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Nikon D80

The Digital Photography Book

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Author: Scott Kelby
Brand: Pearson Education
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$19.99~~
Buy New: $11.99
You Save: $8.00 (40%)

New (47) Used (10) from $11.91

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

526 reviews
Sales Rank: 125

Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5

MPN: 0-321-47404-X
ISBN: 032147404X
Dewey Decimal Number: 775
EAN: 9780321474049
ASIN: 032147404X

Publication Date: September 2, 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 526

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Irritating style, superficial content September 7, 2007
Under Exposed (Perth, Western Australia)
34 out of 45 found this review helpful

The writing style in this book is incredibly distracting and irritating, especially for non-american readers. It begins with 2 pages of gushing thanks to God, Jesus, the author's lovely wife, the author's lovely children, etc, then continues with about 5 pages of absolute drivel in a failed attempt to establish a jokey rapport with the reader. Then finally we get a couple of pages of technical photographic advice, then that's Chapter 1. Chapter 2 starts with more jokey stuff, and so on. I was ready to burn the book by Chapter 3.

The plan for the book is a nice concept: one photographic tip per page. While this makes it very digestible, unfortunately the small page size and the large font mean that each page carries very little information, so the text is superficial and disjointed.

I have read a lot of photography how-to books, and this one did not contain anything new to me. I found most of the technical tips far too basic, too general and sometimes incorrect or oversimplified. On the other hand, I think a beginner in photography would find this book bewildering because there is insufficient detail.

I would recommend The New Manual of Photography over this book in all respects.

4 out of 5 stars

Good read for intermediate DSLR user, bad jokes aside December 25, 2006
Michael (Paris, France)
31 out of 31 found this review helpful

It's obvious Kelby's book was too short and he needed lots of fluff to get his minimum word count. The jokes are absolutely terrible. It's a classic example of someone who's not funny trying to be funny. Hey Scott, leave the jokes to Deke ok?

This is an intermediate book. Advanced users aren't going to get much out of it, just a basic reminder of what they already know. Beginners are going to enjoy it, but they'll also need another book such as Understanding Exposure by Peterson.

One thing I really liked is he didn't waste too much time on basics, especially aperture etc. This was a relief. The second thing I really liked is it was written as if we were out shooting together and I was asking questions. I love this casual format and the book was extremely easy to read (I read it all in one sitting). He also turned me on to some equipment I wasn't aware of (the stop down filter, which goes from 2 to 8 stops is very cool until I almost had a heart attack when I saw the $300 price). He really stresses the importance of a tripod and shooting at dawn & dusk. I've heard these before but for some reason am still disappointed with my hand-held midday photos. I think this is a big one, because most people want magazine quality photos but don't have the time for it (myself included).

The section at the end describes why some of the photos "work". I found myself thinking I don't want to take a photo like that on several of them (he is famous for his photoshop skills, not his photography skills) but it was a good wrap-up of the basics presented throughout the book.

Finally, there were a few bits of information that I found controversial. Such as using f11 for portraits. That usually puts the background in focus. Another, he recommends a shredder to shred your old photo CD/DVDs before throwing them away. Wouldn't a pair of scissors do just as well? But it gets more serious: He states that "you" (the reader) will never be able to get the types of shots you see in magazines. And why is that? Because even if you get up at 5:30am all the good spots will have already been taken. And I don't think this was another one of his bad jokes. I found it very negative and discouraging.

Overall, I liked this book much better than many of the others I've seen but it did frustrate me nonetheless. I think it's helpful for beginners and intermediate users. Even if you know all of that (who doesn't know one should use a tripod?) it's a good reminder with plenty of examples. I think the book could have went a little farther and gave some really useful information instead of describing all the Epson printer models.

It's a shame, because this book really had the potential to be a 5 star
book, but it falls short. Kelby brags about having written 37 books. I would prefer a few outstanding ones than 37 that are just good enough to get published.

5 out of 5 stars

THIS BOOK WILL STAY IN MY CAMERA BAG!!! September 2, 2006
Sean Holder
30 out of 34 found this review helpful

I have never written a book review before but after reading almost the whole book in one day I had no choice but to give my opinion. I just received this book today 01 Sep 2006 and I can't put it down. It covers so many aspects of shooting in various modes and makes it simple enough for me to understand. I use a Canon 5D and 20D and have been into photography for about 6 months. All I can say is that I have looked at several books and read several online forums and tutorials...etc. This book covers everything I need to know to get that WOW factor out of my shots. Scott Kelby you are the best and this book is more than GREAT. When does "BOOK 2" get released....Anyway, I hope others that get this book enjoy it as much as I do.

5 out of 5 stars

Great reference material September 12, 2006
Ethan Sobotta (Tucson, AZ USA)
25 out of 29 found this review helpful

I read this book cover to cover in about 2 1/2 hours (clearly I found it very enlightening). Kelby notes in the beginning that this is a book more for people who want to know what to do to get the shot, as a friend would tell you when you're out shooting together, rather than reading theory behind why things need to be shot the way they are. Don't get me wrong, that stuff is VERY important (Ansel Adams' "The Camera" is on deck for my reading list, as thinking about getting the shots made me think now about why the things work the way they do). However, sometimes you just want to know what to set the camera at to get this or that shot. This is the book for those times. Kelby's always-charming and amusing writing style helps to make even more sense of all the details.

I can't recommend this book enough, both as a starting point for different types of photography, and as a reference manual--it's going to have a permanent spot in my camera bag for when I need to remember what to do when I'm out shooting. Happy reading!

5 out of 5 stars

Easy to read, funny, unpretentious, and very informative September 24, 2006
Ali Nasseh (BOSTON, MA USA)
24 out of 29 found this review helpful

Scott Kelby doesn't fool around. He only gives you what you need. His book is easy to read and contains a wealth of information that takes you from a beginner to an intermediate photography right away. It's not for the experts; but there are pearls here and there even for the pros. Over all, I think this book will help anyone who has recently picked up photography as a hobby.

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