Home     About     Photos     Learn     Blog     Contact

Shoot Like the Pros!
Create Eye-Catching Photos!
Turn Snapshots into Great Images!

Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies receives
the highest rating from Digital SLR Photography,
the "UK's biggest photography magazine".

Apogee Photo Magazine gives an A++ to
Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies
for the quality of the content.
 

Pika, Tundra, Colorado Rockies
 

"There's 'bite-sized' information, which doesn't prove too much to take in, and plenty of images to accompany the text." (Digital SLR Photography, January 2011).

"... this is a breakdown of the subject of exposure explained in concise chapters, complete with pulled-out top tips and notes." (Digital Camera Essentials, January 2011)

"... clear layout and accessible writing make this a good buy for photographers."  (Amateur Photographer, February 2011).

"Full of top tips for exposing your images correctly ... delivers exactly what you would want it to." (Digital Photographer, February 2011).
 

You want to be a better photographer. Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies will show you how. Whether you are a beginning or advanced photographer, Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies will show you how to dramatically improve the quality of your images. It is about exposure (which is very important), but it is also about a whole lot more. It will show you lots of simple things the pros do to turn ordinary snapshots into great photos (and plenty of advanced techniques too). You will become a better photographer!

What can this book do for you?

"I've recently discovered a book that helps photographers truly understand exposure , and that knowledge can dramatically improve the quality of your digital photos. The book is Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies, authored by Jim Doty, Jr., and published by Wiley. This book provides you with everything a photographer needs to know in order to truly understand exposure and how it affects the original capture."  (Tim Grey, digital photography expert, author of a dozen photography books and hundreds of photo magazine articles.)

"Loved this book, and the author's easy to follow writing style. I am a professional photographer, and was given this book as a gift.  It is a great reference book, and an awesome tool for learning."   (Jennifer Blakeley, the talented creator of Alphabet Photography and beautiful portraits at Jennifer Blakeley Photography.  She is nationally recognized in Canada for her human alphabet project with Gymnastics Canada and the 2012 Olympic Team.)

"As a photo teacher for over 30 years, I only wish this book had been available earlier. In a heart beat I would have assigned this book as text for all of my photo classes from Basic Camera to Advanced.   (Jim Lehman, photography instructor and creator of the Black Cat Exposure Guide.)

"I have long enjoyed photography both as part of my vocation, and as a rewarding avocation. What I found was that Doty's book helped me understand how to better understand and control the dimensions of photography that distinguish mere snapshots from true artistic expressions.  (Jim Hannah, professional photographer and former magazine editor.)

Read more reviews from professionals, advanced photographers, and beginners (and a longer version of the above reviews).

California Poppies

Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies grew out of years of experience teaching photography to photographers of all skill levels. The author's faculty experience includes the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Graceland University, and The Ohio State University. The ideas, concepts, and exercises in Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies have been tested in classes, workshops, and seminars, and just as important, they have been honed in hundreds of hours leading photography field trips and providing individual, practical instruction to photographers of all experience levels. As you read this book, imagine the author at your side, providing the same kind of valuable help that has been provided to hundreds of other photographers.

Sunstar Over Turnagain Arm, Alaska

This book is about creating better images!

Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies is loaded with full color photographs (you can see them all here) and practical, "how-to-do-it" information. If you are a beginner, this book will quickly bring you up to speed. If you are well past the beginner stage, this book is filled with intermediate and advanced photographic techniques that will make a big difference in your photography.  You will learn how to "speak your camera's language" to make it do its special tricks!

The foundation for better images is to master exposure. Parts I and II of the book cover the basics and then leads you through some advanced exposure concepts and techniques that many books don't even mention. The exposure information in Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies is one of the most clear, detailed, and comprehensive you can find in a single photography book. There is a special emphasis on the artistic potential that is unleashed when you understand how to take control of your exposure options.

The "go out and do it" chapters in the rest of the book are loaded with tips to help you take better, bolder photos in all kinds of photographic situations.

Fireworks, Las Vegas

Why learn about exposure? Why not let the camera do it?

For three very important reasons:

• Sometimes your camera gets the exposure all wrong.
• If you don't master exposure, you will never reach your full artistic potential.
• Your camera is designed to give you "average" exposures but the average exposure isn't always the best creative exposure.

1. Sometimes your camera gets it all wrong! Despite all of the wonderful, whiz-bang technology in your camera, there are times it will totally miss the right exposure, and the times your camera meter gets it wrong are often the situations with the most dramatic potential. An example is this pair of photos below. In the photo on the left, the camera made the exposure decision. In the photo on the right, I made the exposure decision.  Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies will guide you through tricky exposure situations so you will know in advance when the camera will be fooled and what to do about it.

Long's Peak and Nymph Lake in Dramatic, High Contrast Sunset Light

2. Every exposure decision is also an artistic decision! If you don't master exposure, you will never reach your full artistic potential. There are multiple combinations of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO speed that will give you exactly the same exposure, but very different artistic "looks". Knowing which combination to choose can make the difference between a great image and a disappointing one. If you leave your camera on auto exposure, you have turned the artistic decisions over to a computer chip. If you take control of exposure yourself, you open the door to all kinds of creative and wonderful possibilities in terms of exposure, subject motion, and depth of field (the "near to far" sharpness in an image).

Hibiscus, Ohio
Image Created with Minimal Depth of Field

Point Iroquois Lighthouse, Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Image Created with Maximum Depth of Field

3. There's magic in the creative side of exposure. Your camera is designed to give you "average" exposures but the average exposure isn't always the best creative exposure. Sometimes the technically correct exposure isn't the best artistic exposure. Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies will show you when you need to take control of the exposure process and how to do it. Knowing when to override the camera's automatic exposure with a better creative exposure can make the difference between an ordinary looking photo and a beautiful image you will be proud of.

Sailboat at Sunset, Lake Michigan

A Look at the Contents

Part I is devoted to the scientific side of exposure , all of the technical ins and outs of exposure, subject tonality, and metering. It starts with the basics and quickly takes you to more advanced techniques. You will learn multiple ways to determine the exposure so you can choose the technique that you like best in each situation. That way you can develop your own exposure style, the style that works best for you. After all, the way another photographer likes to work, may not be the way you prefer to work. This book gives you multiple options.

Part I also includes some specialized and mostly inexpensive metering tools to make your photo life simpler and easier.

Some of the Metering Tools Covered in Part I

Part I also teaches you the language of light so you know how to work with the light instead of fighting the light. You will learn what kind of weather and atmospheric conditions are likely to produce the best light for the images you want to create. You will know how to use the color temperature, direction, quality, and intensity of the light to enhance your images. Part I gives you a solid foundation that prepares you for Part II, artistic side of exposure.

Denali (Mt. McKinley), Denali National Park, Alaska

Part II introduces you to the artistic side of exposure. It shows you how to make the best choices of apertures, shutter speeds, and ISOs for the kind of creative results you want. If you want to freeze a fast moving subject, or create long artistic blurs, you will know how. Thanks to the creative use of shutter speeds, you will learn how to create images that reveal things that are too fast for the human eye to see, or so slow that the camera records the passage of time in a way that our "instant snapshot" eyes can't capture.

The Strip, Las Vegas, Nevada

You will develop the know how and skills to use aperture, focal length, and focusing choices to create eye-popping depth of field (the near to far sharpness in an image) so everything looks sharp from the grains of sand inches in front of the camera all the way to the distant horizon. Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies has two chapters on depth of field with 40 pages of tips and information, plus some advanced techniques that many exposure books don't even mention, much less cover in depth.

White Sands New Mexico at Sunset

Or you can minimize depth of field so you can isolate your subject against a background of soft, blurry colors, like these Shooting Stars.

Shooting Stars in the Rain, Rocky Mountains, Colorado

Whether you want a lot of depth of field, a little, or something in between, Chapters 6 and 7 in Part II will show you how to do it

Part II also introduces you to the wonderful world of flash and shows you how to use flash as a primary or secondary light source, and how to mix flash and ambient light.

A Mixture of Off-Camera Flash and Ambient Light

Parts I and II are both filled with lots of photo exercises that you can do close to home so can you master the skills you need to be a better photographer. When you've mastered the exposure skills, you can get out there and take on the big wide world of real life photo situations that are covered in Parts III and IV.

Parts III and IV are the "go out and do it" sections. You will learn the simple things to do (and a gfew complicated ones) that will make a big difference in how your photos look.

Portrait Created with a Single,
Ordinary Household Light Bulb

Part III shows you great ways to improve your people, wildlife, landscape, flower, and sports photography. You will learn 18 ways to improve your people photography; how to find, safely approach (for you and the wildlife), and photograph wildlife; how to master the light, direction, shape and texture in landscape photography; and a whole lot more.

Casual Portrait Of A Boy In His Favorite Blue Hat

Studio Portrait

Great Gray Owl, Whitefish Point, Michigan's Upper Peninsula

"Least Chipmunk", Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado

Dusk, Mo'orea, French Polynesia

Mt. Hunter from the Air, Denali National Park, Alaska

Paintbrush, Aspen Bole and Evergreen Needles, Colorado

Yellow Fringed Orchid, Bishop's Bog Nature Preserve, Michigan

Part IV introduces you to the specialized and wonderful fields of close-up and low light photography. You will learn how to choose the right aperture, shutter speed, and ISO combinations to shoot landscapes by moonlight, freeze the stars in the night sky, and  create star trails.

Northern Lights, Camp Denali, Alaska

Star Trails, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
 

Part V is the infamous Dummies "Parts of Ten" which covers ten photographic mistakes that can cost you (saving you from a lot of grief), and ten accessories that will make your life simpler and/or improve your photography.

Neon Pizza Sign

Warning: Some point-and-shoot cameras make it difficult to control exposure which can lead to endless frustration. Even worse, some point-and-shoot cameras give you no control at all over your exposures. If your camera is holding you back artistically, you may need a better camera. If your camera is getting in your way and you want a better camera, don't say you weren't warned. :)

Years of teaching photography to all kinds of people is proof that just about anyone who wants to improve the quality of their images can do so with the right kind of guidance. If you are ready, this is the book for you!

What if you shoot film?

Despite the title, this book is still for you. Many of the photos in the book were shot on film (including the photo below of Mt. Sneffels). The principles of exposure are the same for both film and digital photography, even if the application is a little different. 95% of this book applies to film photography.

Mt. Sneffels, San Juan Mountains, Colorado

A Final Thought

I love photography, and I love watching the light go on as other photographers discover new ways to do things to improve their photography. I hope you have a great time reading my book and and an even better time going out with your camera and trying what you've read. Most of all, sometime in the future I hope you look back and say, "Wow! Look how far I've come!" Send me an e-mail and tell me what this book did for you.

BOOK LINKS

Table of Contents

The Story Behind the Book

All of the photos in the book

Photo Accessories As promised in the book (Chapter 18 - Ten Accessories to Make Your Life Easier), Chapter 18 is being expanded here on my web site into an Accessories Section with additional content and more illustrations. Enjoy!

Teasers. These articles will give you an idea what you will discover inside the book. They are short online versions of the more comprehensive and detailed information in the book.
     Using Reflected Light Meters, Part One
     Using Reflected Light Meters, Part Two
     Simplify Your Life with an Incident Light Meter
     Using a Gray Card, Incident Light Metering on the Cheap

Reviews of Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies.

Apogee Photo Magazine gives high marks to Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies.

Digital SLR Photography Magazine Gives Top Rating to Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies

What the pros say about Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies.
What experienced photographers say about Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies.
What beginning photographers say about Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies.

PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

More information and purchase links at Dummies.com.

November 9, 2010
Updated May 15, 2012

[Home] [About] [Photos] [Learn] [Contact]

Copyright © Jim Doty, Jr. All rights reserved.