It’s been nearly a decade since I jumped into digital photography. Shelving my old film-based cameras, I grabbed a digital model and started pointing and clicking – mostly on the automatic setting. Sometimes I’d fiddle with the close-up option (inevitably rendering incredibly blurring shots), or even playing with the portrait setting (whatever did that achieve?) I should perhaps be embarrassed that during this lengthy time period my photo-taking skills and knowledge have never grown beyond pointing and clicking with automatic flash settings. That may sound pathetic to those gifted with a more technical mind than my own, but there are many more of us on this talent-free raft than I could possibly number.
Every once in a while though, I’d look at my camera, puzzled. Shouldn’t I be able to achieve better results with this thing? Did I need an entirely different kind of camera, and if so, what kind? Of course I had no idea where to start. That’s where Digital Photography from the Ground Up, by Juergen Gulbins came in. And after receiving it I felt sorely out of my league. Although it’s a primer for beginners, those beginners will need to be ambitious. I settled in with the big, glossy book filled with gorgeous photography, ready to dig in.
But wait! Where was the Consumer Reports style chart showing me which camera I needed? Unfortunately for me, with the constant fluctuation of models within the main brands I was presented with a technical lecture on the printed page exploring not only how many megapixels I might need and internal storage options, but also explanations on how the imaging technology on a digital camera works and a discourse on optic lenses, color temperature, aperture priority and filters. Oh dear – perhaps I should have purchased a basic, basic photography for beginners title first, perhaps then I wouldn’t have been overwhelmed by technical details that seemed largely irrelevant to me. Lead on to how to get rid of red-eye!
Indeed, we did get around to red-eye correction, this college-level-entry-course-in-a-book and I. In fact this is an incredibly comprehensive work for beginners, or those transitioning from traditional photography to digital, just be prepared to slog through technical details. Valuable suggestions on composition and tips for various types of photography (landscape, sports, night, tabletop etc.) are as equally relevant in many cases to all types of photography but are customized for a digital audience.
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