Monday, March 5, 2012

David Busch's Nikon D5100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography

David Busch's Nikon D5100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Review



The Nikon D5100 is the most advanced entry-level camera that Nikon has ever introduced. It boasts 16.2 megapixels of resolution, sophisticated full HD movie-making capabilities, and blazing fast automatic focus. As the owner of a Nikon D5100, you demand the ability to take outstanding pictures with your new camera. DAVID BUSCH'S NIKON D5100 GUIDE TO DIGITAL SLR PHOTOGRAPHY shows you how, when, and why to use all the cool features, controls, and functions of the Nikon D5100 to take great photographs. Introductory chapters will help you get comfortable with the basics of your camera before you dive right into exploring creative ways to apply file formats, resolution, aperture/priority exposure, and other automatic exposure features. Beautiful, full-color images illustrate where the essential buttons and dials are, so you'll quickly learn how to use the Nikon D5100, and use it like a pro!


Monday, February 27, 2012

BetterPhoto Basics: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Taking Photos Like a Pro

BetterPhoto Basics: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Taking Photos Like a Pro Review



Absolutely anyone can take better photos!
 
If you can press a button, you can take great pictures. It’s as simple as that. In BetterPhoto Basics, Jim Miotke, founder of the popular online photography school BetterPhoto.com, shares tips and tricks to improve your photos right away, no matter what camera you’re using. Too busy to read a book? No problem—flip to any page for an instant tip to use right away! Learn to compose knockout shots, make the most of indoor and outdoor light, and photograph twenty popular subjects, from sunsets and flowers to a family portrait. Those who want to go further get tips on controlling exposure and the secrets behind ten advanced creative techniques. And everyone will appreciate Jim’s breakdown of easy fixes to make in Photoshop. No matter what your level of experience, you’ll be amazed how easy it is to start taking photos like the pros.  


Saturday, February 25, 2012

Composition Digital Field Guide

Composition Digital Field Guide Review



The go-with-you guide for creating strong compositions every time you take a photo

Composition requires purposeful placement of elements within the frame, including backgrounds, foregrounds, main subjects, and much more. It can take years to acquire strong compositional skills. That's where Composition Digital Field Guide comes in. Packed with full-color photos, this handy guide teaches you how to bring together photographic elements to produce photos that are unique, creative, and memorable.

  • Addresses the skills required to master the art of good composition when taking digital photos
  • Walks you through framing your images carefully, which is the first key step in capturing a strong photograph
  • Features hundreds of stunning and inspiring full-color photos of people, wildlife, and landscapes
  • Includes the newest feature of the Digital Field Guide series: a removable color checker card to help ensure true color in your photographs

It will be difficult to keep your composition while reading the invaluable advice in Composition Digital Field Guide!

Photo Examples from the Author

Not every shot can be set up, but with pre-planning you can use the rule of thirds to create a balanced shot, even when you don’t know exactly where the subject will be. Shooting a marathon, we knew roughly where the winners would be crossing the finish line. Since they wouldn’t be stopping, there wouldn't be a second chance.

I shot the photo in portrait orientation to be able to capture both the runner and the time clock as she crossed the finish line. I tracked the runner as she made it round the last bend and took a series of photos as she came up to and crossed the finish line. You will notice that her head is one third down from the top and one third in from the right. The banner is one third up from the bottom, all using the rule of third compositionally. An added bonus is that the shadows at her feet and her outstretched arms all act as leading lines, drawing the eye into the image and to the runner.

There are patterns everywhere; some are just more obvious than others. These folk with linked hands who are participating in a protest at our local beach formed a regular pattern. What I love about this photo is that this is just a small segment of a larger view, but since the pattern is there and unbroken, it looks as if it could go on forever. There are no breaks, and there are no ending points. Our brains tell us that without more information, we can’t tell when and if the pattern ends.
The use of color by this performance artist was really great. The different white clothes, white makeup and white hair, punctuated by small bursts of red really worked well. There are at least four different shades of white in this image, but see if you can stop your eyes from traveling between the splashes of red. This is an image that needs to be seen in color, and it is the color that really helps create the look and feel overall.

Because color can draw and lead the viewers attention, the small red hearts and flowers do a great job of keeping the viewer’s eye inside the image and drawing it back up to the eyes of the performer. Because the colors were so good, I composed the image in tight to fill the frame. Otherwise, you would have been able to see the colors on the wall behind her, which would have detracted for the photograph.


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Digital Photography: Advanced

Digital Photography: Advanced Review



"Digital Photography: Advanced" features Digital Photography Expert, Andy McKee, as he walks you through all the steps of becoming a Digital Photography Pro. This Vook features 8 amazing videos that teach you everything from Advanced Photoshop Skills to Customizing Your Digital Camera Features. If you have ever wished you could wow your friends with your Digital Photography skills, this Vook is for you.


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Digital Photography Companion

The Digital Photography Companion Review



Are you ready to take photos that reflect your creative spirit, rather than just another set of snapshots? Then you want this book in your camera bag. Well-organized so you can look up topics quickly, The Digital Photography Companion gives you creative tips and technical advice for taking top-notch digital photos in a wide range of conditions, and for a variety of occasions. In other words, this book will help you make pictures that look better than everyone else's.

Professional photographer and teacher Derrick Story, whose online tips and podcasts at The Digital Story (www.thedigitalstory.com) have made him a popular photography blogger, gives you plenty of examples of how to capture great shots of people, places, landscapes, and more. He also provides a complete summary on camera features, tips for printing, sharing your images, and an overview of photo management applications.

Chapters include:

  • What is It? -- Choose the right camera (DSLRs, compact cameras, or hybrids) and get a rundown on all of the typical features they offer, such as face detection, image stabilizers, diopter adjustment, focus assist light, RAM buffer, and more.


  • How Does it Work? -- This A-Z guide of digital camera controls explains everything from Aperture Value (Av) Mode and Autoexposure to White Balance, the Zoom/Magnify Control, and everything in between.


  • Shoot Like a Pro -- Advice for a variety of photographic adventures, such as capturing existing light portraits, creating powerful landscape images, and shooting fireworks, underwater portraits, infrared photos, and more, along with lighting and filter tricks.


  • I've Taken Great Pictures, Now What? -- You get complete advice for sharing your photos, converting from color to balck & white and more, plus an overview of photo management applications, from Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to Apple iPhoto.


  • Printing Made Easy -- Printing doesn't have to be a painful experience. Learn various options, including direct printing without a computer, ordering out, and selecting the right inkjet printer for home (and what to do with it once you get it there.).
You also get an appendix with Quick Reference Tables, as well as other useful tables scattered throughout the book.

The Digital Photography Companion offers you friendly advice so you can try techniques that may never have occurred to you -- approaches that will bring you more of what you're looking for when you click the shutter: Great looking pictures!


Sunday, February 19, 2012

On-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography

On-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography Review



With this guidebook, photographers learn how to create stunning, professional images while avoiding the common pitfalls of using an on-camera flash. Techniques for using simple accessories—such as bounce cards and diffusers as well as how to improve a lighting scenario by enhancing it rather than overwhelming it—show photographers how to master this challenging aspect of portraiture. For wedding and environmental portrait photographers who must work in ever-changing lighting scenarios, executing these tips to evade flat, lifeless images with harsh shadows, washed-out skin tones, cavernous black backgrounds, and other unappealing visual characteristics results in not only better images, but happier clients and more sales.


Friday, February 17, 2012

25 Lessons I've Learned about Photography...Life

25 Lessons I've Learned about Photography...Life Review



25 Lessons I've Learned about Photography...Life Feature

  • ISBN13: 9781456572013
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
ABOUT THE BOOK

25 Lessons Lessons I've Learned about (Photography) Life! has been the #1 best selling photo essay on amazon.com for both 2010 and 2011. It is also a best seller in the Arts & Literature Biographies & Memoirs, Self-Help, Inspirational and Spiritual categories.

In his best-selling book, Lorenzo describes how the deceptively simple rules of photography can also be applied to the art of living. Inspirational and poetic, this book will not only spark readers' creative energies, but also reawaken your passion for life.

In 2005, as a husband, father, and corporate employee - Lorenzo's life revolved around home, work, and his daily commute from the suburbs to the city.

Then, one day, he found himself staying at the Little Church in midtown Manhattan in the wake of a marital separation. Living in virtual isolation for three months, he had a rare chance to re-examine his life.

Quite unexpectedly, he found himself wandering around the city to take photographs, a passion he had let slide in the years of pursuing a career and starting a family. During his nightly sojourns through the streets of New York City, he was reminded of some important life lessons-lessons too easily forgotten in the blur of everyday existence.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING

"The book has been the best investment in my life." PD, New York

"I don't think I've ever read as moving a piece on the craft of photography in my life. Most pieces on photography are more tech manual in approach, this one really touches my soul...it's going to really impact my life." Phyllis Johnson, photojournalist and author of Being Frank with Anne

"We received our copies of 25 Lessons today and began reading it as a class - it is truly amazing." Paul Scott, Head of Photography, St. Boniface's Catholic College in Plymouth, UK

"In many of my conversations on great photographers, I frequently mention Lorenzo's work. His sequential photographs...are nothing less that a visual urban poem. It has been my pleasure to watch Lorenzo's rapid growth as a leading photographer of our time." Jim Van Meter, Rochester, NY, USA

"Lorenzo is a master. His body of work is some of the very best online and may very well be some of the best being done in the medium today. His street work follows in the tradition of Paul Strand, Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand and Larry Friedlander. Lorenzo's 25 Lessons are...as seminal as Ansel's dissertation on the zone system. I found them to be reenergizing, perceptive and extremely useful. I have been touched by his story, his writings and by his work. I can't imagine anyone not being so." Barry Shapiro, Los Angeles, CA, USA

"Lorenzo...has a passion for life, photography and writing. He is a linguistic genius, a storyteller through words and pictures. He captures with his camera the world as he sees it, its feelings, love, beauty and all it has to offer..." Brenda George, Adelaide, Australia

"As an oncologist, my primary job is not only to add days to people's lives, it is to add life to people's days. Lorenzo's book has provided me with a great instrument through which I can further become the counselor, healer and confidant my patient's demand. It has reignited in me the passion, warmth and compassion which are sequential for me on a daily basis to be the best physician and person I can be and I've encouraged all of my patients and families to share in his masterpiece as laughter, love, and imagination are the ultimate weapons against grief and despair. Secondary to Lorenzo's great influence in my life, I continue to use his writings and photography as a means to inspire my patient's to express their deep inner emotions as a way to reflect on their understanding of disease and in developing goals of therapy. I recommend his book to all." Mike Rotkowitz, MD, New York City