Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Boxed Set: The Step by Step Secrets for How to Make Your Own Photos Look Like the Pro's; Volumes 1 and 2

Kelby's photography books are hands down the most straightforward and immediately beneficial books available when it comes to digital Photography. The pages are filled with useful tips, real world applications, and great advice. If you just bought a new digital camera nothing will help your photography more quickly than picking up and reading his books. The first book is more generic and more basic but still provides plenty of useful advice. The second book is chock full of tips that even a seasoned pro would appreciate. In particular his studio lighting advice is invaluable. Also his tongue in cheek humor and style grabs you right from the beginning and makes it easy to read the book cover to cover. Plus once your done the books are designed with clear chapter headings so you can find that tip again when you need to get the shot.Before you buy that fancy lens your eying, or upgrade your flash, buy this book... then go out and buy a good tripod and a proper ball-head. The rest is practice experience, and occasionally a piece of equipment. Good luck, happy shooting, and enjoy the book.

Ok i have seen complaints about these books so here is the skinny from my view.....If you are an awesome photographer with years of experiance, these are not the books for you!!!Now if you are learning and getting started with this subject these both are a must read! You will not be bombarded with terms you dont understand. Its like what he says it is. Just a buddy telling you simply how to take the pictures you want. He explains the tools you might want to invest in, and how to get the type of shots you want. It is even entertaining. I laughed alot reading these books, they're filled with humor.I am just getting started in digital photography. These books where a HUGE help for me! I got some great shots, and learned about the nifty things my complicated camera can do. It gave me nudge and encouragement to learn more without overwhelming me. I can't wait for the next one!!!

I have read other books by Scott so when I saw this set I knew it would be a smart buy. He "talks" to you in his style of writing. He is a bit of a ham at times but truly gets the point across while injecting humor now and again. Many how to books will put you to sleep but this set shows you how to easily produce the shots the professional photographers create. I also love the ending chapters where Scott gives you the "recipe" for many shots and you can go out and try them for yourself with great success.I have been a Photoshop user for several years and have read several other books by Scott. I have never been disappointed by his books. This set is a great source for quick reference when I have ideas on a shot I wish to take. I am sure they have and will continue to quicken the process of going from a beginner to intermediate and even higher levels of photography.

Like many of you reading this review, I love my family and I love photography. So I no longer have days at a time to get smart on a topic. That is one of the reasons why I really like Scott Kelby's style of writing books that are digestible 30 minutes at a time. I have two of his books open right now. I'm taking better photos thanks to the suggestions in this book set. And I'm doing a better job editing thanks to his Lightroom book. If you have an SLR and are a relatively new photo enthusiast, you should consider this book set and Scott Kelby books in general. If you are an experienced photographer making the the transition from film, look elsewhere.

I have several books on photography, but this set is the best I've found. I'm an amateur photographer, and have been studying photography on and off for about 40 years. Nice to find such a good reference on shooting good photos...especially digital photos. This set would be great for someone just getting into digital photography, or an experienced photographer wanting to further develop his/her skills. Scott Kelby is an excellent author, and writes in a clear, easy-to-follow style that makes reading his books very informative, yet fun to read.

I purchased this set of books and enjoyed them tremendously. They provide a quick easy read with a ton of tips to give your photos that extra boost that makes them worthy of printing.What I found best about the books however, was their usefullness in giving others "that extra boost" to make their photos better....To explain: I took a three week vacation abroad with my daughters (ages 18 and 19) both of which are not too keen on reading books about photography. I equipped both girls with cameras because I knew this may be the last big trip we take together so I wanted to ensure we could preserve the memories.I packed the books in my carry-on for the multiple 8 hour flights and when the girls became bored I presented them with the books. They were both able to complete the books on the planes and both chattered and shared their new knowledge with each other.The best part: Unlike previous trips, their cameras came home filled with beautiful pictures!!! The easy tips presented in these books made it so the most novis of photographers could improve their shots! Thank You for giving my girls a bit of extra skill so that all three of us could bring home memories worthy of hanging on the wall!

Scott Kelby created a great digital photography guide when he wrote these series of books. Volum one and two gives photography information that is in plain english without the Technical jargon that most beginners don't undersand. The helpfull tips in the last chapter of these books are designed to get the potential photographer to create the same conditions and adjustments on their camera to obtain the same results as Scott did when he achieved the displayed photo on the particular page. I recomend these books to all who want to learn photography.

I purchased these books in the hope of getting some insights into the industry and the "secrets" it promises.As someone who has been into photography for 2 years, I will be honest I didnt learn a huge amount, but what I did learn was valuable all the same. Despite these books not being as valuable for me I can see that for a beginner they would be great.If you are new to photography, and want to go beyond simple snaps, it will really help you. These are the two books I consistently loan out to any friends who want to improve their photography. Lots of simple easy to understand tips, that really will make a difference if you follow them.If you are a more advanced photographer, or already own a lot of book, then it will mostly teach you things you already know.Hence 4 star for beginner, 3 star for more advanced (you will still learn something).

The photography version of Delia's how to cook! Perfect for the keen amateur photographer who knows the basics but want's to get the most out of their kit without spending a fortune or ploughing through a dull text book full of jargon and histograms.Stuffed full of useful practical information, these extremely easy to read books will not make you a pro but will definitely improve your photos even if you only pick up a handful of tips from them. They cover stuff like where to focus when portrait shooting, when to shoot a landscape, how to fix exposure issues, where to spend the big money and where you don't need to. You might be thinking well I know all that anyway in which case these prob aren't for you but I wouldn't mind betting there is something in there you will find useful too!

I bought this after reading good reviews on it and I'm glad I did. lots of useful advise and its put over in an enjoyable to read format-I actually like his sense of humour just wish I had his talent.(And money;)

i love that series it has so many nifty tricks and it is small enought to slip it in my backpack when I am on travel