Guide to Digital Photography

If you clicked on this from your blog reader thing (yes, that's what I call mine) because you thought it was a clever title and wondered what book I would be reviewing, well...I have some good news and some bad news. 

The good news is I have a very funny quote for you from the book. Wait for it...

The bad news is this is a review of The Nikon Guide to Digital Photography with the D40 Digital Camera. 

Here's the quote in case you don't want to get to the end:

When operating the viewfinder diopter control with your eye to the viewfinder, care should be taken not to put your finger in your eye accidentally. 

Thank you Nikon!  I don't know what I would do without your sage advice. 

The above quote appears not once, but twice in this dry read of a book.  And without that quote, I don't think I could have made it through the rest of the book.  "Why?" you ask did I read this.  Because we just had a beautiful (I can say that, right?) baby and I would like to be able to take better pictures of her.  In my quest for beautiful pictures I came across a blog series from October of last year about getting better photos.  I have not completed the series, but the first assignment was to read the owner's manual for my camera. 

The result?  I know very little more about shooting better pictures than I did when I started, but I do have a working knowledge of each tiny part of my machine.  Sadly, I did not understand half the stuff they talked about.  This left me with the feeling that I should take a professional photog course at the the local community college; but as a new mom, I think I will work my way through the blog series instead. 

Here's hoping I take some better shots in the future.   Oh, and although my fellow photog blogger recommends reading the owner's manual - I can't recommend it the way I would other books.  Maybe you could do a drinking game for every time the manual writer wrote a "this is common sense and you, reader would be an idiot to do what I just told you not to do but I am covering my butt for the legal department" sentence.  Yeah, that would make it more fun. 

Rating: 3 out of 7, but only because it is tabbed (I like a sense of order in my owner's manuals).

-L