The Digital Slr Guide: Beyond Point-And-Shoot Digital Photography

as an experienced amateur of photography - this is one of the best guides about digital slr, cameras and photography in general.

I have been shooting film for years and digital for awile and I have an understanding of depth of field, shutter speed and those basics (but if you don't he explains them). This book was great at explaining how a digital camera works (even my engineer husband learned a few things!) and what all those "other" knobs, buttons and settings (besides the shutter button) are for. It explains what you can expect from and do with a DSLR. IT explains some about post processing with Adobe. If you have questions like "how do I make my camera do that?" when you see a cool picture this book might provide the answers. Initially I borrowed this and Digital Photography for Dummies from the library. I found the dummies book too wordy and chatty with not enough solid info, and I liked this one so much I bought a copy for myself, and I refer back to it often.

The book titles itself as a guide. I would label it more as an essential book for anyone who recently purchased a digital SLR. The book lives up to it's promise of taking you beyond point and shoot. After all, if you just doled out for that SLR, you should want to make the most of it. The book divides itself into reasonable chunks of information and is sorted logically, taking you through the camera features, lenses, flash and filters and on to RAW files and image editing. This book does not act like a classroom book - with tutorials etc, but offers all the basics in a simple and straight forward form. A good example is in the techniques section. Four pages are spent on handling light and dark objects. The dark objects are shown with two types of exposure and the copy explains the whys and the solutions at hand with a digital SLR. The copy explains how the light and dark objects are similar in challenges and shows the typical photos that you would be challenged with. The photos themselves are not overly grand, but certainly not just snapshots. The main point of this to the reader is that it does not make one feel that a section is beyond them, just because there are no photos of a place or subject you won't encounter without a big travel budget. The price is a little high, though it may have dropped now that the CDN dollar is on par with the greenback, but at $50 it is worth the investment if your making the move to something more than a point and shoot camera.

THE DIGITAL SLR GUIDE: BEYOND POINT-AND-SHOOT DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY covers the many options of the latest cameras, which typically combine features from 35mm cameras with a better storage and delivery system. A digital SLR can make for great pictures - but photographers moving from 'point-and-shoot' to this mode are typically confused and lost over all the options and possibilities of both shooting and using popular image-editing software. This guide is the place to begin: it covers all accessories, features, how to adopt expert techniques for shooting the best photos, and how to edit images for maximum results. Any library appealing to amateur photographers will find it a welcome reference. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

I've been shooting film for years, and have been using a digital SLR for a couple years, and I was surprised at the amount of things I learned from this book. Canfield gives a basic intro to the aspects of SLR photography in the digital world, and explains how the basics of photography are affected and enhanced with the use of digital SLRs. Some of the stuff is for beginners (focus, exposure, etc) because he does take care to address shooters who are stepping up from a P & S (point & shoot) digital camera. He then takes you through the mechanics and theory of digital imaging and the methods to optimize your photos, both in the camera when shooting and on your computer afterwards. Lots of helpful tips and very up-to-date equipment and software recommendations (as of 2006, anyway). A couple shortcomings: Some photo and caption mistakes. A car described as speeding down the freeway (to illustrate freezing motion with a high shutter speed) is clearly parked and unoccupied, and a few other photos had incorrect or transposed captions. The book is published by a small independent press and these mistakes can happen. I could find no real errors in the main text and I would recommend the book regardless.