Textbook for Digital Photo 101

[BobDavid]

Hi, I am looking for an interesting, informative textbook that explains f/stop, shutter, ISO in a compelling manner for a course I'll be teaching at the local university. I realize this might not be the right forum to post this question, but I figured it would be a good place to start. The students will be using dSLRs, Photoshop CS3, and Epson wide-format printers. Since so many of the people that peruse this forum are professionals, I figure I'll get educated repsonses.

[terence_patrick]

Assuming your class is full of people who have never taken a photography course before, I'd go with the very basic topics:

-Camera handling & maintenance
-Exposure
-RAW vs JPG
-Controlling focus and DoF
-Composition, rule of 1/3s, portrait vs landscape framing, shooting high vs low, close vs far, etc
-Color theory, using color as a composition component
-Lens/focal length selection, prime vs zoom, "zooming with your feet"

Photoshop & printing is probably a whole other can of worms.

[Carsten W]

I don't know how traditional you want to keep it, but Ansel Adams' trilogy (The Camera, The Negative, The Print) are still some of the best (and most in-depth, if you want to read it all) introductory/intermediate/advanced books that I know. They don't treat digital, of course, so they will need to be supplemented for some more recent techniques, but they cover the basics extraordinarily well. You might get away with the first one, and then branch for digital, but even the second and third volume has the right kind of information to show how a photographic process is approached. I have several newer works, but I still return to these, even for digital.

[Jonathan H]

Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure is widely recognized as one of the best books for learning the "basics" ever published.

[DavidP]

I use
 Katrin Eismann. Real World Digital Photography,
Peachpit Press, 2nd Edition 2003
for a fundamentals of digital photography class that I teach, It is a good book, I wish it were updated though

[Robert Moore]

I highly recommend Digital Photography Masterclass by Tom Ang.

Very cogent discussion of basics and advanced topics. Each section ends with self-paced
shooting assignments that were conducted and then critiqued. Additional interviews with
young professionals rounds out the book.

Of the twenty some technique books that I have this is the most contemporary and compelling
book. Tom Ang lectured for 12 years at University of Westminster UK and is host of
a BBC TV program on Britian according to the books biography. It shows in the professional
approach he takes with all of the topics presented.

Book covers camera, composition, timing, color, light, digital darkroom and then has a section
devoted to photographic genre with relation to careers.

Bob

[marcwilson]

No text book explains the very technical basics of photography such as f stop, shutter speed, iso, etc as well as a very simple visual practical demonstration...that is one of the joys of a camera tethered to a laptop and digital projector...instant visualisation of what you are explaining and it works every time. Photography students are visual people so its great.
That alongside some printed handouts and away you go.

Marc

[ngophotographer]

Hi BobDavid:

From your request, I'm not sure what level of course or number of credit hours.  I would make the simple suggestion of searching on syllabi from other universities.  In addition, for a university course, I don't think "one book" will do it.

The book suggestions made above are very good.  I would add this to your list:
      Location Photography: Essential Skills by Mark Galer (Focus Press)

Its very practical-- teaches the basics, has the students do a lot of exercises and maintain a visual diary.

Good luck with the class.  More than likely, it will develop over a few semesters.

All the best,

NGOphotographer

[BobDavid]

Thanks for all of your thoughtful comments. I taught the class last semester using Photoshop CS3 Workflow by Tim Grey, which I think is quite good. I also used Black and White: A Basic Manual, 3rd edition, by Henry Hornstein, for a basic primer on cameras and photography. My students had a hard time with Hornstein. It was tough for them to make the leap from film to digital, even though the only chapters I required were ones that discussed the lense, shutter, and film sensitivity. I like Hornstein's book, but my students complained that it was too dry.

I agree with the earlier post about classroom demos. I give a lot of demos using a digital camera and a projector. But still, there is no substitute for the written word for reinforcement.