Equipment and Software Books

Very detailed guide for how to use you D40x camera. It gives you information easy to follow for beginners as well as pros. It has helped me to know some short cuts that are excellent for when you are in hurry to take that great pic.

Great book for using your D40. The Dummies book for D40 is better, but this book is worth it as second book.

This is WAY better than the 'manual' that comes with the D40. In my humble opinion, this should be included in the box!!

If you purchase a Nikon D40/D40X you will want to be certain to purchase this book too...especially if is the first time you have used a SLR camera and are totally green to the photography lingo!!

This book explains it without making you feel like you are being talked down to!!

This is the perfect Nikon D40/D40x guide for anyone unfamiliar with DSLRs. I had a somewhat basic understanding of my D40's controls before I bought this book and reading it has made such a difference in my pictures. Highly reccommended!

This is an excellent piece of work, very thoughtfully organized and well written. Nikon should distribute a copy of this book along with the camera, instead of their user manual.
I ordered a copy as soon as I ordered my Nikon D40. The book came first so I had some time to read before I got my hands on the camera. The Nikon user manual never got a chance to open. This will be the best investment you make besides the D40 itself. When you look at the results of your shooting, you will thank yourself for buying this book.

Till I saw this book and Bert Monroys website my imagination and creativity for minimally very finite. Its amazing how he shows what can be done using image editors like photoshop. Its just blows you away. My wife thought the pictures in his books are photographs and when I told her bert monroy created them in photoshop, there was no sound from her. She was quite amazed. This book is well recommended. Authors like Bert Monroy truly amazes with their talent and give us additional thoughts and inspiration on how to improve our work.

I found this book very useful, very well illustrated, as Bert Monroy describes his technics. He teaches methods that opened my mind to the power that Photoshop CS has. While he covers many aspects of the program he dos not indulge in the usual rehash of every photoshop feature, focusing on specific projects. His reputation for a graphics artist and teacher are well deserved. Wonderful examples, just enough detail to convey the point without beating you over the head. Included color photos are well laid out, his teaching method couldn't be better. The tone will particular instruct the novice or intermeadiate user, but everyone will find something of use here. If you are looking for blow by blow 'how to' for every feature, look at Photoshop CS Sudio Techniques, or the Adobe Class Room in a Book. I only wish this book had more samples, examples. If you can't buy it, hope your local libray has or will. Do this for its artistic voice.

This book will get your imagination going. Some great tips.

The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is that there could have been more content.

Bert Monroy is probably one of the most talented Photoshop users there is. If you've ever seen him on TechTV, you've seen how effortlessly he uses PS.

This book is full of amazing artwork Bert has done with Photoshop, along with a lot of tips and techniques from the master himself. You'll have a hard time believe that this book isn't just a collection of photos. Bert style is so photo-realistic it's jaw-dropping.

Definitely a must-have book for any PS enthusiast. Even if you don't plan to use PS for Photoreal artwork, there are techniques here that are applicable to other uses for PS but the book itself is worth the price just for the awe factor of Monroy's work.

Bert is a great artist and teacher. I took a class from him, and learned so much, but couldn't absorb it all at once. This book allows you to learn his techniques at your own pace, and will give you the confidence to start creating images from scratch in Photoshop, or add painting techniques to your image manipulation. Highly recommended for intermediate to advanced Photoshop users and all artists.

This is not your usual do step 1 do step 2 kind of book, the author goes in to great detail about every feature of photoshop. I'm not a photoshop guru but I'm no newbie either and this book was very helpful. It shows you how to do things in multiple ways which is very helpful. While reading this book, there were plenty of instances when I found out I was actually doing things "The long way." Overall, this book doesn't just instruct, it helps the reader understand Photoshop.

This book helped me learn how to use Curves in a very thorough way. I used to be intimidated with Curves and had preferred to use the Levels command instead.

Mr. Willmore also showed how to find highlights, shadows and gray areas and then adjust the colors by the numbers. You have to average the numbers of the highlights, shadows and the gray from each individual channel within the Curves dialog box.

I practice some images with extreme color casts. I managed to get rid of the color casts to make images more exceptable.

Mr. Willmore took the time to teach people the theory of using Curves.

The rest of the book is great too.

I see a lot of complaints from advanced users saying the books is just a re-write of the previous. Well for one thing, there usually are not that many changes from one version of photoshop to the next, and two, they obviously haven't been to Ben Willmore's website since he constantly adds new techniques and tutorials for the experienced user. If you want the best "how to" book for photoshop then look no further. Instead of telling you how he did some complex picture with techno babble, he explains the purpose, history, and the use of all the tools, and this is the most important part, in plain English. Only after he explains how to use the tools does you give some examples of their use. The only thing he assumes is that you have no clue about any of the features and goes into great detail. Ben Willmore is the equivalent to those teachers we all have had now and then that make the process of learning fun and nearly painless.

If you are already an advanced user you'll find very little that is new to you, but if you are a brand new or intermediate then you are missing out on a great resource if you pass this book by.

This has a very thorough (so far--I haven't finished the book) intro to production work with Photoshop. My design program does not address technology and I've found it a very practical and cheap solution to learning production basics for my own classwork and as I prepare for the job market. So far it has demystified resolution, levels, curves, and I'm reading about color management now. MUCH better than the introductory classroom titles, and a required supplement to the manual if you ever expect to do extensive work with Photoshop.

I am a second year graphic design student at a tech-college and i must say this book has taught me more about Photoshop than any class I've taken or could take. This book has not only given me a priceless understanding of the application, but it has also given me the skills necessary to take my design to a whole new level. The time saving tips as well as the newly discovered tool capabilities has allowed me to get more done on my school projects. I hope you don't buy the book simply because if we ever compete for the same job my skills will prevail. Thanks Ben !!!!!!!!

There was a time when artists bread and butter work was painting true to life pictures: portraits, battle scenes, ships, landscapes. With the advent of photography, art changed to other forms, some of which bore no recognizable appearance of anything known to anyone but the artist.

With the advent of digital photography and the necessary software to manipulate images, digital artists began to move in the way of the painters. Their digital images are formed by the manipulation of multiple images, of changes that can be made down to the bit level if desired.

This book explores digital art. While as of yet this is not well received by the conventional art community, it is a sign of coming times. Specifically in this book the same three specific images have been given to seventeen artists to use to illustrate what they might create. The procedures they followed to create new images coming from these three seed images are documented. The results are wildly different between the resulting pictures.

This is the forefront of digital art.

Joseph Nalven and JD Jarvis' Going Digital: The Practice And Vision Of Digital Artists is written by a cultural anthropologist who developed photography as a tool for working on ethnographic research, and an author who has long worked in TV production and graphic design: the two together offer a survey of the digital process as it applies to creating the art, from photos to finished products. 17 artists were asked to take three seed photos and use the images creatively in their own works of digital art: Going Digital takes these 17 efforts and blends them with discussions and examples of digital art from around the world, considering common challenges, presenting step-by-step processes from digital pioneer efforts, and creating a solid set of practical examples. A must for any aspiring digital artist.

Anything written about the practice of digital art today is doomed to be obsolete shortly. Very little is likely to survive even as being "quaint" in the way of Bill Gates's famous comment that 640 bytes were enough for anyone.
Since we have digital artists in the thousands, however, all eager to learn more technique, to make the most of all that's available, to see what each other is doing, we need resource material to serve them. "Going Digital" does this admirably in an original way. Seventeen artists each take the same three given photographic images and use up-to-the-minute tools to mold their own creations. The results are startlingly different. Most important, each artist has recorded his or her creative process in a sort of running diary, illustrated with dozens of images used or discarded en route to the final one.
The technology will more than likely change drastically as artists and computer scientists continue to interact. What will remain exciting and inspiring in Joe Nalven and JD Jarvis's book is the implicit discussions among editors and contributors about the meaning of art, the value of art, the place of artists, what changes and what abides. Both the many fine prints and the thoughtful questions raised fit into the history and practice of art, as always fascinating every one of us. Every question has more than one answer; rarely are these answers just yes and no. Although the discussion is implicit, the reader knows that he is in the hands of experienced teachers. The authors leave no doubt that their book goes past "now".
You'll want this book on your shelf or in your hand always. I wish that Amazon would let me give it a sixth star.

There is little that I can add to the previous excellent, detailed reviews. But I did want to add my two cents worth:

I received my "Going Digital" from Amazon a few days ago and read it cover to cover in two sittings - loved it! I especially enjoyed the participant's musings on the three seed photos. It was interesting that most all of them liked the image of the figure.

The resulting prints could not have been more different - a very interesting intellectual/artistic exercise indeed. It is a "must have" book for all digital artists - and will undoubtedly be a classic text book on the subject.

(...)

I find that having to create something with images not of your own choosing forces
you to stretch the limits - to step outside of your comfort zone. I have produced images that I NEVER would have done otherwise.

I have been working digitally less than two years, most of that time I have been in
an internet group with weekly challenges. I credit the "seed image" restriction with helping me grow and find my own voice in this digital world.

When I switched to digital everything was so new and unfamiliar. I have not been able to get into a comfortable rut with the ever-changing challenges. They have pushed me in directions I never would have chosen for myself- and that's a good thing!

When I finished the book I looked for a website that had the images available - I was dying to try my hand at it!

Buy the book, then try out the concept of "seed images" for yourself. It is a fantastic learning experience.

Oh wait... while I am here. Harald Johnson's other book "Mastering Digital Printing" (second edition) is another "must have" if you are serious about your digital art.

Carol
(...)

This book is a treasure trove of ideas for aspiring digital artists. Digital art has come of age, and Nalvin and Jarvis offer a comprehensive overview of the revolution that is transpiring before our very eyes. The book features an international group of digital artists working their magic on three simple images, while explaining their techniques and exposing their creative thought process at every step along the way. For the reader, each chapter provides a compelling intimate journey through the creative mind of a digital artist. My favorite was Greg Klamt, whose creativity is boundless. For me, this is digital art its at its very best. As Jarvis has stated in his digital manifesto, in the digital art world ".high cost will no longer signify superior work. Galleries and critics alike will soon have to realize that creativity, vision, diversity and craftsmanship have returned as the benchmarks of "value". Bravo!

This book covers most everything the wanna be Mac tech needs to know to be able to get into their system intelligently, without making expensive mistakes. It's not preachy or over technical from my standpoint, and it makes a great reference for when you need to tackle a problem yourself, rather than spending a lot of money for someone like me to come out and fix your computer.

I like the bredth and depth of the information given so much, that I am going to use it as the class text in my free Mac Troubleshooting class at Santa Ana College

This book is very good. It is one of the few books that is comprehesive of the entire Mac line (from the original mono-MAC to the iMAC). So many Mac books now only focus on the current models forgetting the earlier ones.

It is arranged by topic (memory, hd, input devices, etc.) and very easy to use. It is also suprisingly accurate. Twice I have found the information in the book's spec tables to be accurate where Apple's own ServiceSource specs were incorrect. (If only I had access to where they get their info!) :-)

Want to work on Macs? Get this book!

This book has really help me. It contains information about troubleshoting, installation, upgrade and more. Good graphics, easy to understand tables and easy to follow instructions.

Tremendous Trememndous. This book helped me upgrade my old SE-30 for use as a networked print server in my apartment. It got me set for networking 7 computers together on a LAN, including the fun ways that Macs talk with Windoze boxes and a Read Hat machine. I love this book!

Shortcuts, ways to speed up the machine, preemptive troubleshooting tips and more interesting info than you could ever retain.

If your Mac's out of warranty, you have nothing to lose by trying to fix it yourself. Stauffer's the man when it comes to clear explanations of needed repairs. I replaced the hard drive and CD-ROM drive following his book's advice. The book paid for itself.

It seems to be a fair book. I didn't like the fact that it was in black and white only. I also thought it was a little outdated.

From my hands-on-perusal at the book seller's, I would say that ALL the iPod books are worth buying, but I chose Miller's IPODPEDIA over the others for the following reasons: 1) It is never out of date: Scanning the opening pages in the bookstore, I learned that Miller has a website for his book which he updates in sync with new iPod models and developments, so I put my purchase on hold for that moment with the intention of visiting Miller's website and then making a decision to purchase from the on-shelf possibilities when I next visited the store. I went to ipodpediatheblog.blogspot.com per Miller's instructions. One finds there an ongoing dated history of his evaluations/commentary/tips, not to mention the links to other sites on which he is a significant iPod presence. 2) He shows that the iPod's simplicity is real for the let's-get-going-user, but he also shows that there is a depth to the menus which might not be realized by this user. He supplies a useful chart of the of the menus, model by model. 3) Unlike the other iPod authors, he shows that commercial DVD's can be converted to iPod format, and then he directs the user to the resources. No other authors that I saw on the shelf deal with this possibility.
4) Like the other iPod authors he describes accessories of all kinds, but he gives an opinion about the quality or usability of many of these accessories as well--most useful stuff. 5) Miller lets us know in the opening pages that his book is "Safari Enabled" for those in need of an electronic reference resource. 6) Miller accesses the iPod from a ubiquitous Windows world, though he makes all the necessary concessions to Mac users. Mac or Windows OS? It makes no difference in the usability of this book. Nutshell opinion: The iPodpedia is a most helpful book for beginner AND beyond.

iPodpedia was a Christmas gift I bought for my brother who purchased his iPod in 2006. I bought myself an iPod 80GB Classic and my six-year-old son a iPod Shuffle for Christmas this year and was confident that my brother would share his iPod knowledge with me. Needless to say, the iPodpedia has become the CHRISTMAS GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING.

My brother has been reading it like a book and shares all the great tips and tidbits he has found in the well-written book by Michael Miller. I'll receive phone calls from brother so excited, "Hey, did you know that your iPod can do this?"

I'm not certain, but I may have to buy another copy just for myself. What if I can't reach my brother one day and I have a question?

I purchased this book for my Dad because he is always asking me questions about his Ipod. I learned more by reading three pages from the chapter labeled secrets then all of the lookups I have done on my own. I was so impressed with the book that I purchased one for myself. If you own an Ipod or know someone that does, you must purchase this book.

This was the perfect gift for my dad who is not the most computer savvy. It has helped him figure out how to work his IPod so he can listen to his favorite music. It's great b/c it gives step by step w/photos.

Published in 2004, this book is a bit dated. A few of the software publishers mentioned have been merged, acquired or gone out of business and all the products still published have had multiple new editions released. None of this, however, reduces the utility of this fine introduction to digital scrapbooking.

The authors begin with the absolute basics and move onward from there, which for the beginner to scrapbooking, much less digital scrapbooking, is an excellent route to take.

They begin with a (pretty dated) review of digital photography and move on to the essentials of image editing. Layouts are next followed by using photographs creatively, which is where the book starts getting really interesting. From here they move onto adding and manipulating text elements, how to use filters, plug-ins and effects and more on image processing. More advanced topics include making your own elements to use in your creations, such as backgrounds, buttons, ribbons and fibers.

Overall, this is an excellent and very well done introduction to digital scrapbooking. It may be a bit on the older side (four years!) but is still an excellent way to get into the craft.

Jerry

This is it, the one book you need to learn digital scrapbooking. Sally gives you clear concise step-by-step instructions that will take you from the basics of digital scrapbooking to more advanced techniques.

Chapter by chapter you will build your skills. Then have fun with the CD full of digital scrapbooking supplies. Paint Shop Pro is a great digital scrapbooking program and Sally is definitely a GREAT Paint Shop Pro teacher!!

(Sally's other books are great as well.)

I purchased this book before I committed to a particular software and it was so helpful. I used it to practice with free trial copies of various softwares to help me decide which one I wanted to go with. The examples are great. The text is easy to follow and thorough. I am very satisfied with this book and learned everything I needed to get started and even do some advanced techniques!

I bought this book for a start in digital scrapbooking. It is great for teaching some of the basics, but I have Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 and the latest it includes is 2.0. Quite a few of the operations have changed when trying to do such things at adding shadows and combining layers. Needless to say I had to buy another book for 4.0. This has some great ideas however and some good information on filters.

If you are thinking of making the move to digital scrapbooking you will do well to read this book by Sally Beacham and Lori J. Davis. Assuming that you have not committed to one image editor, the authors use five popular image editors in the examples throughout the book. They demonstrate the similarities and differences between Jasc Paint Shop Pro, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Microsoft Digital Image Pro, Serif Photo Plus and Ulead Photo Impact. But this book is not about imaging software. It is about digital scrapbooking.

The authors begin by discussing the pros and cons of digital scrapbooking and what you will need to get started. Besides showing how to make completely digital scrapbook pages, the authors also show many ways to integrate digital scrapbooking with traditional scrapbooking.

Next, they cover scanning photos into the computer and what can be done to correct and enhance your photos once they are in digital form. They discuss image corrections such as cropping, alignment, noise reduction, red eye removal and color correction.

The authors discuss two popular styles for scrapbook pages. The first style, faux-paper, emulates the textured paper, fibers, tags and other embellishments of traditional scrapbook pages. The second type, graphic design, has a more commercial look which emphasizes enhancement of photos and elaborate word art. They discuss how to use pre-designed layouts and how to design your own pages digitally.

Next, they begin to build a digital layout. They discuss color and how it should relate to and enhance your photos. Once you have chosen a color and texture for the background of your layout, you add your photos.

Text techniques and word art are a natural extension of digital scrapbooking. The authors discuss the importance of fonts and the digital effects that can be applied to the titles and journaling on your scrapbook pages.

There is a large section on plug-in filters and how they greatly expand the creativity of your image editing software. The special effects from these filters can be applied to your photos, digital background papers and embellishments.

The authors discuss how to save your digital page in the various formats for printing, burning to CD, emailing or posting on the web.

The accompanying CD contains several tutorials, clipart, over 100 fonts, trial versions of popular plug-in filters, sample layouts and page kits.

Lori J. Davis is a technical writer and author of many books on Paint Shop Pro. Sally Bracham is an author and teacher of Paint Shop Pro and related subjects.

I just bought a camera phone 3 weeks ago, and this book has saved me! Well, not literally. But it has been a big help. It's a pretty hefty 300+ pages with easy to follow steps. And it's geared to non-techies like myself.

Now I know how to work the camera, but I still take $#!++% photos!

at last I have a book that I can give to my technology-impared friends and family! thanks for getting me off the hook, john frederick moore!

This is a book made for the person (like me) who's basically intimidated by technology, afraid that any attempt to utilize this or that fancy feature will spell nothing but frustration and futility in the end. It doesn't have to be that way. I was given a camera phone as a present, and until I found this book, it stayed in its box. I was that intimidated. (Let's just say my experience with user manuals hasn't been good.) The first thing that struck me about this book was the clean writing. Moore has a knack for making complicated things seem really simple. This book is comprehensive and straightforward and has lots of helpful visuals to add further clarity. I can now begin taking advantage of my phone's features without fear. It's terrific.

As someone whose technological literacy is only slightly better than a mushroom, I was hesitant to use and intimidated by my new cell phone camera. Despite the salesperson's assuarnce that "anyone can use it," I knew I'd be the addled exception. Thank God for this book! Not only is it well-written and interesting, but it's for people like me - who need lots of extra help. Because of this book, I'm happy to say, I now love using my cell phone camera and have become quite the master at it - even giving my friends advice and "tutorials." I take great photos with my cell and have captured and shared lots of great memories I would have otherwise missed. Thanks for the great, helpful read!

Disclaimer on the star rating: I don't have a camera phone, but my mom does. And my mom called, a lot, to ask how to use this, that, etc. So I bought her this book, and my time spent on those calls have been cut to almost nothing!

Clear direction, illustrations and well written instruction mean that even my mom can master her phone. Of course now I spend even more time downloading the pictures of my neices and nephews she captures on her phone, but it is time well spent! And seeing the results my mom is getting....well, a picture phone might be in my future as well.

I hesitated to buy this book without seeing it 'in hand' first. I took the chance and I am *so* very glad that I did. This is an excellent reference book. It's an easy read, is extremely helpful, and it provided me with more information than I realized I needed. The author is experienced, opinionated, and direct; all of which lead to a book that is emininently useful.

One of my fears in buying this book was that it would be so biased toward PC users that it would be useless for me as a Mac user. I was extremely pleased to find out that was far from the case. In fact, the author has written several books on working with the Macintosh computer. That said, this book is meaningful to ANY computer scrapbooker, regardless of their computer platform or operating system.

Finally, the book includes reviews and recommendations on software, printers, etc, which I found very helpful.

I have read the first few chapters and already have learned some things that I didn't know even though I've been working with graphic packages for years. We can all learn more.......I feel the book is going to be useful. Hopefully it will get me up and really doing digital scrapbooking.....it looks easier than it is. The book is well layed out and very organized. I would recommend this book to a new digital scrapbooker like myself.....have fun with it and get up and doing it......

I received this book as a mother's day present this year (after griping that I didn't know what to do with my digital pictures in my scrapbooks). The book is amazing and very easy to read and follow. Though I'm still exploring the huge amount of information, I've already used some of the techniques like turning photos into watercolors (you'd swear I spent hundreds of dollars having an artist do an original watercolor of my daughter when actually it only took me about 20 minutes to do it with Photoshop Elements). I am also going to get a lot of use out of the sections on using clip art instead of stickers or stamps and computer fonts instead of rub off letters. I'd recommend this book to anyone who needs new scrapbooking ideas!

Digital scrapbooking has become very popular and in this book the author, Carla Rose, shows you how to blend digital and traditional scrapbooking to expand your creativity.

Your first step to creating a scrapbook is deciding on a theme or story to tell. Based on that, you choose a style that reflects your project and yourself. Now you are ready to gather your tools and get started creating. Rose discusses the tools for traditional scrapbooking and what is needed to go digital. She covers the advantages and limitations of several software programs.

Moving on to page design, Rose discusses aspects of page composition such as the use of white space and leading to enhance the readability of your pages. Next she explains the rule of thirds and how to use grids to help you design your pages around a center of interest which is usually, but not always, a photo or photos.

She discusses each page design element individually starting with background color and texture. She suggests creating background papers from scanned objects such as candy canes, leaves and fabric.

Rose then talks about photos. She discusses various corrections that you may need to make to old photos. She shows you step-by-step how to fix a badly damaged photo and how to turn a regular photo into a vignette (oval) shaped image. Next she covers correcting and enhancing your digital photos. She shows you how to blur the background area to enhance the subject of a photo. You may also need to make corrections to perspective, color, contrast or red eye.

She explores having fun with your photos by applying special effects and filters. Using plug-in filters and your software program, you can turn your photos into watercolor paintings or line art. You can also create a composite or collage from several photos.

Rose discusses the basics of typography and how to choose a font that will reflect the theme and style of your scrapbook. She discusses the special digital effects that you can add to your text such as drop shadows and embossing.

Publishing your scrapbook on the Internet has become very popular and Rose discusses the basics of webpage design and HTML. She has included the HTML code for a sample webpage to get you started.

Carla Rose is a professional photographer and Photoshop expert. She has written several computer books.

J'ai adoré ce livre car l'auteur parle autant de scrapbooking sur papier que sur ordinateur. Après avoir lu une partie du chapitre 7, j'ai pu effectué des corrections sur de vieilles photos de famille avec un résultat époustoufflant et cela en quelques minutes. Très bon livre de référence pour les gens qui veulent apprendre à faire du scrapbook autant manuellement que sur l'ordinateur.

Very informative, detailed, user friendly, you don't need to be photo pro to read this. I have learned a most from this one compare to another books. Read it, make notes and hit the field for some great pics.

I used this author's D50 field guide to learn to use my Nikon camera. Now, just when I am ready to set out on a dream vacation with my family, he comes out with this guide aimed especially at those taking vacation or travel photographs.

I must admit that I like this one even better than the D50 book, mostly because 1/3 of it is NOT taken up with explanations of how to use camera controls. This book is chock full of great travel tips, how to prepare for your trip, how to equip your camera, and valuable information on maximizing storage, etc. Like the other book, most of its content deals with techniques for taking great pictures, but these are all travel oriented. The author works through several dozen different kinds of photo opportunities and offers recommendations for settings and how to approach the shot. Well worth studying before the trip, and including in your backpack, purse, or camera bag while you travel.

It's amazing how much essential information is contained within the covers of this compact guidebook. It's filled with shrewd advice on working with digital cameras of all types, from simple point and shoot models through advanced digital SLR cameras. Even if you already know how to operate your camera, you'll find lots of tips on coping with special problems you'll encounter in travel photography situations.

This is a full color book with beautiful photos on every page, all of them of a type that the reader can aspire to after reading the advice in the guide. I especially appreciated the format of this book, which was small enough to tuck in a camera bag and take with you. Take it with you on every trip you take. I know I will.

This is my fifth photography book in the past year, and I'm getting to be a bit of an expert on them! (joke). This is the first book that I have seen that is intended for the digital photographer who is planning a trip.

David assumes some photographic knowledge, but covers some of the basics anyway. I won't go into that. Where this book excels is in teaching how to prepare for a photo-safari trip, or just how to maximize on a regular vacation. How to take photos that don't look like the typical tourist shots. What to pack. What not to. And how to learn to take good travel photos by using your home area in a series of homework assignments. "Digital Travel Photography" covers technique for landscape photography, nature, portraits (that don't look posed), and even planning a photo-vacaton to cover local annual events.

Although David recommends packing this book as a filed guide, I don't equate it to the bird and nature guides that are pocketable. High marks for content and abundant color illustration.

i am an ameteur photographer that is trying very hard to understand a manual digital camera. i want to learn to take better pictures and use the manual features on my camera instead of the auto all the time. i have read many many photography books (probably 25 to 30 in the last 3 years). many go on way too long about how to select a camera - i don't think a book should cover that - cameras change too much from month to month and a good camera store should be able to steer you in the right direction. and, the books spend the last half covering how to change your photos on adobe. well, not everyone uses adobe. no matter what program you use, get a book on that. so, i loved this book, didn't delve into these two subjects too much. i can finally start to get a grasp of f stops and lighting and all that. my pictures have finally started to improve and i can understand what the book is saying. most other books i've read are either WAY to basic, too many or not enough pictures, too detailed for me to understand, etc. this book is perfect! i am learning a lot but it's not so far out there that i need to take a college course to understand the language used!