Just at the beginning of "Understanding Exposure" where he says to set the aperture to 5.6 and adjust the shutter speed until it's correct. So I've tried countless times to take a photo of my mouse and every single time the image is blurred, presumably because the shutter speed is so long that my hands move very slightly since I pressed to take the shot.
Very frustrating.
Understanding exposure is key to pretty much all photography, but I don't value the book as highly as most do.
But as with any learning, I find that everyone is different and will 'click' at some point, be it from reading, or practice. Normally it takes more than one place to learn the same thing, and it's not that one thing is necessarily BETTER at explaining, but sometimes when it's explained a second time in a different way, then it 'clicks'.
There is no 'right' setting for an image. It depends on what you are aiming for. There is only 'correct' exposure depending on what your aim is, and settings are only valid for that specific sim, lighting, and instance, and greatly depends on other settings.
My general learning guideline is thus:
1) Understand exposure. 'Correct' exposure = just right. 'Over' exposure = too bright. 'Under' exposure = too dark.
2) There are 3 main things you can control that all contribute to exposure:
a) Aperture.
Wider/more open aperture = more light = brighter exposure.
Narrow/smaller aperture = less light = darker exposure.
(note: the value is a reciprocal, so larger value = smaller aperture).
b) Shutter speed (time the shutter is open).
Longer time for shutter = more light = brighter exposure.
Shorter time for shutter = less light = darker exposure.
c) ISO ("sensitivity" setting for the sensor)
Lower iso = less sensitive to light = darker exposure.
Higher ISO = more sensitivity to light = brighter exposure.
In regards to exposure, all three settings are equivalent in nature. That is, they can all make an exposure lighter or darker. The unit for exposure is the Exposure Value (EV), sometimes called a 'stop'. Each 'stop' refers to halving or doubling of 'light'.
So halving one setting, but doubling another at the same time will get you the same effect of no net change in exposure.
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3) Understand why you would change each of the 3 settings instead of the others.
Each setting can change exposure, that is true. But why change aperture when you could change shutterspeed? Well, each setting contributes at least one important factor other than exposure.
c) ISO: changes 'noise' and grain. Like any scientific increase in gain, you decrease signal to noise ratio, and that is literally what is going on here.
Higher ISO sensitivity = higher noise/grain.
Lower ISO sensitivity = lower noise/grain ('cleaner' image)
b) Shutterspeed: changing time of the shutter open controls motion blur of subjects and also yourself.
Fast shutterspeeds = 'freezing' action
Slow shutterspeeds = blurring action
As a side effect, super slow shutterspeeds means that you might also record your OWN action, that is movement of the camera itself. This is generally undesirable, and also related to the focal length of your lens (think about how steady it is to hold a pair of binoculars or telescope vs say, normal glasses)
a) Aperture: controls DOF - how much of your image is in fcous, and thus foreground and background blur.
I'm not going to go further on this here, as it's an entire lesson in itself.
That's just the basics, but if you get the above you can nearly do any type of photography, or at least think about how you could achieve it.
Other things to think about as you get later on down, at least regards to technical aspects of photography:
Lens focal length, distance and perspective.
Sensor size and the effect on your image.
Artisitic composition of subjects and elements.
Artisitic composition of contrast and colour.
Creating your own light with flash photography.
And so on and so on. Photography is a deep hole, and your learning will go on forever.
, but its decent to be fair), is that bad?