Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera Paperback – August 10, 2010

This third edition of "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson is brilliant! In the first 30 pages, I've gotten more information on how to use my camera settings to take creative photographs than the dozens of books I've read, or all the courses and seminars I've taken. And all for less than $20!Some reviews have suggested that this book is only for the very basic beginner. I beg to differ. I have been counseled by and shadowed many professionals who've been in the industry a number of years, (never mind all the money spent on books, videos, seminars, clinics and courses). After spending any time with the pros, I was always certain that the only way to get the best photos was to get a bigger bank account to be able to purchase the best, most up-to-date gadgets, special lights, expensive strobes (in multiples), and super expensive/fancy lenses. Oh... let's not forget the assistants that you'll also have to hire to hold some of the gadgets. And yet, most of their photos looked so homogenized and truly a product of all the photographic "stuff" rather than the camera. I kept thinking that maybe I was just not getting it. I was almost convinced that obviously, all the creative photos are just good quality, basic photos which have been processed, and re-processed in one or more editing software programs such as Photoshop (another one of the "must have" gadgets). NO!! Bryan Peterson explains how to really use the camera to get that creative shot. After all, capturing a photo, is really nothing more than capturing and manipulating light. He makes it simple enough for the beginner to understand, and yet, without being condescending, can teach (or remind) the pros of the all-too-frequently overlooked simplicity of how to use only the camera, considering ISO, aperture and shutter speed to work in harmony to get a 'one of a kind' photo.One of the statements I have heard all too often from professional photographers is that the on-camera flash is useless. Interestingly, I have found it to be a godsend in many photographic situations, and then get accalades from the same professionals about the quality of the lighting. Hmmm... Anyway, Bryan Peterson shares information on what I've already discovered; the on-camera flash is another great tool that already comes with your camera.I will, in all fairness, confess that I have a DSLR, so I can't deny or confirm the book's subtitle of "how to shoot great photographs with any camera" and how it relates to the 'point and shoot' cameras.

You set your camera on "auto", you point and shoot. Most of the time, this yields decent results. However, have you ever wondered why the camera chose the settings that it does? Or, why you can't get "that look" that you see in photos from other photographers - e.g. the blurred background, the freeze-action shot, or a nice silhouette with a sunset?Turns out, there is probably a dozen ways to take the same "properly exposed" photo, by varying ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Which is the right one? Well, that's for you to decide, and that's what this book is about.The author does a great job of explaining all the complex machinery in simple terms. The book covers aperture, shutter speed, how to adjust your shooting in different light situations (backlight, sidelight, front light, etc.), and more. There is minimal technical jargon and lots of examples and illustrations to help you follow along -- this combination is what makes the book work because you can see what effect the author is describing.In short, a great investment for any photographer. Shooting in manual is like driving a manual car: challenging at first, but once you get a hang of it, it's hard to let go of the control and the satisfaction.p.s. yes, the book is very much focused on "getting it right in the camera", but even if you always shoot in raw, there are still plenty of great tips here for how to think about light, composition, and the effect that you're after.

I chose this book to be my first book for learning photography after I bought my DSLR (Nikon D90). I just entered to the world of photography and everything was new to me. So, when I started reading this book, I found many concepts were explained nicely, and some of the concepts could be explained better.The best chapters I found are Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO.The chapter on LIGHT is ok.To my point of view, the chapters those could be improved were : Flash, 18% Reflectance, White Balance, HDR.Brian explained Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO very good, no complain about it at all. And as these three things contributes to the exposure, the Title for the book made valid judgment. But, he also covered White Balance, Reflective Light-Metering And The 18% Reflectance, HDR, Flash,.. which were not explained well. Again, as this book is already titled 'Understanding Exposure', I should not complain, but I am just giving a little feedback. I really could not get the White Balance concept at all from this book. After some failed attempt to grasp White Balance concept, finally I understood what is White balance from internet blogs. At the end of the book, he covered Flash. I really felt hopeless when I was reading that chapter. I wish I did not attempt to read that 'Flash' chapter at all. He explained Flash in 2-3 pages, that was really overkill for me. I was really struggling to understand why and when I would need Flash, what is the correlation between Photographic Triangle and flash. Later, I bought his book 'Understanding Flash Photography: How to Shoot Great Photographs Using Electronic Flash' which satisfied me in the fullest. Actually, Flash is a broad concept, it needs a dedicated book, but as a beginner, it was confusing me a lot from his Exposure book's 2-3 page short notes.Brian covered HDR in this book. Same like Flash, HDR is a broad concept which needs more examples and details, maybe a dedicated book. From his writing, as a beginner, I could not make any sense about what is HDR. I got the HDR concept later from reading internet blogs as well.The Chapter on LIGHT was not bad. But I wish the author provided some diagram on what is Front Lighting, what is Back lighting and what is Side Lighting. A diagram is better than thousand words of explaining what is Front Lighting/Back Lighting/Side Lighting. When I read this chapter for the first time, I was confused. After a while when I read some other books and internet blogs, and came back to this book and read the chapter about Light, it made good sense to me. Maybe as an absolute beginner, I found that chapter little bit confusing at the first time. So, I cant say, this chapter was bad. But as I said, some diagrams with pointing how light casts shade from angle could help better for the beginners.The Bottom Line: In order to understand just the 'EXPOSURE', as a beginner, this book could not be better. I am happy that I bought this book.