The Step-By-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros. by Scott Kelby
Let me start by saying I was first introduced to Scott Kelby via the Photoshop TV videocast. A free educational show put out to help people learn the awesomeness that is Photoshop. He has my complete respect for that.
This book however, is not fantastic. The target audience is rather inconsonant. It’s clearly not targeted for Pro’s. The book muddles between extreme beginners and avid hobbyist without direction. Towards the beginning, Scott Kelby mentions the book is written as if you and he were out on a photo shoot, but the book starts off with a very, “I’m better than you…” (he is) “and you need to do this!” But often leaves out the explanation of why.
I enjoyed Scott Kelby on Photoshop TV but his humor style is better fit for TV because it was weak banana sauce on paper. The sections are like small magazine “tip” articles so when half of it is bad humor there is little room for teaching.
The beginning of the book goes over all the expensive equipment you have to buy to look like a pro. Now personally I am just getting into still photography but have been dealing with video for years. So I’ve had it dug pretty deep into my monkey brain that content is king and you don’t always need an expensive ball head for your tripod to capture good content. The section felt like if I did not have this equipment, I would never be a Pro… while that may be true (I certainly LOVE my video tripod) I think this could be re-written to come across in a more ‘buddy on a photo shoot’ kinda way. On a positive note, the equipment is recommended in a three tier bracket, low-, med-, high-end budgets.
On to the bulk of the content. Chapters 2-6 are How to Shoot (insert topic) Like a Pro.
Then each page is generally a tip on the subject. There is some good tips in here and I would say the book starts to pick up a bit of steam. I’m the kind of monkey that if I spend a few hours reading a book and get ONE tip, method, or even a keyboard short cut out of it that I use a few times a day… it was worth it. What I don’t like is the titles… how to shoot like a pro. If it was titled something along the generic lines of ‘quick tips on better photography’ or ‘don’t suck so bad when shooting flowers’ I would be way cool with this book.
How to shoot Sports Like a Pro should be titled, skip this section because you cannot afford it. The first quarter of this chapter talks about how expensive the equipment is you need. Simply put, this is the worst section of the book. Summary: If you bought this $20 book, you are going to be shooting sports, it’s too expensive. Be where the action is (wow, thanks for that one, here is a banana) and use a monopod, for motion use the pan method taught in the wedding dance section (imagine if he would have taught us why instead of tell us what to do… we could have actually applied that knowledge in the sports scene).
Chapter 9 is on Taking Travel & City Life Shots Like a Pro… to me this is the best chapter in the book. Good tips and the content can hold its own. Tips on what to do when a location has been shot a million times before you got there and focusing on detail rather than everything in your eye’s view are a couple of good pages.
Summary
Chapters 1-6 did have a few tips that I will use, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. It felt like so much was left out and the glimpses of good content left me to wonder if Scott Kelby needs to hire a different editor or perhaps focus on less subject matters and put more detail in. This book feels like a collection of magazine articles, which are fine as quick broad tips but not as a book. Using the word “Pro” so loosely in this book is an epic FAIL to me, you will not read this book and shoot like a pro… you will have tips to improve your photography but hold off on that Sports Illustrated Photography resume, read another book. It retails for $20 which isn’t going to break the bank but I’d look at other options. For example Digital Photography Techniques – Autumn 2008 covers 90% of whats in this book, and has some content that Scott does not cover.
I rate it: 2 out of 5 ninja stars (but not tact sharp stars)
