Book Review: From Snapshots to Great Shots

If you had the opportunity to read my very first post, you probably noticed that I already have a nice little library going of books that I've purchased over the past 7 months. While I've read all but one in it's entirety, I can say that I've been pretty lucky in my book finds. There isn't one that I wouldn't recommend to anyone trying to learn photography.

Another one of my first books was from the series From Snapshots to Great Shots Nikon D5000 by Jeff Revell.   This book really got me thinking about taking my photography to the next level.  Remember now, I'm not looking to become a professional, but I am looking to learn to take some wow photos!  The great thing about this series is that they have several books tailored to your particular Sony or Nikon camera.  Then there are others that focus on a particular task such as composition. 

What I really enjoyed about this book was the simple language that it was written in. Once again, there wasn't a lot of jargon that I couldn't follow, it was simple english with lots of explanations and it was great to be able to have my camera at my side to practice a setting right away or look at that particular feature. 

My next favorite aspect of the book was the photos...lots and lots of photos, and with the photos came explanations that made me go "ooooooohh, I get it!"  In each chapter there were at least one or two, one or two page photos called "PORING OVER THE PICTURE".  Here the author would point out several aspects of the photo in text boxes explaining the how, what or when such as the next two photos:

And when he wasn't "poring over the picture" there were many more photos explaining the chapter's lesson such as this one below:

The focus here was taking wide environmental portraits. The author was explaining that sometimes the subjects environment is of great significance to the story you may want to tell, additionally he gives the camera settings used to capture the photo. The pictures here are a little exotic, and action packed, but there are may more everyday photos and lessons that you can really relate too. 

The rest of the book was full of great shots and wonderful learning and my favorite - assignments!  It covered everything from taking your camera out of the box to advanced techniques of the pros to include action, landscape, portraits, mood lighting and composition.

I can't say enough great things about this book and all of my yellow highlights and pencil notes tell you exacatly the same thing!  So, if you're looking for a great book to go with your new Nikon or Canon camera  get to the book store and pick up this great find! 

Unveiling great books,
Dee