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We didn’t come up with that title. We’re not saying it’s a bad one—we’d be the last ones to ask. When a publisher decides what to call a book, you can be sure that they know exactly what they’re doing. And the title does say what this book is about—no questions there. A Teen Guide to Insects or Look! It’s Teens! wouldn’t quite cover it from our point of view. I doubt my suggestion of Avocados and Mangos would have gotten past Dave, much less the publisher. It’s the “for teens” part that’s throwing me off. When I was a teen (not too terribly long ago), I was always suspicious of that particular qualifier. I was big into comic books in those days, and every now and then, the comics publishers would come out with a new line of titles “just for kids,” or so it said on the covers. I stayed away from those books like I would a radiation leak. None of that kids’ stuff for me, if you please! I required a more sophisticated, more literary comic, something along the lines of an Amazing Spider-Man, with people in costumes clobbering each other. I always hated being seated at the kids’ table, too. What, a guy doesn’t shave, and he’s a second-class citizen?
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A great photograph begins when you recognize a great scene orsubject. But recognizing a great opportunity isn’t enough to captureit; you also have to be prepared. A large part of being preparedinvolves understanding your camera well enough to capture what you see.Getting you prepared to see and capture great photographs is what this bookis all about. It doesn’t matter if you are taking pictures for business or plea-sure, there’s a lot here to help you get better results and more satisfactionfrom your photography.
To get better, and possibly even great photographs, you need to understandboth concepts and procedures; the “whys” and “hows” of photography.
¦ Concepts of photography are the underlying principles that apply regard-less of the camera you are using. They include such things as how sharpnessand exposure affect your images and the way they are perceived by viewers.Understanding concepts answers the “why” kinds of questions you mighthave about photography.
¦ Procedures are those things specific to one kind of camera, and explainstep-by-step how you set your camera’s controls to capture an image just theway you want. Understanding procedures gives you the answers to the“how” kinds of questions you might have.
This book is organized around the concepts of digital photography becausethat’s how photographers think. We think about scenes and subjects, high-lights and shadows, softness and sharpness, color and tone. The proceduresyou use with the Canon EOS Digital Rebel, called the EOS 300D in somecountries, are integrated throughout the concepts, appearing in those placeswhere they apply. This integrated approach lets you first understand theconcepts of photography and then see step by step how to use the DigitalRebel in all kinds of photographic situations.
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