Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)

Understanding Exposure

How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)

by Bryan Peterson
(based on 492 customer reviews)

Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition) (Paperback)
Edition: Revised
Author: Bryan Peterson
Publisher: Amphoto Books


List Price: $25.95
Amazon's Price: $17.13
You save: $8.82 (34%)

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Most useful review as voted by customers:
622 out of 633 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 9/17/04


A fantastic learning tool!

A friend loaned me the older version of this book, and I was amazed at how much help it provided. Even though the old book was based around film cameras, the fundamentals that were taught and the example pictures were very, very helpful. This book is an almost complete update, with most sections rewritten, several new subsections added with specific information for digital users, and has a slew of new example photographs.

This book is even better than the old edition, and expands on some of the topics that were only briefly touched on in the first book. One in particular that sticks out in my mind is that he explains the "don't care" apertures of F8 and F11 that he uses often. The old book mentioned it in passing, but I don't recall an explanation on why those apertures were useful. There is a short section on just that in this book and suggestions on when to use them.

Full color photos are used throughout the book, and are a great help in understanding the concepts that he talks about. Each picture has a caption with the information used to take the exposure. He shows you the same picture with different settings so you can see the effects the settings have on the exposure.

I find the book pleasant and easy to read. The tone and writing are very agreeable and easy to follow. While some aspects are technical, they are written in a manner that makes them easily understandable.

This is all about how to capture the image, not processing of the image after it is captured. There is brief mention of pushing or pulling film and the effects it can create, but in general, this is about how to get take a proper picture. If you are looking for a book on how to process the picture after you have taken it, this is not the book for you.

I can not recommend this book enough if you are interested in photography. I don't know how useful it would be for professionals, but for the person just starting out or serious amateur, I can't see how you could go wrong with this. While all of the information can be applied to SLR cameras (film or digital), the majority of it can be applied to the point and shoot cameras of either variety as well.

458 out of 465 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/26/04


Outstanding Information for Photographers

If you are trying to learn more about how to properly use exposure (i.e. aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) this is a fantastic book to begin with. It informs for the film and digital photographer. I have been taking photos for many years, but it has only been over the past couple of years that I became more of a professional. Despite this, I still struggled to understand some of the concepts such as the difference between a good exposure and a "creatively correct exposure" and what options I had.

You learn how to expose for front-lit, back-lit, side-lit scenes, overcast skys, macro photography, motion, stationery objects, how to expose for bright scenes such as snow (grey card & 18% grey) and dark scenes such as night photography...you name it. Then Bryan Peterson tops it off with a sections on metering, special techniques and filters, and an analysis of film vs digital cameras.

Understanding Exposure not only explained the basics in a conversational manner, but is also informed me of how the pros work and how to step up my photography to a higher level.

This book has hands-on exercises that anyone can go through so that the reader has experience of all of the methods explained. Along with this, the book is FULL of color photos that show exactly what the end result could be. Where applicable, there are comparisons of before and after exposure adjustments so the reader may understand WHY they should make such changes.

Where there is a difference between adjustments for digital versus film cameras, Bryan Peterson gives you the specifics of the difference and haw to adjust for it.

It is a book every photographer should have!

125 out of 150 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 5/8/06


informative, though quirky

UNDERSTANDING EXPOSURE offers a solid introduction to principles for creating informed exposures. I've been taking photographs for years, but everything I've learned I picked up from experience. I thought, for the heck of it, I'd buy a book and see if I was missing something. In the end, it was worth the read, I learned a few tips, and found some inspiration to experiment.

The book, however, is not without its quirks.

On the positive side, the author does a curiously good job offering advice on formal decisions. While I don't agree with all of his judgments, I certainly applaud the effort and feel his comments are completely appropriate for the general public. Aesthetics can be tricky.

The book is filled with the authors photographs, ranging from the amazing to the sappy. I enjoyed his descriptions and explanations, telling how he took many of the shots. I just wish he left out his licensing fees. Pointing out how many thousands he made from the various shots is really crass. I already bought your book... you don't need to show-boat. Strangely, a handful of pictures are of his wife, and I found myself wincing at most of them. Particularly given his descriptions. Sadly, we're obviously not looking at the same woman.

Lastly, for all of the author's thoroughness, his explanation and discussion of ISO, in my opinion, is lacking. At the start of the book he explains that ISO is one of the three main parts to taking a correct exposure. Aperture and shutter speed get their own sections, but for ISO the author only offers a condescending "busy bee" metaphor... until 5 pages from the end of the book where he finally gives ISO a page. He explains the ISO value is the light sensitivity, but I don't remember him mentioning anywhere at what -cost- that sensitivity comes. For instance, it should say the faster the film and more light sensitive, the grainier the resulting image. There's a very grainy, low-light example in the book but grain itself isn't addressed.

How could anyone leave that out?

43 out of 48 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 8/28/04


A "Must Read" for Learning Photography

Kudos to Bryan Peterson on the release of this long-awaited update to his 1990 classic, Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs. I've been recommending the original edition of this book to my DIGITAL photography students and on-line forum buddies for several years now, even though the original edition pre-dates the "digital photography" revolution. This new edition includes all the essential information from the earlier edition and brings it completely up-to-date with the inclusion of how this information is relevant to digital photography.

Who should buy this book? This is a book for those interested in photography who want to take their photography to the next level. This book is for the hobbyist who is mostly using the camera's automatic settings, but is interested in using more of the camera's manual and semi-automatic modes to get better results. The author does a superb job of teaching the fundamentals of exposure in a simple and very easy to understand manner. This is usually an intimidating topic, but Mr. Peterson teaches it using every day language and examples. In no time, the reader will understand how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO are manipulated to get the right exposure and the desired photographic results.

Beyond this, the author teaches the reader how to "approach" almost every conceivable photographic opportunity using the camera's semi-automatic modes (mostly aperture-priority). So not only does he teach the fundamentals of HOW exposure works, but he teaches WHEN to use one approach over another to achieve desired results. This alone is worth the price of the book!

This book is beautifully written and generously illustrated with over 150 original color images from the author. The images really bring the concepts to life and are a source of inspiration for the reader.

Who should not buy this book? If you are a seasoned photographer who has mastered the subject of exposure and is well versed in the use of aperture-priority, manipulation of depth of field, and metering, this book will be too basic for your learning needs.

Again, kudos to Bryan Peterson on the release of this fine book. I am among the thousands of photographers who are very appreciative to Bryan for changing the way we approach a given photo opportunity and have taken our photography to the "next level."

Sincerely,

jim henderson (the sandman on the forums)





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