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The Joy of Digital Photography
“If ever a how-to guide was a source of inspiration…THIS IS IT.”
— Rangefinder
Jeff Wignall—author of the bestselling Joy of Photography —knows how to encourage photographers of all skill his easy-to-grasp explanations of technique and equipment, and his inspirational attitude have distinguished The Joy of Digital Photography from any other digital manual. And now the best book on the subject is getting an update, to include all the newest technology and software. Everything is covered and illustrated with top-of-the-line digital vision; digital tools (cameras, lenses, accessories); common problems and solutions; exposure and flash; working with light; handling weather seasons and mood; travel and landscape photography; portraiture; sports photography; post-production, including seeing, sharing, and storing digital images; basic desktop printing; the digital darkroom; a Photoshop™ primer; sharing the image; and much, much more.
— Rangefinder
Jeff Wignall—author of the bestselling Joy of Photography —knows how to encourage photographers of all skill his easy-to-grasp explanations of technique and equipment, and his inspirational attitude have distinguished The Joy of Digital Photography from any other digital manual. And now the best book on the subject is getting an update, to include all the newest technology and software. Everything is covered and illustrated with top-of-the-line digital vision; digital tools (cameras, lenses, accessories); common problems and solutions; exposure and flash; working with light; handling weather seasons and mood; travel and landscape photography; portraiture; sports photography; post-production, including seeing, sharing, and storing digital images; basic desktop printing; the digital darkroom; a Photoshop™ primer; sharing the image; and much, much more.
304 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
3 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 21, 2013
I am learning a lot about how to choose camera settings (shutter speeds, f-stops, etc.) how everything is intertwined, and what to do to get particular effects. I've learned more of what to look for in composing my pictures, and he shares his experience in how to get great pictures from choices outside of camera settings - light, timing, picture composition. There are chapters on specific styles: people, landscapes (dessert, beach, etc). Part talks about digital editing, too, things I can do without photoshop.
March 23, 2009
While browsing the library for a good book on photography, I stumbled upon The Joy of Digital Photography. It was one of the newest books the library had on digital photography, so I figured it was worth a try.
The Joy of Digital Photography can be divided into 3 main sections; general orientation & the basics of photography, composition & design, and finally digital editing. The first few chapters cover the basics of photography. The book starts off with the obligatory “digital camera orientation” chapter, explaining about megapixel count, resolution, different types of digital cameras, and various camera accessories like tripods, monopods, external flashes and bags. The next few sections address the basics of photography; exposure, depth of field, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance.
After the basics of photography, the focus of the book shifts to design and composition. Some of the design basics include horizon placement within the photo, how to frame the image, and how to add depth to an image. An entire chapter is dedicated to light, explaining how the direction and quality of light will affect images. The next two chapters cover two broad photographic subjects; people (weddings, children, groups, sports, travel, etc.) and nature (mainly landscapes, animals and weather).
Finally, the last chapters focus on the digital aspect of digital photography. Two chapters explain the basics on digital photo editing (cropping, leveling, sharpening, cleaning up scanned images). The final chapter focuses on how to set up your digital darkroom; discussing computer options, organizing your digital library, what to look for in a scanner, and how to decide on photo paper.
As a whole, I really liked this book. I found it to be accessible to those just starting out in digital photography, while still being relevant to those with some digital photography experience. One thing that I really liked was that the author made no assumptions about the reader or the gear they might be using. While Tom Ang’s How to Photograph Absolutely Everything covered a broad range of photographic subjects, Ang assumes the reader is using a simple point and shoot digital camera. The recommended camera settings for various subjects are generally given in terms of which semi-automatic camera scene mode to use, with little explanation of why one setting was chosen over another. If the reader has a more advanced camera, or hopes to delve into anything beyond automatic or a pre-selected camera scene mode, they are pretty much on their own. With The Joy of Digital Photography, there is perhaps a slightly smaller range of photographic subjects covered, but the depth of information on design, composition and digital editing more than makes up for that. Overall, I think this is an excellent digital photgraphy reference book; it covers a full spectrum of topics without confusing new photographers or speaking down to more experienced photographers.
The Joy of Digital Photography can be divided into 3 main sections; general orientation & the basics of photography, composition & design, and finally digital editing. The first few chapters cover the basics of photography. The book starts off with the obligatory “digital camera orientation” chapter, explaining about megapixel count, resolution, different types of digital cameras, and various camera accessories like tripods, monopods, external flashes and bags. The next few sections address the basics of photography; exposure, depth of field, shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance.
After the basics of photography, the focus of the book shifts to design and composition. Some of the design basics include horizon placement within the photo, how to frame the image, and how to add depth to an image. An entire chapter is dedicated to light, explaining how the direction and quality of light will affect images. The next two chapters cover two broad photographic subjects; people (weddings, children, groups, sports, travel, etc.) and nature (mainly landscapes, animals and weather).
Finally, the last chapters focus on the digital aspect of digital photography. Two chapters explain the basics on digital photo editing (cropping, leveling, sharpening, cleaning up scanned images). The final chapter focuses on how to set up your digital darkroom; discussing computer options, organizing your digital library, what to look for in a scanner, and how to decide on photo paper.
As a whole, I really liked this book. I found it to be accessible to those just starting out in digital photography, while still being relevant to those with some digital photography experience. One thing that I really liked was that the author made no assumptions about the reader or the gear they might be using. While Tom Ang’s How to Photograph Absolutely Everything covered a broad range of photographic subjects, Ang assumes the reader is using a simple point and shoot digital camera. The recommended camera settings for various subjects are generally given in terms of which semi-automatic camera scene mode to use, with little explanation of why one setting was chosen over another. If the reader has a more advanced camera, or hopes to delve into anything beyond automatic or a pre-selected camera scene mode, they are pretty much on their own. With The Joy of Digital Photography, there is perhaps a slightly smaller range of photographic subjects covered, but the depth of information on design, composition and digital editing more than makes up for that. Overall, I think this is an excellent digital photgraphy reference book; it covers a full spectrum of topics without confusing new photographers or speaking down to more experienced photographers.
November 26, 2009
A good mix of instruction, story-telling, and example photographs. Ordinarily I'm inclined more for straightforward instruction and less overall extraneous verbiage, but I found this book to be enjoyable despite what might be considered a bit of excess.
It's a well balanced introduction to digital photography with good supporting examples. Certainly it isn't for the advanced photographer. And there's also some aspect of timeliness as just about any book in this category likely suffers from with the cameras and the technology advancing so quickly. It only takes a year or two for a book to become dated, but this one seems relatively universal.
It's a well balanced introduction to digital photography with good supporting examples. Certainly it isn't for the advanced photographer. And there's also some aspect of timeliness as just about any book in this category likely suffers from with the cameras and the technology advancing so quickly. It only takes a year or two for a book to become dated, but this one seems relatively universal.
July 25, 2013
The book was a very clear and easy to understand book about photography. The author explained things about setting a digital camera for better pictures in certain situations as well as some of the "terms' most photographers use when they discuss their pictures. Included in the book are some beautiful pictures to illustrate his words. I learned alot from this book and will keep it for reference in the future.
October 11, 2010
Lots of good ideas, but only a few great ones. Still, I learned enough new things that it was worth the investment. It contains enough interesting ideas that I'll probably re-read it a few times.
August 9, 2009
love the photographs.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews