baby's first slr
December 16, 2012 10:43 PM Subscribe
Giving my sister my old dslr for her 18th birthday. I'd like to also give her a book that explains the principles of photography. I'd like it to be clear and easy to understand in regards to aperture, depth of field, dynamic range etc. , but I'd also like it to have some ray optics to get her to think about why the camera works the way it does (focal depth, optics etc). Any suggestion would be great.
Best answer: When I first got into photography, I was told that Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure was pretty much the bible and that it would be appropriate, comprehensible, and helpful to me as a beginner. I found that to be true. I love the book and still find it useful.
I can also recommend Joel Sartore's Fundamentals of Photography lecture series from the Teaching Company, aka the Great Courses. It's a video series and not a book, but I think it's a great introduction for beginners as well as a useful refresher and gap-filler for more experienced users. I was a little skeptical because not all great artists are necessarily great teachers and the Teaching Company can be hit or miss, but Sartore did an excellent job with that course.
posted by cribcage at 11:02 PM on December 16, 2012 [3 favorites]
I can also recommend Joel Sartore's Fundamentals of Photography lecture series from the Teaching Company, aka the Great Courses. It's a video series and not a book, but I think it's a great introduction for beginners as well as a useful refresher and gap-filler for more experienced users. I was a little skeptical because not all great artists are necessarily great teachers and the Teaching Company can be hit or miss, but Sartore did an excellent job with that course.
posted by cribcage at 11:02 PM on December 16, 2012 [3 favorites]
Definitely Understanding Exposure. I have a difficult time learning this sort of skill from a book, but I found this one easy to read and follow while still explaining things in depth.
And point her to Stop Shooting Auto, a great blog with the basic principles of photography and the nuts and bolts behind it.
posted by rhiannonstone at 11:59 PM on December 16, 2012 [2 favorites]
And point her to Stop Shooting Auto, a great blog with the basic principles of photography and the nuts and bolts behind it.
posted by rhiannonstone at 11:59 PM on December 16, 2012 [2 favorites]
+1 to Understanding Exposure. I also found Cambridge in Colour's tutorials an excellent resource.
posted by VirtualWolf at 12:49 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by VirtualWolf at 12:49 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
If she's got a genuine interest in photography, I'd suggest finding an edition of Photography (London, Upton, Stone, Kobre, Brill), which not only covers (with photographic illustrations) all the fundamentals, but goes into more detail about darkroom technique, the zone system, and photographic composition and considerations. The 8th or 9th editions will probably suffice - the latest, 10th edition is ridiculously expensive.
I'd also suggest some photographic history or a monograph or two. There's plenty of fun photography online, but I find it rather deflating compared to poring through some beautiful works of a master.
Sally Mann's Immediate Family is probably my favourite collection, but I think something like the Taschen Photo Icons book, the Tate's Street & Studio catalogue, or the MoMA's Looking At Photographs offer good histories of photography would be good for beginners. Further down the line, the Sally Mann book, an Arnold Newman collection, a Cindy Sherman retrospective, some recent books from Alex Soth's lists and Susan Sontag's On Photography are good ideas.
posted by Magnakai at 4:42 AM on December 17, 2012
I'd also suggest some photographic history or a monograph or two. There's plenty of fun photography online, but I find it rather deflating compared to poring through some beautiful works of a master.
Sally Mann's Immediate Family is probably my favourite collection, but I think something like the Taschen Photo Icons book, the Tate's Street & Studio catalogue, or the MoMA's Looking At Photographs offer good histories of photography would be good for beginners. Further down the line, the Sally Mann book, an Arnold Newman collection, a Cindy Sherman retrospective, some recent books from Alex Soth's lists and Susan Sontag's On Photography are good ideas.
posted by Magnakai at 4:42 AM on December 17, 2012
+2 for Understanding Exposure.
posted by Gonestarfishing at 6:36 AM on December 17, 2012
posted by Gonestarfishing at 6:36 AM on December 17, 2012
As you can tell by now, Understanding Exposure is a classic. Another great book on lighting that has a lot of diagrams explaining the optics of various lighting setups is Light: Science and Magic; well worth the price.
posted by TedW at 6:58 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 6:58 AM on December 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
This DSLR Simulator really helped me understand the relationship and interplay of all the variables (ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focal length, etc.)
posted by xedrik at 6:59 AM on December 17, 2012
posted by xedrik at 6:59 AM on December 17, 2012
When I learned film basics, the book we used was Photography by London and Upton. It's really approachable and uses diagrams and example photos really well. I recently loaned my 20 year old copy to a friend and she's been loving it, even in this digital age of ours.
posted by advicepig at 7:17 AM on December 17, 2012
posted by advicepig at 7:17 AM on December 17, 2012
Ansel Adams did a series. The Camera, The Negative, and The print. While the latter two may be a bit , ahem dated, the Camera is , well, always a Camera.
posted by Gungho at 7:28 AM on December 17, 2012
posted by Gungho at 7:28 AM on December 17, 2012
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posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 10:53 PM on December 16, 2012 [1 favorite]