e-Book David Busch's Flash Photography Compact Field Guide (David Busch's Digital Photography Guides) download

It happens all the time, and I'm sure that I am not alone. You can be out on the street or in a public place with your camera, and it's almost a guarantee that someone will come up to you with questions about using a camera... and flash is one of those frequent topics. I bought this here, in fact, to carry in my camera bag for just those occasions.

As far as covering the basics go, David Busch's Flash Photography Compact Field Guide is a hard one to beat. It's an easy-to-follow guide that's a good one for any novice with a compact camera or new DSLR user who has found the camera or add-on flash manual to be woefully inadequate, as most of them are.

Here's my basic take on this Compact Field Guide...

Likes:

+ Excellent basic book; a true fast track into flash with a digital camera
+ Very generic info; useful for users with any brand or model camera
+ Good, concise coverage of flash usage; very up to date information
+ Spiral bound with a good cover design; easy to fold back when following topics
+ Loaded with color images directly linked to the topics in the pages
+ Excellent multi-level index in the back of the book

Dislikes:

- None

About the Guide:

The authors clearly know their subject here. David Busch is a well-known and respected author of photo books with more than 20 years experience as a roving photojournalist. The last of his books that I bought here, David Busch's Nikon Coolpix P7100 Guide to Digital Photography, has proven to be a personal essential. Ed Verosky is a professional photographer based in New York City, a frequent blogger who really know his craft.

Taking a look at the table of contents of this 128-page compact guide and you'll see that it's logically organized, and if you have a basic, fundamental knowledge of the controls on your camera, even with a digital compact, you won't get lost.

Chapters:

1: Quick Setup Guide
2: Flash Features, Controls, and Modes
3: Flash Gear and Accessories
4: Indoor Flash Photography
5: Outdoor Flash Photography
6: Shooting Tips

This book gets off to a very fast start right from the first chapter, and right there in the beginning are some good rules of thumb covering one of the most-overlooked items that new users seem to forget: batteries; what types are used, how many you need... and why. Also covered are the basics of through the lens (TTL)flash metering (i-TTL on Nikon, E-TTL on Canon) and why it works for you. The second chapter really gets into it with the hardware and features of flash units in general, and the third chapter walks you through the basics of direct flash and bounce flash.

The indoor and outdoor flash photography may cause you to want to grab your camera to try some of the creative techniques. But it's the final chapter, with its excellent shooting tips, that make the cost of this book a bargain. It also has an excellent index, and being spiral bound makes it easy to fold back when following specific topics or techniques.

Remember, this is not a specific guide for Nikon, Canon, Sony or any other DSLR brand; it's generic in its approach, and covers far more than you'll get from any basic instruction manual that comes with your camera or flash unit.

What it is, and what it isn't:

This is a Flash Photography Compact Field Guide. It's an excellent starting point for anyone just getting into flash photography; it's that simple. It's not a massive brand-specific tome for a studio or field photographer. A quick search here on Amazon will help you find plenty of those if that's what you're seeking.

By the way, if you like the way that the author puts things together, I have David Busch's Close-Up and Macro Photography Compact Field Guide, and it's an excellent basic guide on that topic. And I'm personally looking forward to the new David Busch's Portrait/Candid/Street Photography Compact Field Guide, as that's right up my alley, so to speak.

Summary:

Looking objectively at David Busch's Flash Photography Compact Field Guide, this is one of those up-to-date books that's truly an asset to those getting into flash photography. It's a great starting point for anyone considering doing this, and considering the bargain price, the Shooting Tips in Chapter 6 are alone worth the price of admission. This excellent title takes the confusion out of those topics that can be confusing and bewildering to the beginner, and is never condescending to the reader. For these reasons, I'll give this a 5-star recommendation as a great place to start with flash.

8/19/2012

A lot better than the manuals that come with your camera equipment. David explains thing in ways that even the most novice can understand. I love David's book and own several of them. I am very knowledgeable about cameras and photography; but, these are good to have for those moments when you get a little brain dead. It happens to the best of us.

This book is well written and easy to understand. I read the whole thing in one night and immediately it has helped improve my flash photography. I'm quite happy I bought it. The other nice thing about it is that it opens up and lays flat so you can leave it open while you're working to have a look and apply it to your shots.

DJ-RJ
Austin, TX
[...]

Great reference guide. It gets right to the meat and potatoes of using the flash in different scenarios.

Really like his manuals. Great tips and spiral bound for easy use and carrying.

Great tool

The general theory is OK - but the total reliance on only one brand of flash means the owners of other makes have to do further reading or research to make adjustments to their flash outputs. - You could not take this guide into the field as a sole reference book without understanding or taking the respective guide for your particular make of camera and flash units - unless you are a canon user!

I found the book easy to read. Having never ventured into flash photography, I've found this to be my indespensable guide into flash photography.