If you are a beginner in dSLR, the first volume is a must-have. After I published the review for that book, I have got a couple of questions coming in asking which one to get and is volume 2 an update to the previous one. A quick answer is: the overlap between the two is minimal and you really should read the previous volume before this one.
After Scott Kelby released “The Digital Photography Book”, questions started to flow in on areas that he did not cover in details. Hence, he wrote this book to address to those questions he received. If you have read the first book, chances are, you will be asking a similar set of questions.
If there is one theme to this volume, that would be light. Much like oil painting, getting the right balance between light and shadow is essential to your work. In fact, that was the second topic I learned after I got acquainted with the basic skill of oil painting. How many of you are frustrated with the evening pictures you take when you have to use the flash? I get frustrated with the results most of the time. The light is often too harsh to my liking. But if you invest in a dSLR, you really should get a detachable lighting system and if you do have such a unit, you really would want to tap onto the full potential on what you can do with it. A large portion of this book explains how to shoot great photos under various lighting conditions. In fact, it probably has gone a bit too deep that unless you have the resource to turn your home into a photo studio with all the extra gears (including a strong fan that makes the long hair flies!), some of these good advice are more for future reference. Nevertheless, you should be equipped to do a better job shooting portraits in different scenarios including weddings.
There are other shorter topics including shooting macro and what to shoot when you travel. As before, there are tons of great photos in color on each page of the book and it is such a good read. The first volume will give you 80% of what you need to get started. This volume is for the extra 20% that is usually harder to master. If you only have the time and resource to read one, read the first volume. If you wish to go that extra mile, “The Digital Photography Book (Vol 2)” is indeed a good companion to the first volume.
Related link: The Digital Photography Book (Vol 1) by Scott Kelby – A Must Have for DSLR Beginners (Like Me)