Quick Snap Guide to Digital SLR Photography - Book Review

The Quick Snap Guide to Digital SLR Photography describes itself as an Instant Start Up Manual for New Digital SLR owners.

It covers setting up your camera, the basic controls, choosing lenses, composition principals and themes for your photographs.

The Quick Snap Guide to Digital SLR Photography is written by David D Busch.

Who is the Book For?

As you might expect this book is aimed at anyone who is just starting out with a Digital SLR. Lots of people can feel overwhelmed by the controls available to them the first time they pick up a Digital SLR. The Quick Snap Guide to Digital SLR Photography will help to make anyone feel more at home with their camera. After reading the book you should be ready to experiment with various controls in order to get the most out of their investment.

Style

The book offers a wide ranging, general introduction to a Digital SLR and should certainly help to get you started. Each section is broken down into very small, bite sized pieces. This approach helps to make the book an easy read. In depth, more technical discussions are avoided.

Content

The book runs to 192 pages including a glossary and index. It is broken down into seven main sections. These are Exploring Your New DSLR, Setting Up Your DSLR, The Basic Controls, Making Light Work for You, Choosing and Using Lenses, Creating a Photo and Great Themes.

Exploring Your New DSLR

To start off David takes you through the typical controls you are likely to find on the top, back and side of your Digital SLR. This gives you a fast start in how to access the key features of your camera.

Setting Up Your DSLR

In this section you gain an understanding of the basics of your Digital SLR to get you started. These include battery charging and battery life, media formatting, compression and resolution, basic settings and shooting options.

Photography: The Basic Controls

If you don't know your f/ stop from your shutter speed then this is likely to be a key section of the book for you. By learning the different features you are likely to find on your Digital SLR you begin to take control of the camera rather than it taking control of you.

Making Light Work for You

David talks you through the quality of light including its direction. This is something that can radically improve your photography. How to get the most from your white balance settings are covered here too. As well as natural lighting options for flash and off camera lighting are covered.

Choosing and Using Lenses

If people have stepped up from a typical compact digital camera they may not fully appreciate the importance of choosing the right lens. This section walks you through the different types of lens available and also discusses some of the problems you may encounter.

Creating a Photo

Here you will learn the basics of composition. This includes choosing a theme and purpose, selecting a centre of interest, the rule of thirds, backgrounds and framing your subject. Although you are unlikely to become a master in the 18 pages set aside for this part of the book, there is enough here to get your photography moving in the right direction. If you are a true beginner you may find it easier to absorb just the basics at this stage.

Great Themes

The Great Themes chapter takes you through 20 typical photo opportunities. It is hard to pack in much information when you have under a page of text on each subject, but you should still find some useful tips to get you up and running. Themes include animals, architecture, child photography, night photography, nature photography and portraits.

What I Really Liked

The book covers a lot of ground very quickly. Even if you have never picked up a camera before the majority of concepts are explained in a straightforward manner that should help you get started and get more out of your Digital SLR.

Where It Could Be Better

As you might expect from this type of book one or two areas could do with fleshing out.

Verdict

On the whole The Quick Snap Guide to Digital SLR Photography works well. An Instant Start Up Manual for New Digital SLR owners is a fair description. Anyone reading this book will end up a lot more knowledgeable about the workings of their camera and feel ready to go out and start taking photos with extra confidence.