Wednesday 10 December 2014

Book Review: The Busy Girl's Guide to Digital Photography

First off I want to say this is a book I bought for myself, with my own pennies back in July, I wasn't given it nor asked to review it. 

So, back in July I was browsing Amazon for holiday reading and although I had already loaded my kindle up with novels, I wanted a book with me to help me get to grips with my Nikon DSLR camera. Ever since I had been given it at Christmas it had mostly stayed on Auto and it had given me some brilliant photos, but I felt I was only using it to a small fraction of its ability.
So, I bought The Busy Girl's Guide to Digital Photography by Lorna Yabsley. (If I'm honest the name very nearly put me off, I don't see why a book should be marketed to women only, when as far as I could see it is very much a book for all.)
It is a well written and clear to use book, it has 4 main chapters on everything from choosing a camera, what different lens are, kit you need and really don't need and how to use the camera. Then a chapter on taking pictures of everything from people, places, animals and interiors, next a chapter on editing the photos and lastly a chapter of case studies of photographers and their business.
I found it was a great book for me, I was able to pick it up, read a chunk and take the camera off auto and play with what I had just read.
By taking the plunge and fiddling with the ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture I was able to see the real difference it made to my photos.
  My dad at the beach bar, from auto setting to me getting the right photo by changing the exposure.
Changing the shutter speed got me a decent photo of the moonlit sea.
Playing with the exposure again got me a clear well lit grumpy tween!! He will kill me for this shot!!!
And lastly slowing down the shutter speed helped me to get these amazing pictures of the sea mist rolling in across the horizon. I was jump up and down happy to get this shot of the mist looking like a wave, but the husband was less please when I told him I need a stand, as when you slow the shutter speed down the slightest movement will blur the photo.

I'm not saying this book will make me the next Davina Bailey, but it has given me the confidence that the camera manual didn't and it shows so many examples of different shots through the book to help you get the best photo. So I would definitely recommend this book for a clear usable guide to navigating your DSLR and holding your hand to take it off the Auto Settings!
My copy is pretty well thumbed now and I'm still referring back to it constantly, I just wish it had a better name........ like the busy persons guide to digital photography or the no nonsense guide to digital photography! Honestly men can read this book too!! 

5 comments :

  1. Thank you so much for this post, and the examples of your own shots too. I have been meaning to get a book to teach me how to use my camera, this has just been added to my Christmas List.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm it would mean I could take my own photo's instead of having an assistant, thanks for the review, and I agree on the name - so last century

    ReplyDelete
  3. The good news is that tripods are not too expensive (as long as you don't go for the super light carbon fibre jobs!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have had a couple of lessons to help me get to grips with my camera, but I might just have a look at this book too as I could do with something to refer to when I get stuck.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for this post. I decided to use my husband's SLR rather than my iPhone for the photos on my latest post and it made a difference even though I shot on Full Auto. I keep promising myself I will learn a bit more about photography so this book will be on my wish list.

    ReplyDelete

I know time is precious, so thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a message xxx

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...