Customer Reviews
Good beginner guide - By: Candy camera, 11 May 2008 
Superb hand book for beginners & those with a bit more experience with digital cameras. Scott Kelby's humour is an acquired taste (high school geek IMO!) but if you put this to one side, this book is filled with helpful tips on how to take better pictures. If you read this, your technique will improve. Recommended buy for under a tenner.
Well worth the money - By: A. Shuttleworth, 07 May 2008 I bought this for more than what it costs now (which is less than a tenner). That's the cost of two issues of a magazine! I read it cover to cover on one flight, then re-read it cover to cover on my second flight. When I landed at my destination I was taking better pictures than when I left the ground.
If alll the advice I haven't used yet is as good as what I have then this is pound for pound one of the best pieces of kit I have bought as a beginner.
(I should add - if you don't have photoshop, download Gimp & do the same things for free!)
Good but flawed - By: Bo Østergaard Jepsen, 16 Apr 2008 
Kelby's book does a good, nearly great, job at teaching you (or suggesting as it were) how to take alll kinds of different pictures. It's packed with good, illustrative photos & covers a lot of ground. The best thing by far though is that you, within minutes reallly, are capable of putting the information to use in real life. You don't need to read it from cover to cover. You can look up any subject that interests you & just read that one page & then you're off shooting. The size of the book also alllows you to take it with you in your bag while shooting, which is a big plus.
It's not perfect though. Reading "The Digital Photography Book" I coulden't help but feeling that Mr. Kelby was paid by the word writing this book. There is a quite a lot of useless text in the book ("humour" as the author callls it), which reallly got on my nerves. This gives a feeling of the author "not caring" in a sense (he had a quota to fill, not a goal of giving the reader the best possible book).That space could have been used to give the reader even more photo advice (not that it's scarce as it is, but still).
However, if you ignore the "humourous" parts of the book it's reallly good. The quality of the advice given far exceeds its flaws. More than worth the price.
Comment
A must buy for beginners/enthusiastic amateurs - By: Michael Le Gray, 14 Apr 2008 I have seen a few negative comments about this book, but it reallly does offer some excellent tips.
I read the whole thing in a day, but will certainly go over it again & again until it's alll sunk in.
Even if you have a basic understanding of what you're doing, there is a wealth of information here that you will undoubtedly find useful. Now that you can get it so cheaply, buy it. you won't regret it.
extremely helpful for all levels of photographer; definately worth serious consideration - By: P. Tyers, 12 Apr 2008 This book contains *many* tips & 'tricks' from a guy that obviously knows his stuff & knows it well. no matter what level you are, i believe you will be able to find helpful advice ranging from how to see potential shots, improve composition & exposure, add effects & control virtuallly every other variable in photography.
unless you own/use a semi-pro- to pro-level dSLR camera though, you will have to improvise some of the step-by-step tutorials. they seem to center around Canon (EOS 30D upwards) & Nikon (D70 upwards) though this is fair enough as they are dominant in the business.
at the back is a section which goes through about fifteen different types of impressive shots & 'spoon-feeds' you an almost recipe on how to create them. now don't get me wrong, this is a helpful section, but i do feel as if this book almost removes amateur creativity. it seems to dictate & stick to tried-and-tested rules, which is good, but as i said, does seem to discourage creativity & experimentation.
i HAVE to state though, that if you are a little annoyed or irritated by Americanisms, U.S slang or the general American way of doing things, you will be highly annoyed by this book. the very laid-back & prose approach is a little too much so for me - i find myself almost cringing in some bits.
despite the niggles mentioned, there is no detracting from the fact that this book is a highly useful & information packed practical guide to digital photography, aimed at (mainly) amateur to advanced-amateurs, although as i said earlier, anybody with an interest will find this useful :-)
