Digital Video Books

After purchasing three other books on CS3, this was the most applicable for someone that is primarily focused on nature and landscape photography. The authors introduce you to their work flow, which I find works well. They guide you through the entire process, beginning at taking your picture, to setting up your preferences, to final print. It leaves room for your own personal settings without "directing" you to do it only their way. The authors not only explain the "how", but the "why." This was something I found lacking in the other books, even the official Adobe workbook. The lessons are easy to follow and understand. You don't have to be a computer expert to work with this book, but basic knowledge of CS3 helps, although not required. If getting the most out of your landscape/nature images with CS3 is your goal, then this is your book. A very good "A to Z" instructional guide. Highly recommended.

For several years I have attempted to gain at least a small degree of skill doing some basic image editing using Photoshop. Each attempt was accompanied by the latest and greatest book claiming to be the source of everything needed to become quickly proficient with Photoshop. And these books tend to get read -- perhaps all the way to chapter 3 -- where I become entirely overwhelmed by the minutiae and lose complete interest, especially since the book is only introducing details and accomplishing nothing useful. I was skeptical when I purchased this book, assuming it would lead to the same dead end. I have been very pleasantly surprised, not to mention pleased with the progress I have made -- right through the final chapter!

I think several things make this book stand out. The authors have wisely chosen not to attempt to document every single feature of this huge and complicated software tool. Often they note, in passing, areas that they do not plan to cover -- and why (because the software was designed for a wide audience and nature photographers only need a sub-set of the available features). The book progresses very logically, providing you just what you need to do "the next thing." In practice, this means that you only need to learn a reasonable number of things in order to begin to see some success. As well, you then begin to build on these skills -- but never to the point where you become frustrated with the process. Finally, they provide options for you to consider and try, typically suggesting that you use the method most comfortable for you. In hindsight, I believe that many of the earlier books that I worked with often required adherence to the author's proscribed ideas about how to do this or that. It was quite nice to discover, for example, that a "keyboard person" was not forced to use the mouse -- and vice versa.

I can certainly recommend this to advanced beginner and intermediate photographers -- not JUST Nature Photographers. If you need to work with some of the advanced options that Photoshop offers then this may not be the right book for you. If you have tried many times to succeed with Photoshop I urge you to try again with this book -- you just may find that you will succeed this time!!

This is a pretty good book filled with quite a few tips. The writing style was difficult for me to enjoy per se but the content is there. It was extremely distracting however for nearly every photograph in the book to have the caption "Photo by Ellen Anon". Over and over and over....Even multiple steps in a procedure apparently required a credit on each photo. Just a small gripe but it would have been easier to say at the beginning all photos by Ellen Anon unless otherwise noted.

I had been muddling through Photoshop for years, learning how to do things mostly on my own. This book, however, was an eye-opener. First off, although being nature photographer-centered doesn't mean it is impractical for other subjects, the nature focus does preclude the types of portrait and architecture examples of other books that really don't help the nature-oriented photographer very much. I find this to be a big strength.

The book is fairly inclusive of most of the basic tools needed to produce quality photos, but some areas are a bit lacking, notably with respect to sharpening. Specifically, there is no discussion of high-pass sharpening, nor of the multipass sharpening process (capture, creative, and output sharpening) that Adobe is now embracing. If you are interested in getting the best out of your photos, I strongly suggest googling these two subjects and learning more.

This book, as do all books on the subject, also suffers from that fact that parts of it are partially obsolete almost from the time it was printed because of advances in plug-in technology. This is especially the case with the recent upgrade of Camera Raw to version 4.1 (now available for free download from Adobe's website), which has tools (sharpening, notably) that could not be covered by this book because ACR 4.1 didn't exist at the time it was written. Again, this isn't a flaw of the book, just the nature of the beast. Heck, I'm sure someone reading this review a year or so from now will be remarking how obsolete ACR 4.1 is, once ACR 4.2 comes out.

I like the fact that there are two authors for the book because they each have ideas on how to best accomplish their goals. This leads to multiple options being presented to the reader. The sidebars by well-known photographers are also quite valuable, although it seems that they were written based on earlier versions of the book (i.e., once centered on CS2, and possibly CS). As such, some of that information is a bit dated. Still, there is a lot of valuable information in there.

I can't comment on the tutorial CD, because I haven't used it, but for those of you who prefer to learn by doing, I imagine it is a very valuable resource.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to any newcomer to Photoshop who shoots primarily nature photos.

As a web designer I've been using Photoshop professionally for years. I've also worked on lots of photographs, both my own and those I've gotten from clients. I don't need a how to book on layers, cropping and levels. I've got a good understanding of the basic Photoshop tools, and have benefitted from Scott Kelby's Photoshop CS for Photographers. But Kelby's book is a recipe book both useful and well presented, but I want more.

What I want to do now is take my own photography to another level. Past a certain point, improving becomes less a matter of collecting tricks and recipes and more a matter of learning the entire workflow from experts. For that a basic how-to cookbook is no longer of much use to me. I could probably spend a lot of time working out a good workflow and set of procedures through trial and error, but why not take advantage of the experience of those who have already taken the art of nature photography editing to a high place?

Enter Photoshop CS3 for Nature Photographers. As one reviewer has stated, much of the introductory Photoshop material is covered in other books, but not in quite the same way. Photoshop has many tools, each of which has many settings and options. It's perfectly possible to be familiar with one tool or filter in one context and not realize that it can be used in combination with another tool to achieve a completely different result. I once read that when Einstein proposed his theory of relativity maybe three people in the world understood it. I wonder if more than three people in the world completely understand all of what can be done with Photoshop. What I was looking for and found here is an expansion of my Photoshop horizons, a deeper exploration of the art and science of nature photography and photo editing.

Anon and Grey offer an excellent look over the shoulder of experts in both practice of nature photography and in the use of Photoshop as a digital darkroom. I can't emphasize strongly enough how helpful that approach is for someone who has some Photoshop chops or who has used the program for another end and who wants to get great results with nature photos. Their workflow is time tested and produces excellent results

And nature photograph editing benefits from following a slightly different approach from that of product photography, with which I have some experience, portraiture, photojournalism and so on. Again, I'm struck with how specific and helpful the presented workflow, and the mindset that using such a workflow creates is. And placing editing in context with a specific photographic goal informs my picture taking too.

I recommend this book to anybody interested in nature photography who has at least some experience with Photoshop, though a dedicate beginner could work through the introductory phases with this volume. For someone who has used Photoshop in another context and wants to expand into the nature photography realm this book is brilliant.

Vampire Hunter D is one of those vampiric characters who clings to the imagination -- a chilly, powerful dhampir with a big hat and sword.

And Hideyuki Kikuchi is still in pretty good shape in D's fourth fantasy adventure. "Vampire Hunter D Volume 4: Tale of the Dead Town" is more of a mystery than straight sci-fi horror, and while it lacks the visceral punch of Kikuchi's other work about his postapocalyptic dhampir, it's still a solid story with some solid action scenes, and a glimpse of D's life as a wandering Hunter.

As the story opens, D rescues the lone survivor of a dragon massacre -- a radiation-sick teenage girl named Lori -- and a brash biker named John M. Brasselli Pluto VIII.

With his two new companions, D arrives at a very unique town -- it floats above the ground, and constantly travels. Compared to the rest of the Frontier, it's pretty idyllic, except that the mayor's daughter has been attacked by the Nobility. At first D thinks that the place has been invaded by a lone Noble, but when he kills the vampire he finds that the man is not the only one in the floating city.

And he finds that something strange is lurking in Lori's old home, where her father was conducting some odd experiments. Using John's special talents -- possessing the minds of others -- D soon discovers just what Lori's father was trying to create all those years, and who is responsible for the vampire attacks. To make matters worse, the city is going waaaaaayyy off course toward some Noble ruins...

Hideyuki Kikuchi has explored the horrors that science can create before, even in a series with vampires, mutants, and monsters of assorted types. And "Tale of the Dead Town" straddles the line between horror and mystery -- not mystery of the Agatha Christie type with subtle clues and many suspects, but more of a Raymond Chandler dig-up-the-dirty-nasty-facts pulp variety.

With that in mind, "Tale of the Dead Town" unwinds at a relatively relaxed pace, with D poking around in dark corners and fending off the bigotry of the locals. Kikuchi's shadowy, lushly detailed descriptions lend themselves well to the eerier scenes -- such as the vampire girl's creepy multiple-personality moment -- as well as the action sequences. One particularly striking scene is D's battle against some vicious carnivorous birds to save a little girl.

There are a few bumps in the literary road, though -- Kikuchi's detailed writing sometimes goes a bit over the top ("vermillion rage" in someone's voice?), and he reminds us at least every two pages about how unspeakably gorgeous D is.

Though D claims he's "seen too much" to react to his surroundings, Kikuchi keeps his anti-hero from becoming a cardboard cutout. He spends most of the book being chilly and remote, but occasionally comes out of his shell -- his unacknowledged with the brash, talkative John M. Brasselli Pluto VIII is a particularly fun one, since the men are utter opposites. At the same time, we get a glimpse at the mindless hostility he's been hit with for centuries.

"Vampire Hunter D Volume 4: Tale of the Dead Town" is one of Kikuchi's lesser works, but it's still a solid horror/mystery tale of a hi-tech city that is rotting from the inside out.

When he's not hunting vampires, D is an excellent detective.

Ten years ago, 4 children go missing and only 3 return. Now vampires are able to walk in daylight. What happened ten years ago? How are daylight walking vampires and the 3 missing children that returned (now adults) connected? The answer will shock you.

What I liked about this novel is a thin line is drawn between humanity and monsters. You have your monsters killing and hunting people, but then you have people being abusive and cruel. And for a moment. . .for one second, I saw through's D eyes and did not see a difference.

And taking Doris's place as The Girl in Love with D (which I will refer to as GLD, "Girl Loves D"), is Lina. She is annoying at first, I will admit, but she did grow on me through the novel. I don't like her as much as I liked Doris, but I don't hate her either.

This novel is particularly gory and does contain sexual abuse and mentions of violent rape, so definately keep this out of kids' hands and don't read if it offends you.

Another plus about this novel, for Vampire Hunter D fans. . .that a criptic clue is revealed about D's past.

Raiser of Gales is an interesting, and I think introspective and thoughtful adventure. It more firmly establishes the what and why of D's world. Also, the wording in this novel is well written, far less "All your base-" than ended up getting through in the first translation.

My favorite is that an enemy uses a type of trap that was later incorporated into the second D movie, but I've risked spoiling it enough here.

...but when they're victims start moving about and killing people during the day time hours that can be a problem. The people of the village of Tepes are starting to become paranoid, seeing evil in everybody and everything. And they weren't too pure to begin with. Now they have the tall, dark, and handsome Vampire Hunter D in their town. And he is not too sure it is a vampire that is the problem.
Can D solve the mystery before too many people die at the hands of the new type of vampire? Can he solve the mystery before too many people die at the hands of their own protectors?
Great story, great illustrations, great second book to the ongoing Japanese horror series. I will be collecting as many as I can. Get it used or new!

I liked this book as much as I love the first one. This time D finds himself a world he just can't get out of. It keep repeating itself over and over again. The girl in this book as quit a charcter and did not annoyed me as much as Doris Lang. She keeps following D where ever he goes. And he always tell her to "Go Home" Which always made me laugh. The girl he meets is very interested in Vampires and D in the novel finds her strange. WOW that something coming from D. The book was fantasic as always. But it's little sad at the end though.

I've only read the first chapter or two, and I'm chompin' at the bit to write this review. I know, that sounds like it's "pretty early in the game here" to write a review on a book, but I think I already see a really good pattern here. I know the basics of Premier Pro 1.5, and have already done several fairly complicated edits with it using multiple audio tracks, multiple video tracks, and so on, but let me tell you, I know I was only scratching the surface, in a sense of this great video editing program.
I recently lost the original manual that came with the program, and figured I needed "something" to back me up in case they quit making the work manuals, so I found Rosenberg's book on Amazon, and read all the reviews on it. I was thoroughly convinced that this guy "has the goods" on Adobe Premier, so I orderd the book. I love the fact that he gives you the DVD with the book that has him discribing some of the more complicated edits visually. That's a real plus, and just the way the guy writes and handles this stuff "get's my blood pumping" (in a good way). He's very detail oriented, but he also gives you practical reasons "why" a certain button is there and/or what it "really" does, so you can understand what's really going on. I can almost "feel" his experience in the way he writes and what he says- (for instance), where he goes into detail how several of the keyboard letters can really help you, time wise, scrubbing through the clips in a seemingly more efficient way than if you "only" used the radial buttons. I know that might be up for debate, because some people aren't "keyboard editing people", like me, but I'll sure give it a shot. He seems to talk to you in a very real, "hands on" kind of way that is so important to me. It can make some things, so much easier to grasp that way. Marc Trainor.

This book is fabulous for just learning how to operate Adobe Premiere.

Whether its the basics you seek or the advanced "insider" tips you need, this is the manual for you. Although Premiere Pro is much different than 6.5 and previous versions, you will soon find that using it will become second nature. This is the best book for Pro users on the market.

Three stars for "user friendly" and five stars for content. The information is quite detailed but needs a lot of interpretation and rereading to understand. The text doesn't always follow your project and one needs to go to the "Help" menu, often. However, if one preservers, the instructions will allow you to use the Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 program to its fullest potential.

great book but now behind the times, wish i'd of waited a bit longer till the release of 2.0 and the subsequent book; however, I believe everything covered in this book carries over to the new version of premiere pro.

I am a beginner to editing video. This text is easy for me to understand and gives
great detail on how to do all the procedures needed to create great videos.
I highly recommend Final Cut Pro 5 by Diana Weynand, whether you are a begninner or
if you are well versed in the program. After the initial tutorial material is covered,
it will make a great reference manual.

very useful, pretty easy to read. would they consider publishing a smaller version for all the commands only?

Book is very comprehensive, covers topics in depth and allows the reader to work through projects. Final Cut is quite a program, and to try to learn about it on your own would be a challange, this book bridges the gap.
Not once could I complete the project tasks in the estimated time given, i.e. 1 hour, I don't know if I am the only one who can't pick it up as quick as the book says, for me personally the concept of completing the book in the time stated is unrealistic, nevertheless I got it eventually and now have a much broader understanding of the program, so in this sense I found it useful and it has fulfilled it's purpose as a learning tool.

I am new at editing having only used Final Cut Pro for very basic and simple editing. This book is superb for beginners who wish to take their skills up a notch with plenty of tidbits for experimentation. I recommend beginners to have a copy of this book in their library if only for referrence.

Excellent lessons... just perfect... sssshhh.. I'll let you in on a little secret... you listening? Give Apple 99 bucks and get 50 one hour lessons! 2 bucks an hour with a pro at the Apple store!

This book contains a lot of detail about creating DVDs. Many full-color screen shots. I purchased it to help in creating a DVD of my daughter's wedding. One thing it didn't explain in detail though was how to synchronized clips from multiple cameras onto a single audio track. It briefly discusses the subject, but doesn't go into detail about how to sync the clips based on audio or video cues.

Overall though, a very well-written book.

Having Missing Manuals 3 to 5 It is again most difficult to find what's new in Apples Version 6 amongst all the older information contained in the previously published "Manuals". If one was purchasing it for the first time it does a reasonable job.

I recently purchased a Mac and edited my first film - a short documentary - on iMovie.

I had never used iMovie before and a good friend recommended this book and I couldn't have been more pleased. I haven't encountered a problem yet that this book hasn't addressed.

Well-written, simple and practical.

A great resource. Worth your time and money.

I have to admit that I was skeptical when I saw that this was a textbook for an introductory filmmaking class but it's an awesome book. It strikes just the right tone and is basically a short course in filming, editing and distributing (dvd, web, email) movies. Well done.

This book is a thoroughly attentive-to-detail manual that is true to it's name/concept: The manual that *should* have come in the box! It clearly walks you through every step, big and small as well as including sections on how to improve your filming, editing, and a concise Quicktime how-to.

I recommend reading the entire book before starting an iMovie/iDVD project but if you just can't wait (I couldn't-- I read as I went), I recommend reading Appendix B (pg. 461) which is "Troubleshooting" early on . It includes *many* crucial tips from being sure to format your external HD to Mac OS Extended (if saving on an ext. HD) to switching the factory-setting 12-bit audio on your digital video camera to 16-bit to common 'glitches' while importing, working with or exporting footage.

The other great benefit of this book is it explains the various little 'tricks' for more complicated tasks or for things that are hinky and need a little fiddling to work. One ex.: You use the new iMovie 6 themes w/in iMovie (Pass Through, especially, is slick/professional-looking!) and are trying to use a *trimmed* clip w/in the theme. iMovie doesn't understand starting it where you trimmed because it keeps the trimmed portion of the clip hidden but still there so the undesirable portion of your clip is shown in the intro theme instead. This book explains in detail how to save it to Quicktime and re-import the new *permanently* trimmed clip to use w/ no problems in your themed intro!

This book also spells out the key differences in iMovie 6 vs. previous versions. I HIGHLY recommend this book if you are looking to edit home movie footage (or other) using iMovie (& iDVD) and don't have your own personal Mac Genius in your household. :-)

great book not to be missed by people who like to start a carrier in film editing, it stars from the basics a a camera shot and builds up to cutting etc. I have found it very useful even as a handbook.

Michael Wohl has written a book. This book is an exercise of self-publicity and little else. It is a very messy conglomerate of his experience as an editor, director and Final Cut Pro user but not a rigorous or well written book about any of the themes he intends to cover. The coverage of Final Cut Pro is poor and simplistic. (There is nothing here that you cannot learn in the manuals or in a few hours exposed to the software). His comments and examples about his experience as an editor are pretty simplistic and do not inspire or entertain, and most of all don't teach a lot about the craft of editing. He also keeps refering to a movie he directed to give examples of typical situations encountered by editors but, this feels utterly incomplete without the inclusion of a sample of his movie on CD ROM or DVD. You can make comments about a movie and learn from it only if it is available to you. To summarise, this is a very dissapointing book which will not satisfy any of the areas it intends to talk about. Its only redeeming feature are the interviews with famous editors, but apart from that, this book is intended to absolte beginners with no experience whatsoever.

When I got this book I openned the first few pages and kept going on. It seems to me that anyone who helped create a program will certainly know how it works or that's what we think. Micheal is and editor with many years of experience and he shows you the different ways you can use FCP. Don't buy this for problem solving to FCP, buy it as a good reference book when you need to learn different ways to edit. It's like a good cook book , you can always pick it off the shelf and look for something new to cook.

If you are serious about Film Editing, you are probably already been looking at books like Shot by Shot by Steven Katz, and checking out local training courses. You may also be trying to learn how to use Final Cut Pro, and checking out the many books on that topic.

This book could save you a lot of time and effort, by combining both subjects into one. It teaches, from a completely practical viewpoint, how to frame and edit shots. It also discusses how to use Final Cut Pro in order to achieve the right effect. There are also sections on sound, special effects and distribution - and again, all are realistically explained.

At every point, real-world editing examples are used, so it's not simply a discussion of every menu option. There are plenty of screenshots, and even though it doesn't cover the very latest version of FCP, everything is still 100% relevant.

After working through the huge pile of paper that is the FCP manual set, this book should be next on your list. It will tell you which features you will actually need to know, and pass on some very useful cinematic editing information at the same time.

This book is not for someone looking to learn the basics of Final Cut Pro, the manual and other books are better at that, but this book is a MUST for anyone looking to learn about editing and are going to be doing it in FCP.

Other FCP books teach you the program primarily, this book is about editing and the skills and techniques you need to do it well.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

This book offers a good review over the concepts concerned with Videography. I have a 2 years experience in Video Editing. Home and Musical videos are my preferences, but I am looking for new options.
Many video editing concepts about Codecs, DVD burning, Editing work flow, Tips to increase quality on shutting (Slow motion), production tips were the more useful for me.
Recommendation: The practice footage could be better. and readers could take advantage of it. I suggest add more practices tips in order to capture the videographer interest.

I have a question. Why do the shadow people age us with smothering envy as we sleep? Does anyone else wake up at night sometimes and smell their acrid, bitter and dusty presence?!! Why must they drain! Just as starlight bores holes through us they envy and groan silently until the stress of it works us all into withering, wilting, oldster shadows of ourselves. I like KFC even though its grease and smell make me tired, and sort of nauseous. Why do High functioning autistics loop on things other people do not even notice. My tongue keeps tasting itself in an infinite loop. My friend Marko made his "Rodin Coil" to change the world then ran out of energy and now he plays all day with his children. I will edit a video of you if you pay me $250 an hour. I really would prefer that you be interesting, is that rude? I receive about 3/4 of the stuff I order from Amazon because I live on The Big Island and the mail carriers steal things here. It's either that or Amazon just sucks and they're giving 1/4 of my orders to the shadow people who keep turning my KFC rancid. I knew the book already, Q Bert happened when Pac Man mutated and evolved a dna shaped spine and began worshiping sacred geometry. It's all about Vortexes. Go youtube 2012, 19.5 and learn about Rodin Coils. Then be Happy.

Editing digital video gave me a good insight into the baiscs of digital editing. The last time I edited video it was on a linear system and I found some other texts a little confusing. This book enabled me to use my NLE system with confidence.

I have been using entry-level NLEs (e.g. Vegas Movie Studio, Pinnacle Studio, Magix Movie Edit Pro) for about four years. Any progress in my editing skills came from the traditional 'trial and error' approach, and from learning by watching other amateur-produced movies in a video club that I belong to...

"Editing Digital Video" helped me learn new techniques and approachs to editing my movies. Suggestions on how to get organized, good definitions & explanations of editing jargon, and the included footage for an editing exercise all help you take your editing up a notch to produce better movies.

The book is text-heavy---I would like to have seen more illustrations, and possibly a professionally editing version (or two) of the editing exercise. Highly recommended.

This book is 1/3 listings of movies and other such irrelevant nonsense.

The editing information may have been relevant several years ago, but is now completely and totally dated.

Certainly readable, but completely vapid.

I bought this when it was $[...]. The price seems to fluctuate wildly. It's now $[...]. But this is a very nice product at any price. I'm not wild about the Bondi software, but it is usable.

The magazine's content is great, vividly captured. It's better than I expected. I wasn't sure if the magazine would have been preserved in its early days, but it was and it is here. The centerfolds showcase the great photography that Playboy has always had.

Playboy has had its ups and downs over the years, but Mr Hefner always was true to himself. This item is worth a look, if only to see what our fathers and grandfathers grew up with.

This is a great collection of the older Playboys and is long overdue for collectors. Hopefully, each decade will be done to facilitate a complete magazine search database. The format is a bit strange and I don't understand why Adobe wasn't used as opposed to the proprietary program this set is formatted in...but who am I to question PEI? An excellent addition to my collection and I can now find any article or author without having to actually open each issue.

This is one of the best archival collections that I DIDN'T produce!
This superbly inclusive package contains 2 discs chronicling each (printable) page of Playboys first and most groundbreaking decade (which began in December 1953). Undoubtedly the most visionary publication ever, it reflected a style, artform, sophistication, sizzle, taste and hip attitude which never existed before, and still endures as the pioneering influential catalyst for all the titillating printed works that became beneficiaries of the true original.
In addition to the discs, comes a 224 page coffee table book with many previously unseen photos & material gathered by Hef for this special release.
But the ultimate bonus for us collectors, is the reprint copy of the very first issue, complete with every article, advertisement and the memorable cover and classic Pin up shot of Marilyn Monroe by Tom Kelly, as it was originally first seen in that milestone issue. This limited edition package is a must for every fan, collector & aficionado of memorabilia and the lovely sights that have been exclusively captured in the pages of this timeless original. Hopefully, there may be a similar production for the other great decade of creative, artistic excitement, the 60s! Till there is, you may enjoy a unique collectible compilation of classic soft drink jingle commercials by the biggest hit-making recording artists of the decade, plus vintage radio disc jockeys and broadcast memorabilia from that decade called "Top 40 radios swingin' soft drink spots of the 60s; Vols 1 & 2". And the double CD sets are available exclusively from Amazon.com! Note the first volumes' cover featuring the other timeless sex symbol Icon from the 50s & 60s "Brigitte Bardot" appropriately sipping up a glassful, undoubtedly while listening to an earful!

This is an incredible bargain! I have loved every minute I've spent reading the wonderful fiction, interviews and reviews. (The works of Ray Bradbury, "A Sound of Thunder" and "Fahrenheit 451" are worth the price!) I heartily recommend this collection, and can barely wait for the decade of the 60's to come! What I remember of the 60's, I remember fondly. :)

Oh, yeah... the pictorials are awesome, as well.

There are quite a few rave reviews here and, for many, they will be spot on. I'd like to target my review to a more technically discerning audience interested in the technical specifications. Many will not mind the faults I list below and that's totally fine. It's great to enjoy this set as a fun retrospective of classic Americana, but I feel the need to point out some egregious shortcomings for those that care.

First of all, Bondi claims they're doing us a favor by tethering their content in a stupid digital rights management scheme. It's so that we can enjoy the content with greater ease. To many, it will be a headache. Not that their image viewer is awful. It's just excruciatingly slow compared to looking at the same images in, say, a PDF viewer like Acrobat. The interface is slow, sluggish, and unresponsive. I'm often required to click buttons more than once while waiting for the application to respond. It really makes reading a chore. With most PDF viewers, you can move between pages rapidly. With Bondi's system, you must load one (or two) pages at a time. I tested on a Mac Pro with a great graphics card. It sure wasn't my machine that was slowing things down!

While the articles are indexed and although it IS handy for jumping around, so are PDFs!!! Why not just give the users PDF files and let them use which ever free and available apps they want? It makes absolutely no sense except as a DRM mechanism. Bondi has drastically reduced the functionality of this collection - a shame. It also guarantees a limited life to the files. If they were jpgs, pngs, or PDFs, we could always keep them current, changing the formats and the technology advances. However, the images are locked away in a proprietary file format.

The installation is quick and fairly painless. It did automatically create a shortcut on my desktop without asking my permission (annoying), but I suppose that's easy enough to delete. I haven't tried installing on multiple machines, but since no software registration is required, I'm assuming you can install multiple copies. As the software agreement reminds us, this is a violation of copyright, so don't do it - but you probably can anyway.

Oh yes - and Bondi assures us that software updates maintain compatibility. The fine print indicates that "additional fees may apply". They might provide the updates for free, but then again, they might just make users keep paying for something they supposedly already bought.

Now onto the scans. Well, they're scans of about the same quality as anyone with a regular scanner could do. I was pretty shocked to find that many of the pages are not exactly level. As we all know, it's tough to make perfectly level copies from bound print matter, but I assumed for $100, Bondi would do a better job than this. The image quality is nothing amazing. Once you blow the pages up to a readable size, the quality is noticeably diminished.

Their browser gives you the option of zooming up to 300%, but at that size, the text looks awful. The 300% option really only works for the centerfolds. They seem to be scanned at a much higher resolution than the rest of the magazine. To be fair, the centerfold images do look great - great color, great resolution, good amount of detail, etc. I think it's a bit sneaky to drop the resolution for the rest of the content though.

The whole idea is so great that it's a shame Bondi Digital Publishing screwed it up so bad. The first mistake is the crippling DRM. The second is the silly interface. The third is the inherently limited lifespan due to the DRM and interface. The fourth is the surprisingly low quality of the images.

Early Playboy is good clean (well, maybe PG-13) fun and it's a great idea to give a new generation access to this piece of American history. I'm not against the idea at all - it's a great one. I just think the realization of the idea fails on so many levels. If you don't mind the issues I raised above, you'll probably enjoy this. If you're on the fence, all I can say is, I hope you find it cheap. I don't think it's even worth Amazon's current price of $41. Shame on you, Bondi.

I would definately recommend this book to EVERYONE! It is so in-depth about every aspect of digital filmmaking. It has projects and things to think about on every single page. I would have paid $50 bucks for it! In my opinion, it is very cheap for its quality. Also, there are pictures on every page that deponstrate every topic. The pictures really help to open up new ideas in your head. I know they have for me!

Buy it now!

It seemed like there was double the actual pages there was in the book. Everypage has tons of information about everything there is in making short films. I wish the book went into each aspect with more depth because reading this book seemed like a club of information just kept pounding me over the head. It jumps from each technique and tip so fast that it made me want either more examples or more explanation.
With that said, this is definitely for anyone who is interested in making films, even for those who think they know it all. I thought I knew a lot about making films until I read this.

If you know any teenagers who are dying to learn how to make films, get them this book. While it is pretty scant on information (most of it being recycled from giants like Murch and McKee), it is motivational and has lots of fun exercises...and the graphic design is first rate.

Recommended for beginners only.

Purchased this book to polish a 24-minute short screenplay. The story structure and content are solid now, and the characters believable. The lists are an AWESOME source of inspiration. Ready to shoot this Spring. Look forward to the DVD series. BTW, haven't made it through the second half of the book yet, but it looks great.

Sherri Sheridan takes you in her book Developing Digital Short Films through a very spectacular trip in the most interesting design topics which is about films and animation production industry.
While moving through this interesting educational trip, you will find Sherri stands out with her tips, proverbs of famous people and exercises, which is the only way to fully digest the content of the book.

This practice opens your eyes widely to see your favorite movies with a new vision. Every part of the film will remind you with a concept or a principle Sherri has mentioned in this book. Then you will realize how much interesting this filed is. And for sure, a dream to create your own movie comes to mind.

As said, " This book will not make you Steven Spielberg, but it is a good step to start with", this book gives you a strong background in the field of animation.
Not only the people that interest in working in the field of short films who can use this book, but also all who work in the filed of animation, including cartoons and web and digital animation. It will give the key to add a flavor to your animation and create eye-catching ideas with the principles used in film production industry.

This book is divided into three parts that take you step by step to reach by the end of the book to create a complex idea. Enhanced with the exercises after every step. The first part (Digital Storytelling) prepare you to create your own story and develop it to create a story board for your film, in this part you will learn the concepts and principles of creating interesting story and develop it through its stages using its basic elements (Plot, Character, and Theme).
After writing your story, Sherri takes you to the next step in part two (Visualizing Your Scripts) which converts your story into a storyboard ready for production. In this part, you will learn how to use film elements like cameras and locations to well deliver your story target to the audience. This part is very important to learn the principles of filmmaking and animation. However, it is important for all who works in the animation field.
The third part (Creating Digital Short Films for Different Production Styles) is about using different techniques to come up with your film into the production phase applying all what you learnt through the book.

This book provides a great experience for all who work in the fields of films production, cartoon and animation.

I got this book out of the library to read as a preparation for doing lighting on a low-budget movie I'm planning. Long story short, I devoured the book, then had to renew it so I could read it again and again.

People with big expensive lights will love the clear use of big expensive lighting equipment.

People who know nothing about lighting (like I did before I got this book) and have no money (like me) will love the low-budget chapter, and specifically the "spit and gaffer's tape" (author's words) list of equipment for those of us without deep pockets.

This is an amazing book. The guy is a true pro and explains everything you need to know to get takes that look professional on the first try.

The book is really well written and organized. I blows by while you learn all the hows and whys of lighting video.

I recomend this to anyone who feels that they are not at the professional level with lighting yet. It will change your life.

Overall, I think this book is very easy to read. The author starts with the basic elements of lighting and builds on that foundation. I am using it with a lighting for video class that I am enrolled in, but would be very helpful by itself. The pictures really help to guide the process and set up your lighting scenerios properly.

This book changed my perspective of lighting being a beginner and it gave me so much insight and the buzz words to work with the pros... Truly enjoyed it and refer to it often! (NO I am not the author)hehe I just really liked it. It rocks!!

Lighting for Digital Video & Television introduces the basics of lighting for film and video in a very concise and lucid manner. The information published here will serve the filmmaker with very little or no budget as well as those with professional budgets. The author presents both relevant theory and practical advice. The single best book I have purchased on the subject of lighting for video.