eBook: Taking Control
Essential Camera Skills for Beginners
Do you want to master your camera and use all its settings with ease?
Modern cameras are smart! You can get pretty good results with little to no background knowledge at all. But when the camera makes all the decisions for you, what you end up with is snapshots.
When you’re ready to start making more creative and artistic images, I’m here to help you take control!
About the Author: Anne McKinnell
I feel lucky that I was able to transform my life to become a full-time nomadic photographer.
In 4 years I went from buying my first DSLR to having a large audience online, a popular and successful blog, and my images on the cover of magazines and in photography books.
I became a full-time professional photographer and author of several eBooks.
3 years after I bought that first DSLR I took big risk and gave up my career in software development and sold my home and most of my belongings for a chance at living the dream. It worked and within a year I was able to leverage my skills in business and technology to build a new career in photography.
It's now been 8 years since I changed my life. I've spent that time travelling around North America practicing my photography skills and experimenting with different techniques. I've explored the land as well as the vast array of skills you need to become a photographer today. Now I can share those skills with you so your rise to photography success will be even faster.
Your camera is smart, but it’s not an artist!
These essential camera skills for beginners will help you take control of your camera and your photography.
We'll start by looking at what kind of gear you need. Making great photographs is not about the gear, but you still need gear, and the number of choices can be overwhelming. I'll help you understand the most important things to look for when buying your gear.
Once you have your gear, we'll move on to the more important stuff: how to use it.
I'll help you understand what all those knobs and dials on your camera do and how to use them for creative control over your images. This eBook will help you understand:
- why you should be shooting in RAW format
- what shooting modes are and when to use them
- how aperture works to control depth of field
- how shutter speed affects your images
- how to get a good exposure
- how to measure light
- how to read your histogram
- what the different focus modes are and when to use them
- how to set up your shot in the field for the best results
WHY CHOOSE ME?
People like my writing style. They say I can take complex topics and make them easy to understand without using a lot of “techno lingo.” My style is to write only what is necessary and get to the point. There is no fluff.
Check out some of the testimonials below.
What People Are Saying
I wish Anne's e-book Taking Control: Essential Camera Skills for Beginners had been available when I started out with my DSLR camera. The simple explanations of the major camera components used to create a photograph are much easier to understand than the ones presented in my camera's manual. Anne also manage to demystify manual mode by providing a step-by-step approach.
Anne has done it again with her latest photography book Taking Control: Essential Camera Skills for Beginners. She explains in great detail, yet in in easy-to-understand language, all of the important basic DSLR controls that new photographers must know in order to create stunning images worthy of hanging on the wall.
Anne McKinnell's book is clear, to the point, and easy to read and understand, even if you've never picked up a camera before. It gives you the confidence to just get out there and start shooting without wasting time being intimidated by the technology.
Anne McKinnell nails it in Taking Control: Essential Camera Skills for Beginners. It'll help you get better and get better faster.
Excellent book for beginners - all the information you need without getting bogged down with too much technical detail. The practicalities are clearly explained.
This is a great book for a beginner at photography. It is written clearly, in simple terms with great photos to back up her explanations.
What People Are Saying About Anne's Previous eBooks
Her explanations are the most understandable of any that I’ve read.
Anne’s writing style is very readable and conveys her enthusiasm for her subject extremely well. She has a knack of making her points clearly and succinctly without wasting the reader’s time with a lot of unnecessary verbiage. If you want to increase your chances of taking killer photos then this book is highly recommended.
This is a wonderful ebook from Anne McKinnell. It covers not the processing of images, but how to make sure that you capture those images in the first place, in the field. I think a lot of people see a beautiful photo and immediately think “wow, they were lucky to be there at the right time” but Anne demonstrates that it is planning and preparation that make for a successful photo shoot. She goes into detail about what to think about, what to pack, how to find the best spots, and how to get creative in the field so that you capture those precious, elusive shots. And guess what? This ebook is free. You can’t beat getting such wonderful advice (oh, and did I mention the photographs are fabulous?!) from a very talented photographer at no charge. What are you waiting for? Download it now, and start getting better shots today.
This book is like having a conversation with Anne, it is very easy to understand and not filled with a lot of jargon. I highly recommend this book; she is a great author and an extremely talented artist.
Anne McKinnell writes like she is your best friend, who just happens to be an amazing photographer, and is willing to give you all her photography secrets.
Anne McKinnell produces some truly incredible photography and any book written by her is sure to share some insight into the craft of photography with folks of all skill levels.
Toad Hollow Photography
People relate to Anne’s teaching style because she explores relevant topics in a way that reminds us of our own photographic journey. In a sense, she guides us through her own learning process and presents a number of simple and effective techniques for making more powerful imagery. She writes as someone who didn’t just read this stuff from a book, but as someone who stood underneath the light with her tripod at the waters edge, in the mountain valleys and in the open desert, while seeing firsthand how it affected each type of scene that she set out to document. Her style is simple, straightforward and real, and her photos are not only great, the clearly illustrate each concept.
I wish that ebooks of this quality had been available when I started nature photography over 30 years ago. Anne covers one of the most important requirements of photography, lighting. It’s all about the light. You can have the most fabulous location, but without quality light, the photo will just be a snapshot. This eBook shows you how to evaluate lighting and take advantage or avoid certain situations. I would highly recommend this quick, well-illustrated read.
I read and review photography ebooks on my site and am always on the look out for quality reads that will not only inform the reader but inspire them as well. I think you’ve achieved both those things. I thoroughly enjoyed 8 Types of Natural Light That Will Add Drama To Your Photographs. I thought I was pretty good at identifying and making use of the light that I was faced with but reading your ebook I realized I had a lot more to learn. Thank you for making (a sometimes confusing subject) easy to understand. The images that you’ve included in the ebook are exquisite and perfectly conveying the different types of lighting your describing.
You have written a great little 32 page e book aimed right at a question a lot of photographers have, “wheres the good light?” And you have answered it with numerous examples of different types of light, where to find it and also some technical advice on histograms to assist while in the field shooting. Looking forward to your next e book soon.
As one who home-schooled six children all the way into the colleges of their choice, I have become an expert at searching and researching for great materials to help my kids learn what they want to know. Being a believer in passion-based education, I have encouraged my kids to follow their interests in learning and in life. My high-school aged daughter is nuts for wildlife and nature photography, and travel journalism, and Anne’s writings and photos have been a real inspiration for her (and me!).
Anne’s book, “8 Types of Natural Light…” is a part of our curriculum for my daughter this school year as she incorporates academics into her love of photography and travel. I find Anne’s writing to be very clear, concise and easy to understand and she has a natural voice that is very present and authentically easy to be with. The photographs Anne has chosen to illustrate her points emphasize the text perfectly and really bring it home in our “getting it” and keep coming to mind once we are out in the field on shoot day. The information is very valuable and quickly digested. I highly recommend Anne’s book!
My heartfelt thanks to you for doing this work. I am sharing it with others in my local camera group because of the clarity of the writing and the way the photos explain and enhance your points.
It offers some real advice to anyone looking to improve their landscapes and some real amazing eye candy for anyone who appreciates beautiful images.
If you haven’t done so, go get it. It has beautiful images, and is chockfull of useful information. And it’s free!!! What are you waiting for?
I just got my copy, and it’s a beautiful book. I especially enjoy the balance between the text and the dominance of the photos for the topics you’re trying to highlight and illustrate.
I enjoyed reading your first eBook! You covered all the bases and your photos are awesome. It was an easy read in a conversational style. Looking forward to following your adventure through your photos and blog.
Thank you Anne for putting together a beautifully done guide to natural lighting that’s simple and easy to understand yet elegant with real photo world application, and for free!! I have shared it with my “Beginners” photography circle on Google+ and have encouraged others to do the same. You should be proud that you will have undoubtedly helped many people new to photography to “see the light” and remind us that are not beginners to take a step back once in a while and take notice.
Loved the eBook. Even though I’m a filmmaker and not a photographer we both need light to create beautiful imagery.