The Digital Exposure Handbook Review

For my birthday I was given The Digital Exposure Handbook, written by Ross Hoddinott.  The book clearly explains both the basics of photography, but also dives deeper into the more intricate aspects of phototography and, specifically, digital exposure.  Here are some things I like about the book:

1. Organization- The book does a great job of pointing out basic photography techniques and explaining basic terminology before going deeper.  Thus, it's possible for beginning photographers to benefit just as much as the more advanced photographer.

2. Diagrams- Several photography books try to explain how to take good pictures, but don't show you how.  This book has several diagrams that explain concepts ranging from the mechanics of a lens to the correct aperture/ISO combinations.

3. Example photos- When learning a new technique, Digital Exposure Handbook provides photos taken by the author while using the current technique.  So, the author says, "set your ISO to this and your aperture to this in these conditions, and here's what your photo is going to look like".

4. Camera Independent- Too many photography books try to tell you how to use your specific camera, while simultaneously teaching you how to use two other brands of cameras.  While this is an attempt to be helpful, it often confuses the reader.  The Digital Exposure Handbook tells you to "adjust the ISO", but does not go into detail on how to do that with nine different types of cameras.  So, for the beginning photographer, you might want to have your camera's manual handy while reading.

5. Image data- Every image in the book tells what camera/lens the photo was taken with, along with the specific camera settings that were used.  This is especially helpful for the beginning photographer.  I was, in fact, able to go into the field for a shoot, set my settings to mirror what Ross Hoddinott used, and take a nearly identical photo.  While this isn't useful in the long run, as it discourages actually learning about the camera's settings, it does allow the reader to get into the field right away and begin experimenting with their camera's settings.

All in all, Digital Exposure Handbook allow's beginning AND advanced readers to learn the value of digital exposure and quickly implement the things they've learned.  Of all the photography books I've read, I think this one is the only one who earns a 10/10, and for less than $15, what do you have to lose?

Reflections

Caught this at sunset as I was getting back into my car from a shoot on the west side of Athens, GA.

Photoshop Elements Test

In my search for the best post production software, I have used Adobe Lightroom, Apple Aperture, Apple iPhoto, Adobe Photoshop CS5, and Adobe Photoshop Elements.  The photos below were edited using Photoshop Elements.  One thing I noticed about Elements was the sluggishness of the program.  I have one of the latest models of the 15-inch Macbook Pro, with a high-speed graphics card, and the program was still a little much.  Not that it affected the quality of the finished product, but it was a little frustrating to deal with.

Other than that, Elements makes the whole process pretty easy, even for beginners.  They have options that will guide you through the process of editing your photo, and if you would like to undo something you've done, it's easy.  I found myself messing around with the contrast, colors, and saturation until I reached my desired level.

The photo was taken just outside of Athens, GA (just south of The University of Georgia), in a town called Watkinsville.  It's a small town and has lots of photo opportunities.  I took advantage of the golden hour to get the lighting just right on this water tower.

RAW

Edited

Southern Fields

Body: Nikon D90
Lens: AF-S DX 18-105mm
Shutter: 1/400 sec
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 38mm
ISO: 160

I recently set out to take some photographs during the "golden hour".  Living in Athens, GA has its benefits for sure, one of them being the quantity of locations available for shooting.  Between the barns, trees, ponds, lakes, rivers, etc. that surround the city, finding the location is never the hard part, it's finding the time to go out.  I took this shot in a field on the west side of town, and focused on the vegetation in the foreground while blurring the trees in the distance.  The natural lighting in the shot was great, and no post-production work was done.  Overall, it turned out to be a pretty fun shoot.

Adobe Lightroom 3 Experiment

I recently asked around in search of finding the perfect image editing/storage software.  I noticed my files getting a little hefty for iPhoto, and decided to download a trial version of Aperture 3.  My first impression was that it was simply iPhoto on steroids and lacked some basic functionality I wanted.  Also, my research showed that the file organization methods employed by Aperture create a web of files on the computer and make it difficult to switch to another program in the future (possibly an attempt by Apple to keep customers from switching).  I also read that this type of file organization could weigh heavy on your computer, causing it to run slowly.

So, I posted on several forums looking for advice, and was led to this little gem in the Adobe lineup.  It's called Lightroom, and it is currently on it's 3rd edition.  I decided to give it a try before I purchased it, so I downloaded the free trial and gave it a whirl.  I quickly noticed that it was not as intuitive as Aperture or iPhoto, but that it was much more robust and offered a much more comprehensive editing experience.  I still haven't quite figured out the storage aspect, but that's simply due to a lack of research and learning on my part.

Anyhow, I tested the program on a photo I recently took on my D90 equipped with the 18-105mm stock lens.  I thought the photo looked pretty good straight out of the camera, but was VERY impressed at what Lightroom 3 added to the photo.

Take a look...

This is the original file in RAW format.




This is the file after a few slight modifications in Adobe Lightroom 3.

I attempted to use the content-aware fill to get rid of the telephone pole, but to no avail.  I'll have to work on that later.  For now, I think Lightroom is the frontrunner as far as software is concerned...

He shoots...he scores

Snagged some 5th row seats at a recent BYU basketball game during a trip out west, and it made for some great photo opportunities.  The gentleman in front of me had a rather large head, making it difficult for me to get a good shot of BYU's star player, Jimmer Fredette, but I managed to get a perfect angle on this fade away jumper by Noah Hartsock.  I was shooting in Sports mode, which sets the shutter speed to "extra fast" in order to capture the movement in a single frame, and I also maximized the chances of me getting a quality shot by using short bursts of photos.  It was my first chance to do any sports photography, and let me tell you, I gained a new respect for those sports photographers!

Body: Nikon D90
Lens: AF-S DX 18-105mm
Shutter: 1/320 sec
Aperture: f/4.2
Focal Length: 32mm
ISO: 1600

Cape Buffalo

Here is an original photo of a mounted Cape Buffalo taken out of Africa.  I found it in a lodge I visited recently, and really liked the way the light below the mount cast the shadow on the ceiling.


Body: Nikon D90
Lens: AF-S DX 18-105mm
Shutter: 1/15 sec
Aperture: f/4.2
Focal Length: 30mm
ISO: 400