Start With a Digital Camera, Second Edition - Softcover

Odam, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0321130111 ISBN 13: 9780321130112

Publisher: Peachpit Press, 2003

Synopsis

With film purchase and development costs as high as ever, and quality digital cameras selling for only a couple of hundred bucks, if you haven't bought a digital camera yet, you will. And when you do, you'll want John Odam's practical and lovely Start with a Digital Camera, 2nd Edition to help you overcome the limitations of digital photography and make the most of its unique advantages. In this newly revised edition, updated to cover advanced camera resolutions, new storage options, and Adobe Elements, you'll learn how to pick out and use your digital camera, work with models and props, optimize images for printing as well as for onscreen presentation, manage memory and storage, and much more. You'll also walk away with a ton of valuable tips on using digital photos in publications, on the Web, and in limited-edition prints. Start with a Digital Camera, 2nd Edition uses hundreds of full-color photos, graphic design case studies, and step-by-step examples to give you both the knowledge and inspiration to generate excellent digital photos and incorporate them in graphic design.

About this title

Review

A lavishly illustrated demonstration of what you can do with a digital camera, Start with a Digital Camera mimics a traditional photography text. It teaches how to choose a subject, arrange lighting, compose frames, work with models, and capture fast action. The author, a graphic designer, also discusses various styles of photography (landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and so on) available for exploration. But rather than discuss film, chemical development, and darkroom techniques, Odam digs into the special quirks and capabilities of digital photography. He explains--with the help of many beautiful color illustrations--how to manipulate electronic photographs on a personal computer.

Rather than focus on the mechanics of image editing, the book explains digital manipulation terms and techniques in a mostly generic way. For example, he provides a page full of variants of the same image, each under- or overexposed to a different degree. He treats color correction and other techniques similarly. However, he acknowledges the power and popularity of Adobe Photoshop by explaining specifically how to achieve certain effects--such as those created with filters--in that program. The examples of clipping and combining photographs involve Photoshop too. The result of his work: a superior guide for anyone wanting to get into photography via the digital route. --David Wall

About the Author

John Odam is an award-winning graphic designer. John has worked in publishing since 1967 as a designer, art director, and author for titles such as Verbum magazine, Step-By-Step Electronic Design, and Before & After. He is also the co-author of The Gray Book, Start with a Scan, and Getting Started with 3D.

About this edition

• Publisher: Peachpit Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0321130111
• ISBN 13: 9780321130112
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 192