Your Photos Stink!: David Busch's Lessons in Elevating Your Photography from Awful to Awesome - Softcover

Are you interested in learning how to take excellent photographs right in the camera rather than rely on Photoshop tricks? Although two chapters at the tail end of this book do feature magical image editing transformations, most of the featured photographs reveal techniques you can use out in the field, simply by changes in perspective, lighting, focal length, selective focus, framing, or waiting for the "decisive moment."  If you get the picture right when the shutter is pressed, the only changes you'll need to make in your image editor are the adjustments in tonality or other minor tweaks applied to the majority of the images in this book.

Even the best photographs can be improved, including those supplied by the professional and pro-level photographers of the Cleveland Photographic Society (CPS). Established in 1887 and in continuous operation for more than 125 years, CPS is one of the founding members of the Photographic Society of America, and is one of the oldest and most-honored photographic organizations in the United States. Its members' photographs have received numerous awards in national and international juried competitions, including "Best of Year" awards from publications like Popular Photography and two exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

With more than 500 members, CPS includes a healthy mix of internationally-known professional photographers, up-and-coming pros, and serious amateurs. The CPS School of Photography has been in operation since 1921, and offers courses ranging from beginning and advanced photography to Adobe Lightroom. The Society has always maintained a dedicated club house in which meetings, workshops, and classes are held three to four times each week.

With more than two million books in print, David D. Busch is the world's #1 selling digital camera guide author, and the originator of popular digital photography series like David Busch's Pro Secrets and David Busch's Quick Snap Guides. He has written dozens of hugely successful guidebooks for Nikon, Canon, Sony, Olympus, and Panasonic digital camera models, as well as many popular books devoted to photographic techniques, including Digital SLR Cameras and Photography for Dummies, which has sold more than 300,000 copies in five editions.

As a roving photojournalist for more than twenty years, he illustrated his books, magazine articles, and newspaper reports with award-winning images. He's operated his own commercial studio, suffocated in formal dress while shooting weddings-for-hire, and shot sports for a daily newspaper and upstate New York college. His photos and articles have appeared in Popular Photography,  Rangefinder, Professional Photographer, and hundreds of other publications.

He's also reviewed dozens of digital cameras for CNet and other CBS publications, and his advice has been featured in National Public Radio's All Tech Considered. When About.com named its top five books on Beginning Digital Photography, debuting at the #1 and #2 slots were Busch's Digital Photography All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies and Mastering Digital Photography. Visit his website at dslrguides.com/blog.