My sister in law is buying our niece a Canon Rebel DSLR for christmas this year. She is a high school freshman that has been interested in photography for a long time. She really wants the D90 advertised on TV but it is over $1100 to get so it is out of their price range. I found them an nice Rebel XTi with 2 basic lenses for $535 on BH site. I even found them a decent flash for cheap too if they really want to set her up.

Anyway...all she has ever really played with is a cheapo point and shoot consumer cam. Is there a book that explains the basics of DSLR photography and gets into shutter/iris controls and the results of different shutter/iris settings. I can show her some of it but it may be better for her to learn the stuff by reading so she can go at her own pace and practice. I will be in FL with them for 2 weeks in January. I was thinking of getting her a "how to" book plus a memory card for the camera as a present.

Whats a good book to get her that isn't over the head of a beginner.

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frog blog

I don't know of any good books specifically, but for beginners/intermediate and sometimes advanced info, have her go to www.mpix.com and register in their forum there. There is a lot of good information there of all levels, and it is a very active forum for photography.

-Postal

THanks for the tip. I bookmarked that site on my laptop so I can show it to her at Christmas. I was in the book store the other day and took a look at photography book....holy crap there are so many to pick from. I know what I would want to teach her but couldn't find any that taught that stuff in good detail. I wanted to teach her the nuances of shutter/iris/iso and how it all affects your image and also how they affect DOF. Not that I'm an expert but if you grasp those things and understand them you can do amazing stuff with a still cam. I know enough to be really dangerous but don't think I'm anywhere near a skilled photographer. I have on occasion watched a photographer struggle to get a shot and then told them how to setup their camera only to have them get the shot after I explained it all. I pride myself on trying to understand the foundational concepts of what I do so I know the cause and effect of different setups that help me do a better job.

Editing is not that terribly difficult....till your computer acts up. Then you get mad. Knowing the foundation of computing and moving bits and bytes around has helped me solve numerous problems and get the most from my NLE. I want to teach her that same kind of stuff for photography so she has a good foundation. I don't want her saying, "If I press this and turn that the picture looks cool." I want her to understand what is occuring to make the image look cool.

Hopefully I will find a book more to my liking before we head south. If not, any book will be a start.

I am an AVID user of Edius.

I am a PREMIERE user of Edius and make my FINAL CUTS X-tra easy in Edius.




frog blog

Digital Photography Boot Camp - Kevin Kubota

Easy reading.... and good tips.


Mike R. (proud owner of a new D300 )

about Me Michael Rodo

Look toward the Son, and you will not see the shadows

Thanks....I will check it out.

I am an AVID user of Edius.

I am a PREMIERE user of Edius and make my FINAL CUTS X-tra easy in Edius.




frog blog

BUSY....
I shoot school photos EVERYDAY Sept, Oct and most of Nov. It is killing my backlog. That is why I am still up now... trying to knock out some quick video & photo projects. My other problem is I over extended myself on "free-bee" jobs. I have learned (the hard way) that sometimes you just have to say "sorry, I can't help you out on this....".

Mike R.

about Me Michael Rodo

Look toward the Son, and you will not see the shadows

School(s) High schools, Middle schools, Elementary schools, a couple of pre-schools....
I am a shooter for Inter-State Studios. Headshots. We travel all over PA.

If you look @ my blog, you'll see that I've done a few Wedding/Photos (a lot faster turnaround time) For 2009 I am going to be offering Photography & Videography. I don't know if I'll shoot again next fall due to the backlog that it has created.


Mike R.

about Me Michael Rodo

Look toward the Son, and you will not see the shadows

The magic lantern books are great for describing the camera - you can pick one up specifically written for the model she has. Most major book stores carry them in the photography section and I think they're around $20.

I would suggest that first, it is like taking the user manual and making it useful, explaining how things work and why to use them and what they do - all in plain english (imagine that!)

One other place for flash photography and how it works, how to work with it, and practice "projects": http://strobist.blogspot.com/

Check out the "Lighting 101" stuff - that's a good place to start.

Postal