It's guaranteed: this all-in-color, oversized, incredibly priced manual on digital photography will be a best seller. Author Jeff Wignall has already won a legion of fans with The Joy of Photography, and this new work will capitalize on that franchise. Wignall encourages photographers of all skill levels; his easy-to-grasp explanations of technique and equipment, and his inspirational attitude distinguish The Joy of Digital Photography from any other digital manual. Everything is covered: digital vision; digital tools (cameras, lenses, accessories); common problems and solutions; exposure and flash; working with light; handling weather seasons and mood; travel and landscape photography; portraiture; sports photography; post-production, including seeing, sharing, and storing digital images; basic desktop printing; the digital darkroom; a Photoshop primer; sharing the image; and much, much more. Annotation. From the author of the highly successful third edition of The Joy of Photography comes the biggest, the best, the most amazingly priced full-color guide to digital photography ever published. It is a must-have for any photographer who owns a digital camera and, with 46 million of these cameras sold just last year, that means big sales. A practical handbook on digital photography for photographers of all skill levels furnishes a close-up look at digital cameras and accessories, travel and landscape photography, exposure and light, portraiture, sports photography, post-production, image editing, sharing and storing digital images, working with Photoshop, and other useful topics.

Includes index.

The joy of digital photography is ... -- Exploring the digital frontier -- Dancing with your creative muse -- Perfecting your vision -- Creating prints fit for a gallery -- Sharing pictures to amuse and amaze your friends -- Celebrating the family album -- Joining a global photo community -- 1. The camera revisited -- Introduction -- How digital cameras take pictures -- Pixels, megapixels and some old math -- Pixels and image quality -- Buying a digital camera -- Types of digital cameras -- Basic compact camera -- Advanced compact zoom camera -- Prosumer camera -- Digital SLR -- Digital film -- Types of digital memory cards -- How much memory do you need? -- Caring for memory cards -- Transferring pictures to the computer -- Camera accessories -- Tripods and monopods -- Ball heads vs. pan-tilt heads -- Camera bags -- Portable digital storage devices -- Electronic flash part I -- Electronic flash part II, flash modes -- Electronic flash part III, accessory flash -- A look at lenses -- Focal length characteristics -- Digital technology timeline -- 2. Taking great digital pictures -- Introduction -- Getting to know your camera -- Choosing a file format -- JPEG -- TIFF and RAW -- Setting ISO speed -- Setting white balance -- Camera handling -- Hold the camera steady -- Use a tripod -- Focus carefully -- Battery management -- Measuring the light -- Exposure and exposure modes -- Basic exposure modes -- Reciprocal exposure settings -- Exposing difficult subjects -- A depth-of-field primer -- A shutter speed primer -- Shutter lag -- Developing a shooting workflow. 3. Design -- Introduction -- Artistic arrangement -- Releasing your inner artist -- Let chaos reign -- Showcasing the main subject -- Elements of design -- Choosing a format -- Placing the horizon -- A sense of balance -- Simplicity -- A tapestry of lines, shapes, and textures -- Patterns and repetition -- Foreground frames -- The depth illusion -- A sense of scale -- 4. Light -- Introduction -- Time of day -- Light direction -- Light from the front -- Light from behind -- Light from the side -- Light from above -- The colors of daylight -- Going for the gold -- The quality of light -- Dramatic light -- Existing light indoors -- Outdoors at night -- Star trails -- 5. People -- Introduction -- Babies -- Kids -- Kids at play -- The reluctant subject -- Parents and kids together -- Candid portraits -- Capturing moods -- People at work -- Photographing weddings -- The ceremony -- The reception -- Group photography -- The organized group -- Casual groups -- Sports action -- Travel -- Picturing your travel companions -- The faces of strangers -- 6. Nature -- Introduction -- Landscapes -- The natural landscape -- Interpreting the land -- Beaches and shorelines -- Deserts -- Desert light -- Plant life -- Waterfalls -- Birds and animals -- Wildlife face to face -- Underwater -- Close-ups -- Taking close-ups with a digital camera -- Lighting for close-ups -- Focusing -- Weather -- Rain -- Snow -- Fog and mist -- Sunrise and sunset -- Rainbows -- Time passages. 7. The image enhanced -- Introduction -- Cropping -- Keeping things level -- Improving exposure -- Brightness/contrast -- Using levels -- Enhancing color -- Automatic correction -- Variations -- Hue/saturation -- Color balance -- Sharpening filters -- Cleaning scanned images -- Dust and blemishes -- The clone stamp -- Tears and creases -- Eliminating red-eye -- Replacing skies -- Black-and-white conversions -- Making selective corrections -- Making great selections -- Creative blur -- Selective blur -- Layers -- Adjustment layers -- Layers for composite images -- 8. Improvising on an idea -- Introduction -- Extreme color -- Hue and saturation -- Curves -- Gradient mapping -- Posterization -- Color infrared -- Filters -- Creative sky replacement -- Creative background replacements -- Shape distortions -- Combining images -- 9. The digital darkroom -- Introduction -- Choosing your computer -- Choosing a platform -- Organizing and maintaining your photo library -- Steps for staying organized -- Naming saved files -- Tracking an image -- A scanning primer -- Scanner resolution -- Making good quality scans -- Printing -- Preparing files for printing -- The checklist -- Use the right paper -- Getting your prints to match your monitor -- Your computer room -- Useful photographic Websites -- Glossary.