Introduction 1 About This Book 2 How This Book Is Organized 2 Part 1: Fast Track to Super Snaps 2 Part 2: Taking Your Photography to the Next Level 3 Part 3: Pro Tips for Capturing Specific Subjects 3 Part 4: After the Shot 4 Part 5: The Part of Tens 4 Beyond the Book 4 Icons Used in This Book 4 Where to Go from Here 5 Part 1: Fast Track to Super Snaps 7 Chapter 1: Choosing the Right Camera 9 Choosing the Right Level of Camera 10 How much control do you want? 12 How important is picture quality? 15 Do you want to use multiple lenses? 20 Looking at Lenses 23 Camera compatibility 24 Lens focal length 24 Prime versus zoom lenses 27 Lens aperture range 27 Minimum focusing distance 29 Lens weight and size 29 Lens quality 30 Reviewing a Few Final Camera Features 31 Shooting modes 31 Image stabilization 32 Viewfinder: Optical or electronic? 33 Video-recording capabilities 34 Memory-card features 35 Convenience features 36 So Is It Time for a New Camera? 37 Chapter 2: Starting Out Right: Setup Do''s and Don''ts 39 Preparing the Camera 40 Buying and using memory cards 40 Preserving battery power 44 Working with interchangeable lenses 45 Choosing Initial Camera Settings 49 Selecting the exposure (shooting) mode 49 Setting the shutter-release mode 51 Setting photo resolution 55 Setting the file type (JPEG or Raw) 61 Looking at a Few More Setup Options 68 Chapter 3: Shooting Your First Photos (and Movies) 71 Looking at Automatic Shooting Modes 72 Shooting in Auto Mode 72 Stepping Up to Scene Modes 78 Portrait mode 79 Landscape mode 80 Close-up mode 81 Sports mode 81 Recording Movies in Auto Mode 82 Enabling movie mode 83 Reviewing recording settings 84 Recording a movie in Auto mode 87 Part 2: Taking Your Photography to The Next Level 89 Chapter 4: Starting to See Like a Photographer 91 Exploring Composition Basics 92 Dead center is deadly boring 92 Create movement through the frame 95 Eliminate clutter 97 Leave some "head room" 98 Using Depth of Field to Artistic Advantage 99 Capturing Motion: To Blur or Not to Blur? 102 Becoming a Student of Light 104 Exploring New Subjects and Angles 106 Find a new angle 106 Notice reflections, patterns, and textures 106 Look beyond the usual suspects 107 Chapter 5: Taking Control of Exposure 109 Understanding Exposure 110 Introducing the exposure trio: Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO 110 Doing the exposure balancing act 118 Adjusting f-stop, Shutter Speed, and ISO 119 Taking advantage of exposure guides 120 Changing the Metering mode 124 Using "priority" exposure modes 125 Adjusting Autoexposure Results 127 Applying exposure compensation 127 AE Lock (autoexposure lock) 129 Expanding Tonal Range 129 Bracketing Exposures 133 Chapter 6: Adding Flash and Other Lights 135 Enabling and Disabling Built-In Flash 136 Comparing Built-In and External Flashes 138 Pros and cons of built-in flashes 138 Pros and cons of external flash heads 140 Adjusting Flash Power 143 Exploring Special Flash Modes 145 Flash with red-eye reduction 145 Slow-sync flash 146 Rear-curtain sync 147 Improving Outdoor Photos with Flash 150 Considering Continuous Lighting 152 Setting Up a Small Lighting Studio 153 Looking at Simpler (and Cheaper) Lighting Setups 158 Chapter 7: Manipulating Focus and Color 161 Understanding Autofocus Options 161 Enabling autofocus 162 Locating your camera''s focus points 163 Selecting a focus point or zone 164 Choosing focus lock or continuous AF 167 Using the right autofocus technique 169 Focusing Manually 171 Diagnosing Focus Problems 172 My entire picture is blurry 172 The wrong thing is in focus 175 Moving subjects are blurry 177 The camera won''t focus at all 178 Playing with Depth of Field 179 Controlling Color 184 RGB: A new way of thinking about color 184 Choosing between sRGB and Adobe RGB 185 Using white balance to adjust color 187 Looking at Picture Presets 191 Shooting Raw for More Color Control 193 Part 3: Pro Tips For Capturing Specific Subjects 195 Chapter 8: Shooting Frame-Worthy Portraits 197 Starting with a Classic Portrait Recipe 198 Creating Good Portrait Lighting 204 Shoot indoor portraits by window light 205 Catch light with a reflector 205 Lessen the chances of red-eye in flash portraits 207 Try slow-sync flash for softer flash lighting 210 Shoot a subject in silhouette 212 Use flash to fill in shadows outdoors 213 Building a Better Backdrop 215 Capturing More Memorable Portraits 217 Chapter 9: Photographing Action 221 Choosing an Action Plan 222 Freezing Action 223 Following the classic action recipe 223 Shooting subjects "moving in place" 233 Improving your odds of freezing action 235 Blurring Motion 240 Panning for Cool Background Effects 243 Chapter 10: Taking in the Scenery 245 Reviewing a Few Basics 246 Composition is critical 246 Lens focal length matters (a lot) 249 Remember the impact of depth of field 251 Pick the right exposure mode 252 Pack a lens filter (or two or three) 254 Taking a Panoramic View 260 Photographing Tall Structures 264 Catching the Night Lights 266 Capturing Small Wonders 270 Part 4: After The Shot 275 Chapter 11: Discovering Cool Playback Features 277 Switching to Playback Mode 277 Adjusting the Playback Display 278 Getting a Close-Up Look at a Photo 280 Displaying Thumbnails and Calendars 281 Viewing Shooting Settings (Metadata) 281 Reading histograms 282 Displaying highlight alerts ("blinkies") 283 Rating, Protecting, and Deleting Files 284 Rating files 284 Protecting photos 285 Deleting files 286 Checking Out In-Camera Editing Tools 287 Viewing Photos on a TV 288 Chapter 12: Downloading, Editing, and Sharing Photos 291 Sorting through Photo Software 292 Basic (and free) programs 292 Advanced (and not free) options 294 Downloading Your Images 296 Looking at connection options 296 Completing the download process 298 Preserving Your Files 301 Converting Raw Files 302 Looking at Your Printing Options 305 Avoiding Printing Pitfalls 306 Checking resolution: Do you have enough pixels? 306 Getting print and monitor colors in sync 308 Preparing Pictures for Online Sharing 311 Sizing photos for screen display 311 Saving files in the JPEG format 312 Part 5: The Part of Tens 313 Chapter 13: Ten Fixes for Common Photo Flaws 315 Discover a Few Easy Exposure Fixes 315 Take Steps to Avoid Blurry Pictures 318 Scan the Frame Before You Shoot 319 Blur a Busy Background 320 Level the Horizon 321 Crop Away Excess Background 323 Solve Color Miscues 325 Turn Down the Noise 326 Deal with Dust Spots and Lens Flare 326 Watch Out for Weird Halos 327 Chapter 14: Ten Accessories to Enhance Your Photography 329 Invest in a Good Camera Bag 330 Pick a Sturdy Tripod 331 Consider Smaller Stability Solutions 332 Find a More Comfortable Camera Strap 333 Get a Better View of Your Monitor 334 Download Some Cool Apps 335 Calibrate Your Monitor with Precision 337 Dive In with a Waterproof Housing 338 Treat Your Wrist to a Graphics Tablet 339 Pick Up a Portable Printer 339 Index 341.