MY NEW PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK

Pt Iroquois Lighthouse, Michigan. © Jim Doty Jr.

UPDATE, NOVEMBER 4: My book is now in stock at Amazon.com. Just in time for holiday gift giving. Use the link below to order. It is available in both paperback and Kindle editions.

My new “how-to” photography book, Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies, will be out in a couple of months. It is part of the new, full-color, Photography for Dummies series, so it is loaded with full color photographs.

Is this book for you? That’s what this post is all about. After reading what follows, you should have a good idea if this book will be helpful to you and your photography. Keep in mind that this book would be an excellent gift for the avid photographer in your life.

In a few words, this book is about taking your photography to the next level. Even if you are a beginner, this book will show you how to take control of both the technical and artistic sides of exposure, setting you free to create eye-catching images. If you are well past the beginner stage, this book will take you through some advanced exposure concepts and techniques that most books don’t cover.

In “Program” mode, there are times your camera will get the right exposure and times that it won’t. This book will show you when you need to take control of the exposure and how to do it. Sometimes the technically correct exposure isn’t the best artistic exposure. Some of the most dramatic images are the result of taking control of exposure and making your own creative choices. If you want to “kick it up a notch”, this book is for you.

In almost any exposure situation, there are multiple combinations of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO speed that will give you exactly the same exposure, but very different artistic “looks”. That’s the magic of the artistic side of exposure. Every exposure decision is also an artistic decision. Knowing which combination to choose can make the difference between an ordinary looking snapshot and a unique and dynamic image you will be proud of.

If you leave your camera on auto all of the time and let it make all the exposure decisions, you have turned over all the related creative decisions to a computer chip. If you take the camera off of autopilot and take control of exposure yourself, you open the door to all kinds of creative and wonderful possibilities in terms of exposure, subject motion, and depth of field (which is the near to far sharpness in an image).

Part I is devoted to the scientific side of exposure, all of the technical ins and out of exposure, subject tonality, and metering. It starts with the basics and quickly takes you to more advanced techniques. you will learn multiple ways to determine the exposure for a scene so you can choose the technique that you like best. That way you can evolve your own exposure style. Part I also includes some specialized and mostly inexpensive metering tools to make your photo life simpler and easier. Part I also gives you a solid foundation for Part II.

Part II introduces you to the artistic side of exposure. It shows you how to make the best choices of apertures, shutter speeds, and ISOs for the kind of creative results you want. If you want to freeze a fast moving subject, or create long artistic blurs, you will know how. With the creative use of shutter speeds, you will learn how to create images that reveal things that are too fast or too slow for the human eye to see. You will know how to use aperture, focal length, and focusing choices to create eye-popping depth of field (like the lighthouse photo at the beginning of this article) so everything looks sharp from inches in front of the camera all the way to the distant horizon. You can minimize depth of field so you can isolate your subject against a background of a gauzy, blurry, sea of colors.

Parts I and II are both filled with lots of photo exercises you can do close to home to help you master the skills you need to be a better photographer.  When you’ve mastered the exposure skills, you can get out there and take on the big wide world of real life photo situations.

Parts III and IV have the “go out and do it” chapters. If you are looking for simple things to do that will make a big difference in how your photos look, Parts III and IV are for you. Part III shows you great ways to go about people, wildlife, landscape, flower, and sports photography. Part IV introduces you to the specialized and wonderful fields of closeup and low light photography. Part V is the infamous Dummies “Parts of Ten” which covers ten photographic mistakes that can cost you, and ten accessories that will make you life simpler and/or improve your photography.

To make the most of this book, you will need two things, (1) a willingness to experiment and try new things, and (2) a camera that allows you to take separate control of shutter speeds, apertures (f-stops), and ISO speeds. Just about any single lens reflex camera (SLR), both digital and film, makes it easy to control the exposure settings. Some high end point-and-shoot cameras also make it easy to control aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

Warning: Some point-and-shoot cameras make it difficult to control exposure which can lead to endless frustration. If your camera is holding you back artistically, you may need a better camera that sets you free. If your camera is getting in your way and you want a better camera, don’t say I didn’t warn you. 🙂

I’ve learned from years of teaching photography to all kinds of people that just about anyone who wants to improve the quality of their images can do so with the right kind of help. If you are ready to take control of your camera’s exposure and other controls, expand your photo horizons, and take some big artistic steps forward, you’ve come to the right place!

What if you shoot film? Despite the title, this book is still for you. 95% of this book applies to film photography. Just ignore the occasional phrases like “check the histogram” which apply specifically to digital cameras.

I love photography, and I love watching the light go on as other photographers discover new ways to do things to improve their photography. I hope you have a great time reading my book and and an even better time going out with your camera and trying what you’ve read. Most of all, sometime in the future I hope you look back and say, “Wow! Look how far I’ve come!”

More information, including the Table of Contents, after the break . . . . .

Cheat Sheet Excerpts from the Dummies Web site

Understanding How Your Digital Camera’s Exposure Settings Work

The Sunny f/16 Rule for Digital Exposure

Depth of Field Experimentation in Digital Photography

The “Cheat Sheet”


Table of Contents

Introduction.

Part I: The Science of Exposure.

Chapter 1: Discovering the Art of Exposure.

Chapter 2: Exposure 101: The Basics.

Chapter 3: Metering Essentials: Reflected Light Metering.

Chapter 4: Complex Metering Simplified: Incident Light Metering, Bracketing, and more.

Chapter 5: More Than Just Metering: Working with Light.

Part II: The Art of Exposure.

Chapter 6: Changing the Look of Your Images: Apertures and Depth of Field.

Chapter 7: Taking a Deeper Look at Depth of Field.

Chapter 8: The Passage of Time: Shutter Speeds.

Chapter 9: Sensitivity to Light: ISO193.

Chapter 10: A Pocketful of Sun: Electronic Flash.

Part III: Taking Exposure a Step Further: Creating Great Images.

Chapter 11: Candids, Portraits, and More: People Photography.

Chapter 12: Taking a Walk on the Wild Side: Photographing Wildlife.

Chapter 13: From Sea to Shining Sea: Landscape Photography.

Chapter 14: Petals in the Wind: Capturing Flowers with Your Camera.

Chapter 15: On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! Photographing Sports and Action.

Part IV: Exposure in Special Situations.

Chapter 16: Itty-Bitty Things: Close-Up Photography.

Chapter 17: But I Can Hardly See! Night and Low-Light Photography.

Part V: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 18: Ten Accessories to Make Your Life Easier.

Chapter 19: Ten Decisions That Can Cost You.

Index.