Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book for learning photography
Review: Anyone who had some years of schooling can probably reckon that there are two kinds of teachers: one who make simple subjects complex and mysterious, and one who make complex subjects simple and intuitive. Mr. Bryan Peterson belongs to the second kind, as he illustrates photography in this book of spaciously and strategically arranged subjects.Reading the book is like listening to an old friend talking about his new found love for photography while trying to show you how easy it all is. Is there a more delightful way to learn something? The included photographs are beautiful and support the text wonderfully. And the author makes them seem so easy to do. While reading the book, you cannot help getting the urge to go out and make some pictures of your own. I did, using an old mechanical camera, when I took some of my most memorable photographs. It was a few years back when I first read the book. Today I still occasionally browse through the chapters and enjoy looking at the photographs and reading the accompanying text. I am surprised how much the modestly titled book actually taught me, and how it made the introduction such a short and fun filled journey. There are many books about photography available in any library or bookstore. Many of them are good I'm sure. But I feel very lucky to have started with this one.
Rating:
Summary: Best book for beginner
Review: Bryan Peterson did a wonderful job explaining basics of photography such as F-stops, shutter speed, depth of field, etc. in a very easy to understand way, and there are many great pictures to illustrate how to achieve success by using simple techniques introduced in the book. A Must Read for beginners.
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Summary: Its Finally Clear...
Review: I had read many many photography books and manuals (including the wonderful National Geographic Field Guides). While all of them explained in detail all there is to know about exposure, it was dificult for me to retain all this information in my head and take it to the field. This book finally help me with that. It helped me to create a clear mental image of all the elements of exposure and how they work together. Now I know (almost automatically) how to compensate each element of exposure (aperture; shutter speed; and film speed) with the others, as well as to determine how they work technically and aestetically together. If you feel that you have learned the basics of photography but are insecure about your knowledge of exposure, just buy this book. Very Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: great book to buy
Review: i recommend this book it is simple and easy to understand and is down to earth written . it explains all the technical wording used by photographers in detail so you know what hes talking about. he gives good advice and good ideas to try out and tells you exactly how to do it. its a must for a beginner starting out trying to learn everything about photography. has plenty of pictures that hes taken that are beautiful.
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Summary: Happy that I bought this book...
Review: This book was actually recomended to me to understand taking better picture. I could not keep this book down and wait to try the different techniques. The author is so encouraging that anyone can take better picture with reasonably priced camera. Overall it is a great book for a beginner like me.
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Summary: Wonderful book - just buy it!
Review: This book is great. It discusses aperture, shutter speed and film and their relationship to each other. It contains some amazing photographs with exlainations of how they were achieved including the reasoning behind the choices. In many places he has multiple pictures showing the differences between the exposure choices. He explains things which I have read about before but in such a way that it sticks in my mind and I can remember when I'm out in the field.
Rating: 
Summary: If you don't understand exposure, you will after this book
Review: This is a great book for anyone who's looking to learn how to use their camera instead of letting their camera use them. I used to take all my photos on auto. I knew how to compose and how to focus on the correct object, but that's about it. After that, I just press the button hoping and praying that the picture will turn out how I saw it. But nope, most of the time they don't. I blamed it on my lousy camera and thought I'd have to start saving up for one of those 'professional' cameras and light meters. Then along came this book and saved me. It taught me how to take pictures with my camera, instead of letting the camera take the pictures for me. A good part of this book is devoted to setting the correct aperture, and secondly, the shutter speed. Master those two and you're 90% there. Bryan Peterson is fabulous at putting things in plain English and using everyday analogies that really make sense. His explanations are so clear that I've only had to read this book once through and I totally understand AND remember everything. I haven't had to refer back to it to know what to do - I really understand the stuff, instead of just learning things by heart. Most importantly, I know how to make my camera work for me now. (It wasn't the camera's fault after all - it's the person behind the camera. :)) Peterson is also great in that he does not use fancy-schmanzy "professional" stuff. He teaches you to use the light meter in your camera, and he is fond of regular slide film that you can get anywhere. If he can take such fabulous pictures with such basic equipment, well then so can I! At no time did I feel that he could only take those pictures because he's a pro. There are a few drawbacks to this book. What I thought was really missing is a chapter on flash photography. Peterson states his preference for available light, but to me, there are some situations when a flash (or at least fill-in) would do much to remedy the situation. I consider using flash to be a real basic topic that anyone who wants to learn about exposure should know about. That is not included in this book. Also, I suppose because Peterson is a professional photographer, he mainly uses fixed focal-length lenses and no zooms. He does not discuss lenses, which I think is something very important at this stage. For example, with zoom lenses, there are 'sweet spots' at certain focal lengths and apertures, and we should know how to take advantage of this. This book was published in 1990, so some of the terminology is a bit antiquated. There are terms like "advance your film". :) Also, nothing about digital photography, but the basics are there, and that's what this book is about - the basics. Of exposure. How to get the right exposure in every situation. If that's what you want to learn, you will definitely learn it with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Overwhelming Clarity!
Review: Having read many, many photography books to better understand proper exposure, Bryan Peterson delivers crystal clear techniques and methods that will help anyone improve their camera skills. Peterson notes that even advanced students with extensive photography experience profess greater understanding of exposure after reading his simple, but effective explanations. I've personally found this to be true. Having shared the book with several friends, their reactions have been equally emphatic. Buy this book and you may have trouble keeping it in your library!
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Summary: Beautiful Photos!
Review: This book has wonderful pictures and contains the right time, light and exposure to make those photos happen. The only problem is that the author freely admits to having taken fourteen, twenty, thirty rolls of film for one fantastic shot. Sure, they're classics- but who has that kind of money or that kind of time? Not me. The best part about this book is that it makes you feel like, "Oh, man- I could do that- easy!" And I think that is what the author is trying to convey. But 600 shots of your neice to make one saleable photo? That's a little extreme.
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Summary: THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK
Review: I'll keep this review short and sweet. This book is an excellent book to have on your bookshelf as well as an excellent resource for all camera users. I have only recently begun to get back into Photography and I found all the jargon such as f/stops, apertures, shutter speeds, depth of field, using slides or negatives and bracketing for correct exposure while having to stand on your head with your elbow pointing to the sun at a 90 degree angle to all be a little confusing (I'm only kidding about that last bit :) ).
So after reading other books that tried to explain all these terms, I found it refreshing to find a book like this that actually does explain all of this and more properly and easily without having to attain a science degree to understand.
So, I can safely say that this book taught me almost everything about taking photos and it did it such an easy fashion that it leaves a lot of other books to shame while not making you feel like a moron. Congrats to an author that wrote a much needed book that caters both to novices and professional alike. This book will definitely come in handy to all photographers and I would recommend it to you all.
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