Shoot to Thrill: A Hard-Boiled Guide to Digital Photography

Book description

Shoot to Thrill

“If you’re looking for a fresh, offbeat style, you’ll enjoy this book.”  --John Nack

If you’re packin’ heat and a D-SLR, SHOOT TO THRILL is like having a bullet-proof vest. Loaded with tips, dames, laughs, tales of noir, and photos shot from the hip!

HARD TIMES, TOUGH TALK, HARD-BOILED SOLUTIONS

A BOOK TO INSPIRE AMATEURS & PROS ALIKE.

Written in the style of a pulp detective novel, this book goes beyond the mechanics of shooting and teaches us all how to “see” with a fresh vision. Shoot to Thrill teaches creative techniques such as

  • Achieving dramatic film noir lighting

  • Getting the ring flash look (the rage in fashion photography) 

  • Experimenting with High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI)

  • Capturing breaking news, and a lot more

  • Offers valuable “two-fisted tips” on how to score killer shots—from still life to action.

    Table of contents

    1. Copyright
    2. About the Author
    3. Dedication
    4. Acknowledgments
    5. We Want to Hear from you!
    6. Reader Services
    7. Introduction: The F Stops Here
    8. Prologue: I Cover the Watergate: From Nixon to Nikon
    9. 1. Packin’ Heat: Gear for the Gumshoe Shutterbug
      1. The D-SLR
      2. Assault & Batteries
      3. Memory Cards
      4. Gear Bags
      5. Legs
      6. Flash
      7. Cheap Thrills: Odds ‘n Ends
      8. Author’s Note:
    10. 2. Call for Backup!: Defend & Protect Your Photos
      1. How Many Backups are Enough?
      2. If the Mob Can Get Organized, So Can You
      3. Photoshop, Lightroom, & Bridge, Oh My!
        1. Creating a Custom Preset
        2. The Bridge
        3. A View from the Bridge
    11. 3. Private Eyes: Look Before You Shoot
      1. Sleep Mode
      2. Method Acting: Comedy or Tragedy?
      3. You’re the Lead, Not the Walk-On
      4. Find the A.N.G.E.L.
        1. Anomaly
        2. Gesture
        3. Expression
    12. 4. Hand-to-Cam Combat: From Auto Pilot to Taking Control
      1. Get To Know Your ISO
      2. Whose White Balance Is It, Anyway?
      3. Metering Patterns
        1. Matrix Metering
        2. Spot Metering
        3. Center-Weighted Metering
      4. Play It Again, S.A.M.
        1. Aperture Priority
        2. Shutter Priority (S)
        3. Manual Mode (M)
      5. Programmed-Auto (P)
      6. Busting the Bracket Racket
      7. Exposure Compensation (EV)
    13. 5. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Noir: Ambient Light and Flash
      1. Ambient Light
      2. Imagining Light and Re-Creating It
      3. Nighttime is the Right Time...for Noir
      4. Portable Flash is Your Buddy
      5. An Ounce of Bounce = Fills & Thrills
        1. Grids, Snoots, Gobos, & Chizzlers
        2. A Knockout in the Ring
        3. What, Me Pop-Up?
        4. The Big Guns: Studio Strobes
      6. Cover Story
    14. 6. A Thirst for Burst: Thrilling Action Adventures
      1. Speed Traps: The Curse of Burst
        1. Twist ‘n Shoot
        2. Screen Idle
      2. Hocus-Pocus, Hokum-Focus
      3. “You Lookin’ for Action?”
        1. Good Burst, Bad Burst
        2. Let’s Roll
        3. “Everybody Freeze!”
      4. There’s More to Burst than Sports
      5. Take A Break from the Action and Look Around
    15. 7. From Chump to Champ: Tampering with Photos
      1. Did Somebody Call the Crops?
        1. The Case of the Missing Subject
        2. Less is More...More or Less
        3. Stretchin’ the Truth
      2. Sharpen me Deadly
      3. “Have you Tried Calling Noise Abatement?”
      4. Manipulations, Great and Small
        1. Trick or Treat?
      5. Art for Art’s Sake (and for Pete’s Sake, too)
      6. There Ain’t Nothin’ Like a Dame
        1. The Blemish Masters
    16. 8. The Devil is in the Details
      1. HDRI on The Streets Of San Diego
      2. Cheap Thrills Contest
      3. Bypass the Bleached Blonde with the Luger
      4. High Pass: The Knockout Punch
        1. High Pass Thrills and Chills
    17. 9. “I’ve Been Framed!”: Showing Off in Public
      1. Hangin’ on the Web
      2. Hangin’ on the Wall
      3. A Rogue’s Gallery Meets MoMA
      4. Print it for Posterity
    18. 10. “Play it Again, Cam...”: The Future Is DV
      1. “Lights...Cameras...Limitations!”
      2. Hybrid on a Hot Tin Roof
        1. DV Dinners
        2. Dead Pans and Zoom Goons
      3. The Happy Ending
    19. A. Hot Links, Cool Leads
      1. Cameras/Computers/Backup/Portable Drives/Printers
      2. Memory Cards
      3. Tripods / Monopods / Gorillas
      4. Lights / Lighting Accessories
      5. Camera Bags and Straps
      6. Accessories
      7. Frames / Inkjet Papers
      8. Hard-Boiled Software
        1. Inspiration
      9. Online Pubs, Blogs, and Reference
    20. B. A Hard-Boiled Library
      1. Nuts ‘n Bolts
      2. Art Photography/Critical Works
      3. Noir Reference
      4. Fiction
      5. DV

    Product information

    • Title: Shoot to Thrill: A Hard-Boiled Guide to Digital Photography
    • Author(s):
    • Release date: September 2009
    • Publisher(s): Que
    • ISBN: 9780768694444