Rating: 
Summary: One step closer to taking great pictures!
Review: Like most people who love to travel, I consider Photography as one of my favorite hobbies. I own a Minolta Xtsi SLR (24-200mm). While in most cases the automatic features allow me to take reasonable pictures, I always wanted to go one step further and understand how I take pictures - and this book helped me a lot! If you are an amateur photographer owning an SLR camera (Nikon/Canon/Minolta) with a reasonable zoom lens (28-200), then this book is a must for you. The author gives a wonderful explanation on exposure rules and techniques to go one step further to take great pictures. Once you are done with the book, you will have a clear understanding of f-stops, focal lengths, shutter speeds, Depth-of-Field, and all other gadgets that are there in your camera, which you have never bothered to use! Remember the numbers that are displayed inside the viewfinder when you take a picture? Well, it has some significance and this book tells you what it is! A MUST BUY FOR BUDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS.
Rating:
Summary: Great how-to book
Review: You know what shutter speed is what aperture is basically you know how to technically take pictures but you have diffuculty in composing it. How are you going to do it? When are you going to it? This book covers with samples such subjects in an easily readable format. If you do not want to spend much time, or you want to get the idea quickly just read the notes under pictures otherwise read the whole book.
Although I have a digital camera and a manual SLR topics covered apply to both types. Great practical book with great tips.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for beginners (but only for beginners)
Review: The book is relatively short on text (I read it cover to cover in two nights) but one of its strong points is that it has many good photographic illustrations of the concepts being discussed. If you need a basic course (or a refresher) on shutter speed, aperture, focal length etc and how they interact to make the final image then this book is for you. If you are an advanced photographer (which I admittedly am not) I think the book would be too basic. It is fairly repetitive, which helps to reinforce the basic concepts, but can be a bit tedious. One glaring weakness: I have a digital SLR and the general concepts mostly apply to digital cameras but there is no explicit reference to digital photography or even an acknowledgement that it exists. All different types of film are discussed but nary a line about the digital world (however I still found the book useful). It is also pretty cheap compared to many others.
Rating:
Summary: Taking the guess work out of exposure
Review: I love taking pictures, but sometimes they turned out great and other times they didn't - why? incorrect exposure! Friends are constantly asking me to take their photo, a family photo, their child's high school picture, their wedding pictures etc. Why? Because sometimes I take terrific pictures, but too often I don't. The fact of the matter is, I have an eye for composition and I love taking pictures. However, making costly exposure mistakes can and does ruin a potentially good picture. The mystery of exposure has always escaped me, that is until I bought, read, re-read, highlighted, and put into practice Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure." Mr. Peterson takes the guess work out of exposure. So many books are like textbooks, very technical, making them hard to understand, let alone put into practice. But Mr. Peterson's book is consice, full of great photos, and he explains to the amateur photographer, who just enjoys taking photos, how to take great pictures. I know many say beware of any book with a rating of 5 stars, but this one deserves it. If you're a novice photographer and have always struggled to understand exposure, do yourself a favor, purchase this book.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly Insightful, Yet Wonderfully Simple
Review: For anyone picking up a camera for the first time, or someone like me, who has been taking pictures for decades, this is a must have book. Bryan Peterson speaks to the artist in us in simple and easy to understand language that demystifies the terminology of photography. He is truly interested in making sure that after you have read this book, you will have a greater appreciation for the artistry of photography and you will have the tools necessary to do it your own way. Filled with several "How I did this" examples, Peterson demonstrates the concepts with no ego. There is no sense of, "This is the way I do it, so this is the way you must do it!" He just imparts the knowledge that will allow you to make the informed choices you will need to take great pictures and the insight to know, when you look at the scene infront of you, what those choices are. He is looking to instill a life long fascination with photography and a childlike sense of wonder for the trial and error that it takes to learn and master the art of photography. Peterson truly loves his profession and his artform and I think his goal is to inspire those feelings in everyone willing to take the time to pick up a camera, put a roll of film in it, and go out into the world and record what they see and admire.
Rating:
Summary: Exellent starting point for any beginning photgrapher
Review: As an amateur photographer I had to start somewhere. I had taken a few classes, but they were focused more on the darkroom. So I craved the more technical aspects of creating a great photo. I went straight to Ansel Adams' work and was quickly overwhelmed. After finding Understanding Exposure by chance, it did worlds of difference in my understanding of the relationship between light the camera, and film. I read it in one sitting! I couldn't recommend this more for the beginner. Once finished with this book I had no trouble understanding the vastly more technical works of Ansel Adams. Understanding Exposure is a great stepping stone to more complicated photo theory. For anyone else who considers themselves an intermediate photographer, go to the "godfather" of modern photography, Ansel Adams. There is truly little that compares with his literature and depth of knowledge. Get "The Camera", "The Negative", and "The Print". Unbelievably informative. Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK FIRST!
Review: After reading this book, I FINALLY felt like I understood photography. I still had a lot to learn, but this book was the only book that didn't leave me going "huh?" If you already understand the basics of exposure, this book is not meant for you. This book is perfect for someone who has just decided to pick up a camera and try to take some pictures. This book teaches you how to think about your pictures and how to make decisions about exposure. I love the examples where one situation is shown photographed with several different camera settings or at different times of day. This more than anything helped me to see what the result of different choices would be. Even if you have a short attention span and can't get through all the text, the pictures and their captions have a lot to teach by themselves.
Rating:
Summary: Buy it!!!
Review: Up until I opened up the cover of this book and started reading, I only had limited understanding of how exposure works. I kind of understood the mechanics of exposure, but not enough to make truly informed decisions about how to adjust the exposure settings. Adjusting one out of three different exposure parameters, all of which will render slightly different results, depending on the settings of the other two, is not a simple proposition. After reading only the first 16 pages, things started seriously clicking for me (no pun intended...:) Techniques and settings are not only explained, but also wonderfully illustrated with an abundance of beautiful pictures. The pictures in the book aren't just the typical "this is how it should look", they actually show you what the result would have been had you used the settings that the camera came up with, and why the camera came up with those settings. You will learn exposure a lot faster thanks to the variety pictures, with less failed experimentation on your own (saving a bundle on film). I now think only about how I WANT the picture to turn out. I let the camera make the initial settings, I then adjust the settings on the camera to achieve the desired end result, KNOWING what I am doing. I am not saying that I have turned instant expert, I am still learning, I am saying that I now have enough knowledge to make informed decisions. The title really says it all...
Rating:
Summary: Clear, Precise and Useful
Review: Before reading this book, I didn't know anything about exposure. The author clearly explains what is the relationship between shutter-speed, aperture and film speed. Moreover, he teaches how to use these three parameters to shoot creative photographs. The end of the book is related to special techniques (e.g. panning) or situations (e.g. shooting at night). For every concept, the author shows one or more photos thus, it is very easy to understand what he means. Great book !
Rating:
Summary: One of the Essentials!!!
Review: It is very rare that I write a Review, even if I like the product, but this time I want to take a little time to tell you that you must have this book. It won't make you the best photographer on the planet, but it will definitely clear up many things about photography, no mater if you are an experienced amateur like myself. Lots of explaining and pictures. Help yourself to understanding, by buying the book... you'll be more than excited!!
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