Shot Doctor,The The Amateur's Guide to Taking Great Digital Photos

by Soper, Mark Edward

• ISBN13: 9780789739483
• ISBN10: 0789739488
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-05-22
• Publisher: Que Pub

Summary

The Shot Doctoris a new kind of digital photography book that focuses on the "how-to" and less on the "how it works" or the technology behind the camera. This book is designed to be small enough to fit in your back pocket or in a camera bag. It is aimed at everyday parents, students, sporting enthusiasts, and average joes who just want to take decent pictures at their kidsrs" soccer games and dance recitals and who donrs"t aspire to make digital photography a hobby. bull; Easy-to-follow when-why-how "recipes" help you set your camera to get great shots right away bull; Beautiful full-color interior bull; Step-by-step instructions for conquering everyday photography challenges, including sporting events, school recitals and performances, vacations, babies, children, and special events bull; Simple explanations of camera controls help you understand when to use them, why they work, and how to use them bull; Compact, stays-open design means you can carry it everywhere and refer to it while yours"re taking pictures bull; Visual before and after examples of common photography problems help you choose the right solution for your photography challenges Mark Edward Soper has been using adjustable cameras since 1971 and digital cameras since 2000, for a total of more than 37 years as an enthusiastic and serious amateur photographer. Mr. Soperrs"s when-why-how approach to photography, which combines picture-based methods (take a picture, change settings, see how the picture improves), has been tested through years of teaching photography as well as by the hundreds of photographs he has taken for many of his books. Mark is the author ofEasy Digital CamerasandUnleashingWindows Vista Media Center, as well as books on corporate and home networking, PC upgrades, home automation, and PC troubleshooting. Category: Digital Photography Covers: Digital Cameras User Level: Beginner-Intermediate

Author Biography

Mark Edward Soper has been using adjustable cameras since 1971 and digital cameras since early this decade, for a total of more than 37 years as an enthusiastic and serious amateur photographer. Mr. Soper’s when-why-how approach to photography, which combines picture-based methods (take a picture, change settings, see how the picture improves) with just enough photographic theory to help users understand why as well as what to change, has been tested through years of teaching photography to enthusiastic adults and senior adults, as well as by the hundreds of photographs he has taken for many of his books. Mark is the author and co-author of many other technology books, including Easy Digital Cameras and Unleashing Windows Vista Media Center, as well as books on corporate and home networking, PC upgrades, home automation, and PC troubleshooting.

Table of Contents

Easy Camera Settings and Their Limitations

Top Ten Problem Photo Situations - and How to Get Better Photos

What You Can (and Cannot) Do in Full Auto Mode

Using Scenes

Recipes for Better Digital Photos

Recipes for Better Indoor and Night Pictures

Recipes for Better Daytime Pictures

Recipes for Better Event Pictures

What Makes the Recipes Work

Introduction to Creative Control Modes

Improving Exposure - 10 pages

Improving Color

Stopping Action

Electronic Flash

Controlling What's in Focus

Using Zoom and Interchangeable Lenses

Quick Reference Point and Shoot Camera Controls

Quick Reference Digital SLR Camera Controls

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Introduction Introduction A Better Book for Everyday PhotographyLots of photography books include beautiful photos of exotic locations and scenery. Not this one. I hope you'll enjoy the photos, of course, but I also hope you'll see that the photos included in this book are similar to the ones you've been takingor would like to take. Graduations, babies, weddings, vacations...the list of photography possibilities goes onand so do the frustrations.If you have a digital camera and you're frustrated with your photos, you've opened the right bookI wrote it just for you. Whether you have a modest digital point-and-shoot camera or have laid out the big bucks for a digital SLR with interchangeable lenses (DSLR), you've been taking photos of the most important events in your lifeand you've probably been disappointed by the results.Believe me, I understand. This book was conceived as a result of conversations I had with friends and family who'd gotten new cameras, taken them to special events, and been frustrated by the poor-quality photos they'd taken. I want to help you stop being frustrated with your camera and start enjoying it.This book is the end result of more than 35 years as a photographer and more than 6 years as a digital camera user. During that time, I've developed a series of recipes I use in different situations to help ensure better photos. And while I prefer to do most of my "serious" shooting with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi DSLR camera, the majority of the photos in this book were shot with various point-and-shoot cameras made by Canon, Nikon, and Kodak; the same types of cameras you use for family, everyday, and vacation photos. In most cases, I provide methods that can be used either with scene-driven cameras or cameras with traditional aperture, shutter, and manual exposure control.To get the most out of this book, I suggest the following: Read your camera's manual This book will tell you how and why to use particular features, but your camera manual provides the nitty-gritty details. I recommend carrying both this book and your camera manual with you. Shoot, look, evaluate, and change settings Digital cameras make seeing your work easy: Photos show up on the LCD display as soon as you take a picture, and you can play back your photos anytime you want. If you've been accustomed to taking a bunch of photos and then reviewing them, it's time for a change. Take a photo or two, look over the pictures, and if you're not satisfied, use the appropriate parts of the book for suggestions. Make those changes and reshoot. I think you'll see a big difference. Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.