Digital Photography Books

There were too many books about photography trying to talk about everything. It turned out not so helpful to someone like me who has her first SLR camera and is trying to master the fundamentals and bring out the best value of it. Those books are either covering too many things that you already know as a camera user, or showing the results using different 'sophisticated' gears (not practical in my case) for the best shots and talking too general and brief in how it's done.

This book provided the general tips in blocks of words, I like its format a lot, easy to understand and grasp, brief to the point. Though it also tried to cover everything for different entry level's user, it did provided some values for what I was looking for in the Techniques' session.

I wish there is a book dedicatedly for the readers like me, further in depth, educating how to make use of some build-in mode/functions of the SLR digital camera with a common lens (i.e. Nikon D70 18-70mm) and bring the best result practically (without other expensive gears) under different conditions (strong sunshine, overcast, dim light indoor, people, landscape etc.) while providing comparison for typical good vs. bad settings to demonstrate the points and giving some examples for the easily/commonly made mistakes. So far, I just couldn't find a book like that. I wish someone could help me out, or a new book will come out for the very need.

I'm not a total beginner, but also not yet a pro. I found this book short and to the point with a number of rather handy tip... Well worth the buy

Very useful guide. Well laid out and interesting

Photoshop Elements lets you enhance static images, while Premiere Elements lets you compose movies. As you might expect, there is close correlation between the ideas in both packages. So Adobe offers this book that gives a unified view.

Though it should be quickly said that it is written in such a way as to allow random access. That is, if you have a specific problem or task, involving one of those packages, you can look for any relevant section. Assuming it exists, you do not have to read earlier sections to understand that one.

The other advantage of the book is that it is authoritative.

A solid introduction to Photoshop Elements 3 that will appeal to photographers moving from traditional film and darkroom printing to digital photography. While this book doesn't venture too far into 'advanced' techniques, and doesn't explore the 'hidden features' mentioned in some other Elements guides, it does cover all the essentials and includes some useful tips and techniques. Comparisons with film camera and darkroom techniques will appeal to traditional photographers.

If you're new to Elements, this guide will give you a thorough grounding, but if you've been using Elements for some time and are looking for more advanced techniques then you'll probably find another book more interesting.

This text chronicles the depth of the Hallmark Cards photography collection through a carefully developed and well written scholarly history. Curator and author Keith F. Davis addresses the fundamental value of photographic imagery as demonstrated by many of the most significant makers in the past one hundred years. Using as a basis a single country's development (America) in the medium's history, Davis sets out his argument that many if not all successful photographs are inherently about the truthfulness of the images produced. He does not over interpret the documented images to establish a point of view but rather allows the flow of the photographs to reveal a rich tapestry of imagery beginning with the snapshot aesthetic of the late 19th century and ending with the mass media influences upon contemporary photographs. Many of the images have not been reproduced before -- always a plus! His thorough research is supported fully by extensive endnotes and an excellent bibliography. Best of all, the overall quality of image reproduction suggests to the reader the individual tonalities of the photographs. This second edition is a successful follow-up to the earlier catalogue of the same name (1995)and records the remarkable growth of this important collection of photographs.

This is a fairly good overview and introduction to Aperture 1.5. Though like similar books about Aperture which basically enhance the 200+ page manual that comes in the box with the software, Cuenca's book has a friendly readable tone to it and is update for the current version of the application. Parts of his book are wordy, but he does explain the important features and steps for setting up Aperture, importing and exporting images, and working with all of Aperture's controls, menus, and other features.

His chapters on color correcting images are a good introduction, but even he admits that they're not indepth. He advises you check out other books about the subject of color correction, but he doesn't suggest any specific resources.

He also doesn't provide any inforamtion about using Aperture and Apple's Automator as part of your workflow. Automating Aperture is very important to photographers who work in the application on professional level and need to get jobs completed efficiently and in a timely manner.

Overall, though, this Guide is a good introduction to Aperture. I personally hope that Cuenca write a specific tutorial type book on color correcting and enhancement using Aperture. What little he does say about the subject is very useful.

Avid Made Easy is an interesting read for those new to non-linear editing and to the Avid system in particular. The author, Jamie Fowler, prepares you well with the history of NLE and Avid before you do your first exercise. However, torward the end of the book, your practice exercise is left unfinished despite the author's earlier promise to clean it up. Also, installing the companion disk can be a bit confusing. It's best to download and install Avid Free DV from the Avid website, then follow the book's directions for for installing the exercise and its related files from the companion CD. Other than that, Avid Made Easy is a great tool for learning the basics of the Avid editing system.

This book is an interesting mix of quite technically (and mathematically) detailed chapters and lighter, more readable text. Certainly not a good choice for anyone totally new to color theory or digital cinema but a very concise account of the current state of the industry with some very interesting historical perspective.

Concise is a very good word to describe this text. By textbook standards it is short - I was able to read it cover to cover on a five hour flight. In places it is too concise - I found the color theory difficult to follow in places and a slightly more long winded, descriptive style might not have gone wrong in those sections. I'm planning to go back and re-read those chapters and they will hopefully beging to be a little more clear second time around!

Overall this is a good choice for anyone with a professional interest in digital cinema and digital intermediate workflow. Those outside the industry or who are looking for a more introductory text should probably look elsewhere.

Excellent graphics. Easy to understand and use.. Great as a primer and for advanced users as it is chock full of information across the board. Not in depth but will give you an overview of all that the Digital Photography world has. I am very excited about this venture for myself. I have been away from photography for some time. This book will be a great guide.. Also check Freeman's book on SLR's for more information on what SLRs there are and the strengths of each.