He explains most everything in terms of how to get a specific shot, and through that you learn what the different settings of your camera can do. It is geared toward SLRs, but most point and shoots also have many of the same settings.

Anyway, good luck!

>I know very little about them

With all due respect, if you are asking such generic question, perhaps the best way to spend that money is to pay for a photography class or buy a good digital photography book.

Some examples:
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photography-Book-Scott-Kelby/dp/032147404X

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Digital-Photography-Ben-Long/dp/1584507004/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291507787&sr=1-4

Better yet, save the money. Just spend more time with your camera so you understand exactly how to use it and what its current limitations are for what you want to do. Once you know what these are, then you can begin researching a lens that will answer that need. For example. I enjoy outdoor wildlife photography. Therefore I quickly learned about my cheap 70-300 canon lens' shortcomings and deficiencies (compared to "L" quality lenses, of course).

My point is, once you are more knowledgeable, the answer to this question will become much more obvious. Good luck and happy shooting!

I thought this series was good. Digital Photography by Scott Kelby. Go to a local store and look at one to see if you like the teaching style. The main concept to learn is how to use ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.

I've read that you should not hold your breath when releasing the shutter, but instead release the shutter as you exhale. Though, Googling around shows contradictory advice on this, and I have to be honest, I'm not very conscious about it most of the time. But I'm no pro (supposedly, the release-on-exhale advice is also followed by snipers, but I can't say I've got any experience in that department).

For books, I'd second virtualpj's recommendation of Understanding Exposure, as well as another book by the same author (Bryan Peterson), Learning to See Creatively. The second, at least, is probably an intermediate book.

The Digital Photography Book is well reviewed. The photography basics book that I learned from doesn't appear to be in print anymore, which is just as well, since it was decent, by not great.

Also, this book is great for learning some basics, but not in a way that teaches you in depth. The author, Scott Kelby, takes an angle of just telling you what to do, not so often does he tell you why.

For that, I would look into a good magazine subscription, or Digital Photography for Dummies. Either way, you can't go wrong. Read Scott Kelby's book and you'll very quickly find yourself taking much better pictures.

Also, get this and this.