Beyond Auto Mode: 08/28/17

Beyond Auto Mode by Jennifer Bebb is a photography how-to book aimed at newer dSLR cameras. I should be upfront with this review and say I don't actually own a dSLR; I own a mirrorless micro 4/3 — a type of digital camera that has a set of quirks unique to it's design.

None the less — except where a technique is technology dependent, most approaches to photography are interchangeable (albeit sometimes with some adjustments needed) across cameras. Bebb's book provides an easy to follow set of guidelines for any photographer who has the option to shoot manually but doesn't know where to start (or just needs a refresher course).

Every photograph is built from a triangle of settings: ISO (or film speed), aperture, and shutter speed. In a dSLR camera these three things can be completely controlled between photographs. On a mirrorless, two of the three can be controlled, with some control still given to the camera to make the user input settings work. Understanding how the three work together is important for understanding which of the three is safe to give over to the camera.

Beyond Auto Mode was one of three books I read before departing on a road trip to Wyoming to see the total eclipse. Of the three, Bebb's book was the most useful for me to understand the limitations of my camera and the extreme lighting situations created over the course of a total eclipse. You can see my results on Flickr.

Four stars

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