Beginner FREE e-book about photography for beginners

[Garry Edwards]

As per the title, I’ve written a book for beginners, free to Talk Photography members for a limited time.

I’ve written this book because all of the other books for beginners that I’ve seen seem to me to include far too much detail, far too soon, and just confuse people. This one teaches the absolute essential details only, although it also mentions the things that you’ll probably want to learn about later. Basically, it’s written by a simple person who believes that the best way to teach a simple subject is to keep things simple

Like everyone else, I was a beginner myself once, but that was a very long time ago. I’m offering you a free copy of this book because I need your input so that I can improve the contents, so I want to ask you a favour . . .

Please read the book, then let me know what you think of it, and in particular please let me know where you think I’ve gone wrong, perhaps I’ve gone into too much detail with some subjects, not enough with others, or perhaps my explanations are too simple or too complicated, or perhaps I’ve missed things out that really should be included – I’m sure that you get the idea!

And, secondly, it would also help a lot if you leave a review on Amazon, because reviews will make it much more visible to potential buyers. It’s here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CFB2TX6R

All sales from this book will go directly to a charity that I support, All For Horses. I’m not going to ask you to donate to the charity but if you want to, here’s the link https://www.allforhorses.org.uk

So, to get your free copy, just send me a PM with your email address, and I’ll send the book as a pdf document.

 

[Cobra]

Thanks, Garry, that's very generous of you ( again)


If you take Garry up on his kind offer, please at least leave him feedback.

 

[dans_shutter]

That's a very generous of you. I'll take you up on your offer. PM incoming

 

[bobbin]

Hi Gary
Phew, you must have read my mind, this sounds right up my street, novice as regards photography so this would be a great help.

Many thanks.

 

[Jo-Nesian]

Hi Garry,
I have just joined the forum, and I am not sure how to message members yet (I'm not even sure I'm allowed yet). Could I get a copy of your eBook as it sounds exactly what I need?
Many Thanks
Jo

 

[Garry Edwards]

Hi Garry,
I have just joined the forum, and I am not sure how to message members yet (I'm not even sure I'm allowed yet). Could I get a copy of your eBook as it sounds exactly what I need?
Many Thanks
Jo

Hi Jo,

You're welcome to a copy, but I need an email address to send it to. If you can see an envelope symbol next to your name on the blue banner above, you should be able to click on it and send me a message - I think.

 

[Cobra]

you should be able to click on it and send me a message - I think.

I think it's currently 3 posts for PM's
easiest way, is to click on someone's avatar and then start conversation...

 

[DemiLion]

I had a quick look at this the other evening.

It might be worth pointing out that the book is also available via KindleUnlimited - which means that if you subscribe you can effectively read the book for 'free'
but also that Garry gets some dosh.

 

[Garry Edwards]

I had a quick look at this the other evening.

It might be worth pointing out that the book is also available via KindleUnlimited - which means that if you subscribe you can effectively read the book for 'free'
but also that Garry gets some dosh.

It's been updated since then, and I'll continue to update it with helpful suggestions.

Yes, I (or at least the charity) does get some dosh if people read it for free, but I can't calculate fractions of a penny

 

[terrwiley]

I had a quick look at this the other evening.

It might be worth pointing out that the book is also available via KindleUnlimited - which means that if you subscribe you can effectively read the book for 'free'
but also that Garry gets some dosh.

Thanks for the tip!
And thanks Garry for the book, I'm just looking for beginner tutorials! I read books quite often and prefer the e-book format, you can carry it with you everywhere, even to college. The only thing I don't like is writing various literary analyzes and essays on works. Therefore, on the https://SPAM/write-my-essay-for-me website, I order writing papers for my college. I don’t know how to express my thoughts on paper in an artistic style and I don’t want to do it, so I’m glad I found this site.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Thanks for the tip!
And thanks Harry for the book, I'm just looking for beginner tutorials!

I'm not sure who Harry is, but we'll let that go

Basically, this IS a beginner tutorial - I hope!
It's intended as a guide to get people started in digital photography, covering what I consider to be the basics and mentioning the things that you'll need to learn about later but which will over-complicate the learning process for beginners who are just starting out.

And my basic reason for writing it is that, having looked around, although there are loads of books that say they are aimed at beginners, they're all far too complicated, which basically leaves people to learn from trial and error, looking at YouTube videos (most of which are simply promoting equipment and gadgets and which are deceptive) and the very mixed bag of online tutorials, which again are generally useless.

Basically, condensing 25,000 words down to a few, it deals with the various camera settings, what they're for, what they do and what a beginner should set them to, explains all of the technical things that really matter, and moves on to the creative aspects.

It's all about handling the camera and thinking about the other aspects such as camera viewpoint, focal length settings, that kind of thing.

But, as I said in my initial post, I haven't been a beginner for a very long time, and need help from people to make sure that the contents and approach are right for people. So far, I've had some very helpful suggestions from a couple of people, and also two reviews on Amazon, which again are helpful, but I'm asking for more.

 

[Jo-Nesian]

Thanks for help guys, I managed to get a message to Garry.

Jo

 

[sirch]

Thank you Garry

 

[Garry Edwards]

Just a quick update, several people have let me have their comments so far, but many haven't.

Some of these comments are extremely helpful, and although I don't agree with all of them, they have made me see that there is plenty of room for improvement. The book is being constantly updated, and this process will continue until I've improved it as far as I can.

So far, I've removed some photos, added new ones, and improved explanations as suggested and removed most of my personal opinions, which should address the perfectly valid comments that I'm conceited and arrogant

Once the process is complete I will send the final version to everyone who has made suggestions, so please keep the feedback coming!

 

[Cobra]

Just a quick update, several people have let me have their comments so far, but many haven't.

If you haven't already, please help Garry out, with this free resource.
Thank You.

 

[hunnymonster]

I'm still winding my way through it. Only downer I see so far is that feels like a massive wall of text. Whitespace costs nothing in an eBook.

 

[kaylarichs]

As per the title, I’ve written a book for beginners, free to Talk Photography members for a limited time.

I’ve written this book because all of the other books for beginners that I’ve seen seem to me to include far too much detail, far too soon, and just confuse people. This one teaches the absolute essential details only, although it also mentions the things that you’ll probably want to learn about later. Basically, it’s written by a simple person who believes that the best way to teach a simple subject is to keep things simple

Like everyone else, I was a beginner myself once, but that was a very long time ago. I’m offering you a free copy of this book because I need your input so that I can improve the contents, so I want to ask you a favour . . .

Please read the book, then let me know what you think of it, and in particular please let me know where you think I’ve gone wrong, perhaps I’ve gone into too much detail with some subjects, not enough with others, or perhaps my explanations are too simple or too complicated, or perhaps I’ve missed things out that really should be included – I’m sure that you get the idea!

And, secondly, it would also help a lot if you leave a review on Amazon, because reviews will make it much more visible to potential buyers. It’s here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CFB2TX6R

All sales from this book will go directly to a charity that I support, All For Horses. I’m not going to ask you to donate to the charity but if you want to, here’s the link https://www.allforhorses.org.uk

So, to get your free copy, just send me a PM with your email address, and I’ll send the book as a pdf document.

Wow, that's amazing; thank you!
Is it your first book?

 

[Garry Edwards]

Wow, that's amazing; thank you!
Is it your first book?

Nearly. I've written a total of 20 books, over a long period of time and nearly all of them are now out of print.
I retired from photography at the age of 70, 8 years ago, and now have more time on my hands. I used to specialise in lighting, so most of my books were on this very specialised subject, so have never sold in huge numbers - either because of that or because I'm useless - and there are now just a couple on sale, both on Amazon, Lighting Magic and Product Photography Magic.

 

[Garry Edwards]

I'm still winding my way through it. Only downer I see so far is that feels like a massive wall of text. Whitespace costs nothing in an eBook.

Thanks, please let me have your full comments when you've worked your way through it.

White space does actually cost in e-books, at least when delivered by Amazon, because they charge according to size. But that isn't the reason. Unwanted white space results from photos, which because of their size automatically sometimes appear on the next page, and because Amazon re-formats the book when submitted it takes a lot of trial and error to control the appearance - I'm sure that there must be a way of doing it but it's beyond me . . .

I've included some historic and technical details, purely for interest - for example explaining the use of the word "stop" and someone suggested that I should put this type of input into either footnotes or side bars and I think that's a good suggestion, but again not ideal for the Kindle format.

When the peer reviews and the final edit is complete I will do what I can to resolve these issues in the pdf version, and will also add page numbering, but for the reasons given this is a bit of a challenge until I reach this point.

 

[Garry Edwards]

In the 5 months + that this book has been available free to TP members, a few hundred copies have been given away.

A few members have been incredibly helpful, providing me with very good suggestions for improvements and additions, and 5 have left reviews on Amazon, which help a lot with sales. A couple of people have even made donations to the charity that benefits from the sales.

But the vast majority have forgotten to keep to their side of the deal. Partly because of this and partly because the offer has been available for a long time, the offer is now withdrawn. It can of course still be purchased, from https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CFB2TX6R

 

[Cobra]

But the vast majority have forgotten to keep to their side of the deal.

It's a terrible shame that some just can't be arsed to repay your kindness,
and end up spoiling it for others
As the saying goes, use it or lose it.