Darrell Young - Beyond Point-and-Shoot: Learning to Use a Digital SLR or Interchangeable-Lens Camera

Beyond Point-and-Shoot
Learning to Use a Digital SLR or Interchangeable-Lens Camera

Learning to Use a Digital SLR or
Interchangeable-Lens Camera

Darrell Young

Darrell Young (www.PhotographyWriter.com)

Editor: Joan Dixon
Copyeditor: Jeanne Hansen
Layout and Type: Petra Strauch
Cover Design: Almute Kraus, www.exclam.de
Printer: Everbest
Printed in China

ISBN 978-1-933952-95-6

1st Edition 2012
2012 Darrell Young

Rocky Nook, Inc.
802 E. Cota Street, 3rd Floor
Santa Barbara, CA 93103

www.rockynook.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Young, Darrell, 1958
Beyond point-and-shoot : learning to use a digital SLR or interchangeable-lens camera / by Darrell Young. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-933952-95-6 (soft cover : alk. paper)
1. Digital cameras--Amateurs manuals. 2. Single-lens reflex cameras--Amateurs manuals. 3. Photography--Digital techniques--Amateurs manuals. I. Title.
TR256.Y68 2011
771.32--dc23
2011041107

Distributed by OReilly Media
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Sebastopol, CA 95472

All product names and services identified throughout this book are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. They are used throughout this book in editorial fashion only. No such uses, or the use of any trade name, are intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with the book. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner. While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

All photographs and illustrations by the author unless otherwise noted.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

This book is dedicated to:

My sister Tammi, whose quest for photographic knowledge impelled me to write this book...

My wife of many years, Brenda; the love of my life and my best friend...

My children, Autumn, David, Emily, Hannah, and Ethan, five priceless gifts...

My mother and father, Barbara and Vaughn, who brought me into this world and guided my early life, teaching me sound principles to live by...

The wonderful staff of Rocky Nook, including Gerhard Rossbach, Joan Dixon, Jocelyn Howell, Petra Strauch, and Matthias Rossmanith...

My copy editor, Jeanne Hansen (www.hansenedits.com), whose eye for detail and knowledge of the English language made this book much nicer for its readers...

And finally, to all the photographic enthusiasts of the world...

From our earliest memories, my brothers, my sister, and I can picture our mother with a camera in her hands. Most of us developed an interest in photography from seeing all the photo albums my mom made. A case in point is my sister, Tammi, who had been shooting for years with a point-and-shoot camera and was achieving good results. She gradually became interested in portrait photography and found that her point-and-shoot camera just didnt give her the quality she wanted.

One day Tammi called me and asked, Darrell, I want to buy a better camera. What would you suggest? I told her she needed a camera with a larger imaging sensor (the camera part that captures the light) to get rid of that grainy look she was seeing in her pictures. I explained how using various lenses would give her the ability to compose her pictures in a more pleasing way, blurring the background to focus attention on her subject. I recommended a small digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera and a couple of lenses. She bought the camera and lenses and started trying to use them, only to run into the complexities of operating a more advanced camera. She asked for some help, so I gave her a book I had written for her particular camera model (from my Mastering the Nikon DSLR series). Over the next few days she read my book and tried to understand all the photographic terminology within. In frustration she called me and said, I cant figure out what all these words mean.

I was flabbergasted for a moment because my books are rated highly in reviews as being easy to read and understand. Then it dawned on me what the problem was. My sister is a very intelligent person, but she lacked knowledge of what many photographic words mean. My more advanced books assume a certain level of photographic knowledge in explaining how to use a particular camera. Tammi simply didnt have that basic knowledge about the terms of digital imaging. Photography has a language of its own with words most peopleeven those who have been using point-and-shoot cameras for yearssimply would not know without studying. When Tammi read my book, some of the concepts made sense to her, but many of the words I used held no meaning. It was as if she were reading a Spanish textbook with only rudimentary skills in speaking Spanish. Some of it made sense, but the rest was gibberish.

Therefore, being the loving brother that I fancy myself, I started roaming the bookstores in search of a basic tutorial book that would teach her the language of photography, without assuming any knowledge of digital imaging other than pushing the shutter-release button. I found lots of tutorial books out there and read them, only to find that they assumed basic knowledge that many complete newbies to the more advanced camera systems do not have. You see, authors are so familiar with the subjects they write about that its easy for them to forget that others may not be as familiar, and they dive in using advanced terminology as they teach about the subject. For the newbie, its like joining a class halfway through the course, and the knowledge one missed from previous parts of the course makes it hard to move forward.

After failing to find a basic tutorial book that was truly basicassuming no previous knowledge of photographyI wrote some things down for Tammi and sent her the documents. She enjoyed reading material that she could easily understand and she made suggestions. After that, I sent my material to a few pro photographer friends and had them let members of their families and friends who are interested in learning about photography read the material and make suggestions. One 17-year-old boy sent word back to me that after reading my material he finally understood how the lens aperture and shutter speed works. He had taken a course and couldnt quite get it, until he read my notes.

The book you have in your hands is the result of my quest to help my sister learn to use her camera, and my epiphany that this type of book is sorely needed in todays extremely technical digital-photography world. If you have had problems with other books using words that make no sense to you, I hope this book will help you. I assume that you know absolutely nothing about cameras other than how to turn your camera on and press the shutter-release button. If you have struggled to learn how to control a more advanced DSLR or other type of interchangeable lens camera (ILC), then this book will provide a great starting place to build your basic knowledge.

You will be able to build upon the knowledge youll learn in this book by using your camera, by getting good and bad results, and most importantly, by learning why you get those results. Later, I encourage you to read other good books and to keep growing your skill. This book will start you on your journey to excellence and help you learn the basics of the language of photography. I wish you much success!