mbc72 Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 My dad recently bought a Nikon dslr, and while he likes taking pictures, he wants to learn more about what all the bells and whistles mean. I am looking for a good photography refrence type of book to get him for Christmas. You know, something he can refer to that talks about aperture, shutter speed, lenses, etc. He has talked about doing a class at the community college, but I am not sure if he really will. Thanks for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Becster Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 Is there a "Photograpy for Dummies" book? I always hate suggesting those, because I never want to imply that someone isn't very bright, but I've had wonderful luck with those books in the past. They really get to the heart of things without seeming to speak a foreign language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandiC. Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 I strongly recommend "The Digital Field Guide to..." This series is great for easy to understand instructions and has nice color photos to illustrate. David Busch has a series of camera books, not sure if its available for that particular model, a bit more in-depth than the digital field guide but if he wants to know all there is to know...well these are good, but not always as easy to follow until you already know quite a bit. For a smaller book that is really like the camera manual on steroids is the Magic Lantern Guide to...series. I keep one of those in my camera bag, so i can look things up fast. It does go into the basics of the functions like exposure settings. But really, the Digital Field Guide to series is great. There is one, non camera specific, The digital field guide to exposure...great for starting out too. Actually, the most user friendly book on exposure I've found so far. Goes into just enough depth for you to get a good grasp on the concepts, but is straight forward too. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara Arell Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 I have the Digital Field Guide to......also and I would highly recommend it as well. I agree with everything Sandi said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reminiscing Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Check out Jeff Revell's series of books about specific cameras. I have Canon Rebel T1i: Snapshots to Great Shots and I see he has written about Nikons too. His book goes beyond the camera manual in that he not only explains your camera's specific settings, but explains why and when to use them. The assignments at the end of each chapter make it a good book for studying photography too. If he likes working online, there are many resources online for learning the basics too, many are free. Digital Photography School is a free photography website and forum and you can subscribe to get photography lessons in your Inbox The best beginner photography course I've ever taken was John Greengo's Fundamentals of Digital Photography at CreativeLIVE. p.s. Rereading your post I realize the free online resources aren't really something you can wrap up as a gift. However, the CreativeLIVE class is $129 so with your digi-scrapping skills maybe you could create a certificate and a pretty box to present. I wonder if CreativeLIVE offers gift certificates? Anyway, the course is wonderful and definitely worth the money. You get to download and save all 10 weeks worth of videos and refer back to them anytime, and he has a great teaching style. You can watch some of the videos free at the site; see link above. If you want something to wrap up though, then find the Revell book specific to his camera. Honestly, they are the best. I browsed through the entire photography section of my local Borders last year to pick out the best book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandiC. Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Check out Jeff Revell's series of books about specific cameras. I have Canon Rebel T1i: Snapshots to Great Shots and I see he has written about Nikons too. His book goes beyond the camera manual in that he not only explains your camera's specific settings, but explains why and when to use them. The assignments at the end of each chapter make it a good book for studying photography too. If he likes working online, there are many resources online for learning the basics too, many are free. Digital Photography School is a free photography website and forum and you can subscribe to get photography lessons in your Inbox The best beginner photography course I've ever taken was John Greengo's Fundamentals of Digital Photography at CreativeLIVE. p.s. Rereading your post I realize the free online resources aren't really something you can wrap up as a gift. However, the CreativeLIVE class is $129 so with your digi-scrapping skills maybe you could create a certificate and a pretty box to present. I wonder if CreativeLIVE offers gift certificates? Anyway, the course is wonderful and definitely worth the money. You get to download and save all 10 weeks worth of videos and refer back to them anytime, and he has a great teaching style. You can watch some of the videos free at the site; see link above. If you want something to wrap up though, then find the Revell book specific to his camera. Honestly, they are the best. I browsed through the entire photography section of my local Borders last year to pick out the best book. I wondered why I had never heard of the Jeff Revell books....he doesn't have one for my camera. LOL. I browsed a bit online and they do look nice. I'm still standing with my recommendation for Digital Field Guide. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbc72 Posted December 7, 2011 Author Share Posted December 7, 2011 Thank you so much for the suggestions, I have been checking them out online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince00 Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 When i was starting out and wanted to learn about the exposure triangle I found this begginer and intermediate course very good. Especially the beginner one. As well as it was nice and cheap. There PDF reading and very well explained, the other one I did was Phil Steele for portrait examples. http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/digital-slr-camera-technique.html Good luck, Vince Oh a good book is understanding exposure by Brian petterson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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