Bryan Peterson’s Understanding Photography Field Guide – Book Review

I received Bryan Peterson’s “Understanding Photography Field Guide: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera” for Christmas and haven’t been able to put it down since.

The book is split into 11 different sections:

• Digital Basics – In this section, the author provides a basic intro to the world of digital photography.
• Exposure – Peterson does a great job explaining exposure and how to find the ‘right’ exposure for any given photograph.  While thorough, it doesn’t provide nearly as much information as Peterson’s “Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera” but it gets you the basics.
• Aperture – In this section, Peterson provides an overview of what is meant by ‘aperture’ and why selecting one aperture over another is an important decision.
• Shutter Speed & ISO – This section provides a great overview of how to select ISO and Shutter Speed for a particular situation. In addition to shutter speed & ISO, topics such as panning and tripod and/or monopod usage while panning are discussed.
• Learning to See – This section covers the extremely important topic of lens selection, usage and tips for changing the perspective of your shot (shoot from above, below, etc).
• Designing and Striking an Image – This section covers what I consider to be the most important aspect of photography – composition of a photograph.  You can be a good photographer technically, but if you can’t create a creative photograph by composing it correctly, the technical abilities are for naught.
• The Importance of Light -In this section, Peterson does a very good job of presenting options for using light when creating your photographs.  Topics such as back-lighting, front lighting and the “sunny f/16″ Rule (I hadn’t heard of it before).  Great section.
• Close-up Photography – Macro photography is the focus of this section. Peterson provides tips and guidance on the necessary equipment and methods for shooting macro photography.  Includes discussion of lighting and other tools needed.
• Photographing People – This is a short section but it has some excellent tips for working with people.
• Unconventional Techniques – One of the coolest sections of the book, this section provides some ideas and tips for doing some cool things with equipment, lighting, overexposure and more.  Some really cool techniques in this section of the book.
• Useful Tools -  This last section provides tips and guidance on tripods, tripod heads, filters and other tools of the trade.

In addition to being an all around good book, it’s format is excellent.  It’s small enough to fit into your backpack or bag while out shooting and sturdy enough to last forever.

This book will be a mainstay in by shooting pack.  Its a great book to pick up while out shooting to get some inspiration and tips for taking better photographs.

Jump over to Amazon and pick up Understanding Photography Field Guide: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera.

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3. Book Review: Guide to Photographing America’s National Parks
4. Scott Kelby – New Digital Photography Book Input
5. Camera Dojo – Understanding Exposure