dSLR Dad

It’s more than just a Bookshelf. This is the page of all things media for the dSLR Dad. All books listed are available on Amazon.com for your convenience with Free Two-Day Shipping from Amazon Prime.

The First Two Books I tell Everyone to Buy

The Digital Photography Book
The first is The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby. You are going to see his name a lot on this site, usually in regards to all things Photoshop. However, this photography instruction book is great. The chapters progress well while each page is it’s own separate mini-tutorial, a great idea. This book has so many tips, that everyone should own it, even you professionals.

Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera

The second book that every photographer MUST OWN is Bryan Peterson’s Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera. This wonderful resource will step you through all aspects of your Creative Mode dial. You will not only learn what Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO are, but how they relate to each other for the proper exposure.

The best thing about these books, you can grab them both at Amazon for around $30! What a deal.

Books on Photography

Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs

This book presents the full spectrum Adams’ greatest work in a single volume for the first time, offering an entirely new perspective on his monumental career. The photographs are arranged chronologically into five major periods in order to convey Adams’ development as an artist-from his first photographs made in Yosemite and the High Sierra in 1916 to his work in the National Parks in the 1940s up to his last important photographs from the 1960s.

The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2
The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 is Scott Kelby’s sequel to the already excellent The Digital Photography Book. This book goes into greater detail on using flash, setting up a studio, landscape, travel, and macro photography.  It also keeps the same logical workflow and step-by-step instruction of Volume One.  A must read for those dSLR Dads looking to improve their technique and pick up a few tips.

The HDRI HandbookHigh Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers

For you dSLR Dad’s looking for a new avenue to try in photography, may I suggest High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI). HDRI is the process of combining photographs at different exposures (typically bracketed at +/- 2 stops). This allows you to keep proper detail in those tricky situations where you have a bright sky (the ‘blinkies’ on your LCD screen) mixed with objects that have shadow detail. One book that looks really promising (after my in-store review) is The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists by Christian Bloch. My full post is located here.

Moose Peterson’s Guide to Wildlife Photography: Conventional and Digital Techniques

This explains exactly how to make the most of your equipment and how to use animals’ habits to optimize your results. Find the right tools for the job, including every type of lens; learn techniques such as panning, shooting from blinds, and remote triggering of the flash; and take expert advice on how to make the subject really come to life in your images. Understand how to use animals’ habits to optimize your results, see how to frame the animal within a background for that perfect shot, and explore techniques for modifying the natural light to really highlight your subject. Of course, Peterson has fascinating stories to tell about his own experiences, and his fabulous photos provide real enjoyment even as they teach valuable lessons.

The Digital Darkroom

From Camera To Print - A Fine Art Printing Video Tutorial by The Luminous Landscape
From Camera To Print is a Fine Art Printing Tutorial Video series by Michael Reichmann and Jeff Schewe. This is quite possibly the best value in understanding the complete process of working with and printing your images in the digital darkroom. To learn more would require a trip to Toronto for their $695 Fine Art Printing Workshop. No longer will you question ‘why are my prints dark?’ No more waisting money on paper and ink just to get the color on screen to match the print coming off of your printer. In this nearly 7 hour video tutorial, Jeff and Michael explore in-depth virtually every topic that needs to be covered – from camera settings, to printer settings (both Windows and Mac), RIPs, paper types and choices, softproofing, current printer models, colour management, profiling options, rendering intents, monochrome printing…..(you get the idea). This multi-segment video download training series offers so much information for the dSLR Dad (almost 7 hours worth), that you will have no problem paying the $35 required. From Camera To Print gets the dSLR Dad’s Highest Recommendation.

Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3
I have just ordered this book, so this will be brief 5-minute review from inside the bookstore. Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3 looks to be an extraordinary resource for any dSLR Dad. It breaks down image processing into seven key stages, and continually repeats those stages throughout the book so you can remember what to do six months after you read the book. That’s probably my biggest problem with Photoshop, I just don’t use it often enough to remember what to do next (especially since I use B000MG2KPU for almost everything). This book looks like it should help greatly with that issue. You can also hear Scott explain the entire concept behind the book in great detail on The Digital Photography Show (episode 74).

One note for those of you who do not have a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS3, most of the 7-points are just using the new Adobe Camera RAW engine. That same engine is used in both Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Elements 6, so the system works for all dSLR Dads.

Mastering Digital Black and White: A Photographer’s Guide to High Quality Black-and-White Imaging and Printing

Amadou Diallo has written a fantastic book. He does a great job of leading you through the digital darkroom process of black and white photography.

First, it starts off with an entire chapter of images to get you inspired. Next, you focus on your digital darkroom. This involves not only the hardware, but also a very good chapter on color management (which is usually not as easy to explain as Diallo does). The book then continues with capturing in-camera, importing and working in Photoshop (don’t worry, you can still apply his techniques in Photoshop Elements), and finishing with the all important print. Finally, he pulls all of the techniques you’ve learned together into a series of step-by-step examples in which he leads you through the entire work flow, from start to finish. Not enough authors do this, and those that do it well should be commended.

Welcome to Oz: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop

“Vincent Versace is a Renaissance man who has produced the best how-to book of the year! …Versace introduces a system for creating images that owes as much to the traditional darkroom as the digital one. Don’t just read the book; study it. The first chapter isn’t called “The Tao of Dynamic Workflow” for nothing and, like the rest of the book, contains Versace’s charm, wit, and wisdom. It’s copiously illustrated with detailed step-by-step examples of techniques that when applied to your own work will turn you from zero to hero. The fact that he’s a heck of a photographer means the book is stunningly illustrated, but it’s also been well designed. It has become a cliché to say that a book could change your life, but this one could.” — Joe Farace, December, 2007 , Shutterbug, Top Digital Books Of 2007.

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