Photo Nuts and Shots: Tools and Techniques for Creative Photography – eBook Review

Photo Nuts and Shots: Tools and Techniques for Creative Photography

Photo Nuts and Shots is a second book in Photo Nuts series, building on your knowledge of the camera obtained from the first book: Photo Nuts and Bolts, and turning your attention to creative process, and photography mindset in order to help you become a better photographer. While the Photo Nuts and Bolts focused on the inner workings of the camera, Photo Nuts and Shots goes beyond technical skills, and more into the art realm, which is something not many other photography biased books do.

Too many beginner photographers today focus on photography techniques, yet they forget that technique serves a higher purpose which is to convey a message, or tell a story. This e-book sets the record straight as it teaches the photographer “How to see”, and therefore gain a better understanding on the quality of light, basic composition techniques as well as gives some practical exposure tips.

The e-book is organized in several chapters: The first two will teach you how to learn photography and how to see, while the third will be entirely devoted to the quality of light. Here you will learn everything you need to know about the brightness, position, size, color, and many more important qualities of light that directly affect the mood and atmosphere in your photos. The following two chapters will dwell more into composition techniques and practical exposure tips, as well as helping you get the sharpest photo possible. Final chapters will focus on Creativity and on-location thought process, revealing what is going on in the mind of a photographer when on a shoot. The book is well illustrated, and the examples provided help understand the the message authors were trying to convey.

We particularly liked the quality of light section, as  understanding just this basic concept can make a huge difference in terms of the mood and feel of your photos. Also, some interesting tips in on-location thought process will help you think more about the message that you are trying to convey, instead of just happily snapping the shutter button. That is the key step from taking a photo towards making a photo. Authors claim that Photo Nuts and Shots will help you:

• Learn to harness light to convey emotion.
• Understand the rules of composition … and know when to break them.
• Take the sharpest possible photo every time.
• Learn to adapt the camera’s exposure to produce the shot you want.
• Master the concepts of shot perception, planning, and execution — in any setting.
• Tap into your unique creativity to take evocative photographs that reach out to viewers.

After reading the book, we believe that they have delivered on their promise, and are happy to recommend this book to DPStudent readers. You can buy Photo Nuts and Shots for $19.99 through Digital Photography School.

Tags: composition, creativity, exposure, mindset

Category: Beginners Photography, Photography Books