In the usual Scott Kelby style he write these books as a collection of pointers to a friend photographer. Every page in all three books are written with one pointer or tip on each page. As Scott writes in the prelude:
"If you and I were out on a shoot, and you asked me, 'Hey, how do I get this flower to be in focus, but I want the background out of focus?' I wouldn't stand there and give you a lecture about aperture, exposure, and depth of field. In real life, I'd just say, 'Get out your telephoto lens, set your f/stop to f/2.8, focus on the flower, and fire away.' You would say, 'OK,' and you'd get the shot. That's what this book is all about. A book of you and I shooting, and I answer the questions, give you advice and share the secrets I've learned just like I would with a friend, without all the technical explanations and without all the techno-photo-speak."
This being said, this also means that he doesn't dwell deeply within each tip or pointer explaining _why_ everything works as it does. This is for the reader to find out researching the topic further in other reference books.
Surprisingly to me, this works very well! I thoroughly enjoyed reading these books and I would say that I have become a much better photographer reading through all the tips.
Book one is quite general in topic, spanning from how to create really sharp photos to a description of wedding photography. This book is, according to me, a must have in every digital photographers bookshelf. This book is also clearly aimed at beginner photographers.
Coming to book 2 and 3 they differ a bit, especially of how they are written. These books also have the 'pointer and tip' layout, but more detailed information can be found here. Book 2 for example describe thoroughly which gear to use when using flash and how to set up your mini-studio and book three goes even further on how to shoot specific subjects.
This box set offer any digital photographer a helicopter view of how to use your digital camera in the best way to get 'professional' photos. Primarily these books - as all Scott Kelby books - offer small insights of what to think about when shooting digital photos. Kelby also does this with a huge amount of humor, making all his books a joy to read. Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Boxed Set, Volumes 1, 2, and 3
This review is specific to the Kindle version of the box set. These are great books. So good, in fact that I bought the Kindle version for my iPad even though I already own a set of print edition. I intend to use this as a reference while traveling with my camera.
Despite my enthusiasm for the content, the Kindle edition set is very difficult to use. All three books are delivered as a single file, but the table of contents pulled up by the menu only refers to book one. To find the contents of book 2 & 3, one must search or manually scan the pages. This issue renders the Kindle book very difficult to use as a reference.
Updated: Amazon informs me that the only option is to contact the publisher or take a refund. With regret, I have accepted a refund and will continue to use the print edition. I cannot recommend that you buy the kindle edition of this set.
These books are aimed a novice DSLR users. If you've done much photography or read up on the subject, you won't find much real new material in here. Fortunately, Scott Kelby avoids the traps of getting bogged down in the operational specifics of the equipment he is discussing (this is not a rehash of the Owners Guide). The books are to the point, light hearted and fun (with lots of the usual Kelby humor).
These books are great for beginners who've usually invested in fancy camera gear and would now like to know - how does this damn thing work? And why don't my pics (weddings, babies, landscapes, flowers) look anything like the pros? Well, Kelby provides quick cook recipes for a host of usually occurring subjects and topics and enough info to get better than average shots. Enough to please you and your subject without getting into the tech details. And that's great for starters and for most people ...
Beware. You will receive a single eBook only. You will not receive all three copies of the book. If you want to get to volume 2 or 3 you must page through thousands of pages to find them. There is no table of contents for Volumes 2 & 3 at the front. My recommendation is to purchase the three individually as Amazon support was worthless and could not understand the problem. I returned this single edition and paid the extra $3 to get the books individually. Much nicer now as I can quickly access any chapter in all three books. Amazon really needs to figure this out or at least note this in the description. I am not sure if this goes for any book sold via Kindle as a multi-volume set. I know that I will never purchase a multi-volume set from Kindle again. As for Scott Kelby's Digital Photography book series I give it a 5 Star rating. I just want to save people from the hassle that I just had to go through.
There are so many photography books out there that it can be a daunting task to choose one. This set by Scott Kelby greatly exceeded my expectations. The content ranges from beginner to what I would call advanced/intermediate. I've been an DSLR user for almost 2 years, but was new to any photography terms/skills beyond point and shoot cameras. These books are set up to offer a variety of topics in small chunks. Each specific subject is on 1-2 page - Easy to read a little bit at a time. I always have one of these books with me to read at appointments or when waiting on kids in carpool lines. I can't emphasize enough that these books are both a valuable resource and a pleasure to read. My husband probably thinks I'm crazy when he sees me laughing out loud, holding a book on Digital Photography. Kelby's skill combined with a good dose of humor makes these books great. Hobbies like photography have so many technical aspects that, if taken too seriously, can be overwhelming to the kinds of people who actually need to read a photography book. I have learned a lot from this series. I would suggest reading them with page markers in hand to mark the pages you want to remember and reference later. My set has colored flags sticking up all over them. - Digital Slr - Beginners Guide - Scott Kelby - Photography Book'
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