Chapter 9, "Creative Compositions," will show you that a great photo is more than just the correct settings on your camera. It also includes how the elements within the frame come together. Here you will look at depth of field, angles, point of view, color, patterns, contrast, and other things that affect how someone looks at your image.
Chapter 10, "Advanced Techniques," will take your techniques beyond the ordinary and give you an added advantage in obtaining a great shot. These include spot metering, mirror lockup, the use of manual mode, bracketing exposures as well as other more advanced techniques.
Canon 50D: From Snapshots To Great Shots is definitely not a re-do of the user's manual. It is very well thought out and well executed. It makes for a good introduction to digital photography while working with the 50D. While it is geared for the 50D, anyone could learn some lessons from it.
One of the things that I really like are the photographic images that populate the book. At the start of each chapter are a couple of images that fall into a category called "Poring over the Picture" where, in a two page spread, the reason for the image is explained and particular points are highlighted. In every image the camera settings are displayed as well. If you have 50D and want something more than the manual to learn from, then this is a must have, if you have one of the other new Canon DSLR's you will probably learn enough from this book to warrant the cost and it is for that reason I highly recommend this book.
Article comments
1 - Jeff Revell
Thanks so much for the great review. I'm really happy to see that people "get" the concept of the book.
Jeff