In this book, I cover the art form of digital art photography. I start by giving you an introduction to the world of film-based photography and how it relates to digital photography. From there, I go on to cover the whole gambit of digital art photography, from shooting great photos to tweaking them in Photoshop to producing final output fit for a gallery wall. If that sounds intriguing, this book is for you whether you're film-based or digital-only or both.
Here are some of the things this book will help you do:
Get a fabulous, well-exposed photograph, no matter what your shooting conditions
Tweak, edit, and enhance your images to create something entirely new — or just simply better than what you started with
Produce gallery-worthy art prints
Find out when it's time to upgrade your computer to handle graphics work
I don't like to be foolish, but to use this book, I assume that you know the basics of photography, whether digital or film. (I do sprinkle loads of photography tidbits throughout, so no one is stranded.) I also assume that you know how to use a computer and have maybe played around with Photoshop or some photo editor application. Most important of all, I assume that you have a burning desire down deep inside to unleash your creative side by producing — and even selling — truly artistic, awe-inspiring photographic prints.
By conventions, I simply mean a set of rules that I employ in this book to present information to you consistently. When you see a term italicized, look for its definition, which I include so you know what that term means in the context of digital art photography. Sometimes, I give you information to enter onscreen; in those cases, I format what you need to type bold. Web site addresses and e-mail addresses appear in monofont so that they stand out from regular text.
Because I structure this book modularly — that is, so you can easily find only the specific information you need — you don't have to read whatever doesn't pertain to your task at hand. You also don't have to read the Technical Stuff icons, which parse out uber-techy tidbits (which you might or might not be interested in).
Digital Art Photography For Dummies is split into five parts. You don't have to read parts sequentially; you don't have to read each chapter in each part; and you don't even have to read all the sections in any particular chapter. (But I think that you'll want to look at every picture....) You can use the Table of Contents and the index to find the information you need and quickly get your answers. In this section, I briefly describe what you'll find in each part.
Part I: The Art of a Digital Picture
This part serves as an introduction to the world of art photography and how it relates to digital photography. In Chapter 1, I detail the five essential steps to creating a digitized masterpiece and provide a few essentials of composition. Chapters 2 and 3 cover the digital side of digital art photography; I have to admit, this information can get a little dry and techy. (Don't say I didn't warn you.) When it comes time to purchase a new digital camera or to upgrade your computer to handle all the heavy-duty graphics work you'll be doing, however, you'll be glad you have these two chapters by your side. In Chapter 4, things get fun again while I brainstorm with you to decide just what kind of digital art photographer you want to be.
Part II: The Photo Shoot
Part II is all about getting great shots, and so I dive right into ISOs, f-stops, exposure settings, and when to use a flash. This part runs the gamut, from shooting great photos outdoors or indoors (Chapters 5 and 6) to photographing people and animals (Chapter 7) to shooting for great color or outstanding black and white (Chapters 8 and 9) to capturing stunning nighttime images (Chapter 10) to achieving wonderful effects before you ever get to Photoshop (Chapter 11) — whew! That's a lot of photography!
Part III: Photoshop Art: Using Software to Enhance or Create Art Photos
If you're anxious to repair or jazz up some old photos, use Chapter 12 as your guide. In that chapter, I discuss various Photoshop tools and techniques that can bring back vivid color to images 50 years old or eliminate annoying scratches and dust. Chapter 13 is where you can find out how to merge images into one giant photograph, and Chapter 14 gives you the lowdown on using Photoshop layers (a great tool for creating digital art photography). I couldn't not discuss Photoshop's filters, so I include a whole chapter on them (Chapter 15).
Part IV: The Final Output: Gallery-Worthy Prints
Drum roll, please ... the moment you've all been waiting for. Just itching to click that Print button so you can hold your masterpiece in hand and admire it lovingly? This is the part for you. In Chapter 16, I discuss all things that have to do with managing electronic files (a tedious albeit necessary part of digital art photography), and Chapter 17 covers printing prep and printing. Then comes the really fun part: matting and framing. Chapter 18 has all the information you need to make your art presentable to the world (and paying customers).
Part V: The Part of Tens
I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't include a Part of Tens. So here you'll find ten rules — or if you prefer, guidelines — of digital art photography (Chapter 19) and ten snappy digital art tricks (Chapter 20).
I had so much to tell you about this exciting topic that I couldn't fit it all into the book, so you'll find two bonus chapters at www.dummies.com/go/digitalartphotos. Bonus Chapter 1 discusses photo sets, which are a great way to present, package, and reuse your saleable art. For example, if you have a slew of dog images — say, several huskies — frame them as a set to create a collection that husky-lovers will sit up and beg for. Bonus Chapter 2 covers using text to enhance your art photography. Here I discuss manipulating text in both Word and Photoshop and adding text to your image to create an entirely new piece of art, like a poster, invitation, greeting card, business card ... you get the idea.
What's a For Dummies book without icons pointing you toward really useful information that's sure to help you along your way? In this section, I briefly describe each icon I use in this book.
Tip
The Tip icon points out helpful information that can make your job — as a digital art photographer extraordinaire — easier and hopefully more fun, too.
Note
This icon marks a general interesting and useful fact — something that you probably want to remember for later use.
Warning
The Warning icon highlights lurking danger. When you see this icon, pay attention and proceed with caution, or you could end up with disappointing shots or prints.
Note
When you see this icon, you know that there's techie stuff nearby. If you're not feeling very techie, you can skip this info and get to something more fun, like playing with Photoshop filters.
Note
This icon points out interesting or unusual techniques that can lead to intriguing or artful results. Try them! You might like them!
If you're interested in playing with Photoshop, Part III should be your destination. If you want to find out more about digital art photography and photography in general, head straight to Chapter 1. Or you might want to peruse the chapters in Part II to find out some great tips for shooting in a variety of situations. Then again, you could just flip through the book and stop when a particular photograph catches your eye. Whatever you choose, the world is your oyster — now go take a picture of it.