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.

This is a great book if you are looking for extra hints and tips. I love the way Scott Kelby writes in his books, it really feels like he is speaking straight at you with his little funny comments here and there. I carry these around with me when I am trying to learn something new so I can recall back to it when needed. Great Book!

I've actually read all 3 of these books.
I bought them to help my kid--a beginner with his SLR--in his Photo class in high school, and in my opinion, they'll help him a lot.
For me, however, the "basic" points in the books were like review of grade school (I learned to shoot back when everything, on every camera, was manual....)And yes, I could have skipped the humor and been just as happy, but it did not detract from the information in the books.
These books are stuffed with solid information.

For my kid, the beginner, a lot of the information was spot on--particularly the recommendation to read the book "Understanding Exposure" (by B. Peterson)--because if you don't understand exposure, you don't understand photography. Everything in this book is plainly spoken. No unexplained jargon. Nothing confusing.

Kelby covers a lot of ground, everything from techniques (which he calls "recipes") for photos to hardware (like lenses), and he spreads it around among examples drawn from travel photography, portraits, macro, sports.

The explanations are short and to the point. He shows you a photograph, then tells you how to accomplish the same effect; this is great for beginners.
Most pages contain tips--some in boxes--that you might otherwise spend hours trying to figure out, or end up sorry you didn't know to start with. (Like, oops, don't go changing your lens if it's at all dusty outside...)

Better yet, Kelby explains how to work your camera--admit it, digital dSLRs with all their knobs, buttons and overkill menus are a pain to figure out when you're a beginner--and he gives specific instructions for a few popular Nikon or Canon models; other books often show only one brand of camera and if you've got another, tough for you, you'll still be confused. These books include photos of the camera bodies/dials/buttons and menus. You won't be confused.

Bottom line: Easy to read. Easy to understand. Clearly illustrated. Excellent index. Great for beginners and less-experienced intermediates. Good for general intermediate photographers. Not necessary for very experienced or art-school-educated photographers.

The books are great and I am going to get the third edition, soon. I like them very much, and are complementing each other.
Also they are, do-this style, and there is not much useless info about the camera, that we all know.
Only important stuff.

Its not a classic book. Just teach you some tricks to get photos to look professional in front of non-professionals