Rating: 
Summary: Easy to use
Review: Being the novice I am at digital photography I found this book helped me greatly. It's browser friendly & put quite simply;just what I needed to get me started & now completely hooked.
Thank you Ken
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Advice for the field and studio
Review: Film cameras are dead. There is really no reason whatever to use a film camera. There is a fairly big upfront cost for a really good digital SLR plus the cost of the computer software (Photoshop is the universal default) but once you've made the investment your marginal cost is very low and your results can be every bit as good as most professionals.
However, I'm sure you have at least two basic questions: what equipment to get and how do you use the software?
This book is excellent on both counts. But beware: you must know the basics of Photoshop and you must be fairly comfortable with a computer.
Deke McClelland's One-On-One book is an excellent introduction to Photoshop CS. Start there and when you've got the picture, then come to this book to learn its application to digital photograhy.
Rating:
Summary: Color photos make it so clear
Review: I have read several books, and while the words may be informative, there is noting like the pictures. This book was great for me because the pictures were sharp and clear, which allowed me to see the difference a few adjustments in my approach could make, without having to read the entire book. Honestly, I flipped through this book and found photos of what my shots looked like, and next to them was a photo of what they could look like.This book -- though its title suggests it is for experts only -- is great for anyone who wants to become a better photographer in a hurry. And, when you have time, there are also great explanations in the text.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, an O'Reily quality digital photography editing book
Review: I like this book a lot. It brings O'Reilly's quality in research and editing to digital photography books. They spent some time on it, and it shows. The example photos are excellent and clearly demonstrate the points. The book is well organized, and has lots of handy tips. Chapter nine, on touching up photos, is particularly good, going through common photo problems and then applying fixes to them digitally. On the downside, the book is mainly about windows, and it spends much more time talking about digital editing and touch-up then it does in getting a good picture in the first place, which is 90% of the battle. Even with the downside this book is still well worth the price for amateurs looking to get heavily into digital photography.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book like we expect from o'reilly but not titled right.
Review: I liked this book a lot, most books from o'reilly are superb. It it falls into my one pet peeves, along with the 90 percent of digital photography books. It puts all the emphasis on the digital and very little on the photography. This book will not help you take better pictures with your digital camera, it will help fix and process pictures in photoshop and other program, so really it should be called expert techniques in digital photo processing. That being said, it has some great chapters on digital workflow, photoshop and 3rd party photoshop plugins, as well as retouching techniques. All of these go more in depth then what you find in most photoshop books alone.
Rating: 
Summary: Great advice from a seasoned professional
Review: I'm impressed with Ken Milburn's insight into producing top-quality digital images. His tips are not always those found in other books on Photoshop or digital photography. For example, Ken recommends slightly underexposing all photos you shoot. Too much light, he explains, can wash out details. But if the subject is slightly underexposed, then lighting can be adjusted in Photoshop without loss of fine details. That's a very useful tip that I had not read anywhere else (in my PS books, at least). He also affords readers sufficient photographic evidence to convince them to use RAW format whenever possible. I shoot in RAW mode all the time now. Not all of Ken's techniques will be new to digital photographers. The need for a fill flash, uncluttered backgrounds, and a good photo printer are ideas that seem a bit incongruous in a book offering much more advanced advice in later chapters. I think the author was just trying to target as broad of an audience as possible. Upon reading this solid guide, you will probably notice Ken's preference for 3rd party plugins/filters. He's the first Photoshop author I've read who so strongly advocates the utilization of extra plugins instead of the direct use of Photoshop's built-in technologies. While Scott Kelby would tell you to add a duplicate layer, apply Gaussian blur, and then reduce opacity to accomplish a given task, Ken touts the power of $200 plugins that accomplish the same goal more quickly and sometimes more effectively. Fortunately, comparison photos are often provided to illustrate the differences between the results of Photoshop techniques vs. 3rd party plugins. Overall, this book is worth owning if you would like some useful tips and tricks from a pro. Just keep in mind the author's bias toward 3rd party products, and expect a few sections on topics that are perhaps too elementary for the rest of the book (e.g., "Take Good Care of Your Printer").
Rating:
Summary: Great advice from a seasoned professional
Review: I'm impressed with Ken Milburn's insight into producing top-quality digital images. His tips are not always those found in other books on Photoshop or digital photography. For example, Ken recommends slightly underexposing all photos you shoot. Too much light, he explains, can wash out details. But if the subject is slightly underexposed, then lighting can be adjusted in Photoshop without loss of fine details. That's a very useful tip that I had not read anywhere else (in my PS books, at least). He also affords readers sufficient photographic evidence to convince them to use RAW format whenever possible. I shoot in RAW mode all the time now. Not all of Ken's techniques will be new to digital photographers. The need for a fill flash, uncluttered backgrounds, and a good photo printer are ideas that seem a bit incongruous in a book offering much more advanced advice in later chapters. I think the author was just trying to target as broad of an audience as possible. Upon reading this solid guide, you will probably notice Ken's preference for 3rd party plugins/filters. He's the first Photoshop author I've read who so strongly advocates the utilization of extra plugins instead of the direct use of Photoshop's built-in technologies. While Scott Kelby would tell you to add a duplicate layer, apply Gaussian blur, and then reduce opacity to accomplish a given task, Ken touts the power of $200 plugins that accomplish the same goal more quickly and sometimes more effectively. Fortunately, comparison photos are often provided to illustrate the differences between the results of Photoshop techniques vs. 3rd party plugins. Overall, this book is worth owning if you would like some useful tips and tricks from a pro. Just keep in mind the author's bias toward 3rd party products, and expect a few sections on topics that are perhaps too elementary for the rest of the book (e.g., "Take Good Care of Your Printer").
Rating:
Summary: Practical advice from a photo pro who is a writing pro
Review: Maybe i like this book so much because it synergetically combines so well two things that this author loves - photography and writing. As a life-long film photographer, now making the switch to a digital camera, i'm finding all i need to know in this book, to get the right camera and accessories, digital processing tools and work flow and to use them for the greatest creative power. It's unusual to find discussions and examples of practical work flow. It's much more common to see tools or effects discussed with no insight as to why, when or where to use each of them. Photoshop is a case in point - a huge collection of powerful image processing tools, with hardly a hint as to what to do with them. This book (with its many, many color photos) gives you the why's, the when's and the where's, while staying focused on the practical implications of everything for the photographers daily work. I was happy to see that effects on the photographer's wallet are also considered, as Ken follows two parallel tracks through the book. One is for the pro, who's tools must be the best available in spite of the price, and another for the "prosumer", who must often find the least expensive solution that will get a job done "well enough". Another thing i like is the balance between camera, computer and software chapters. This is not just another Photoshop book, though it does go into considerable depth on that prime digital photographer's tool. In the interest of honesty, i'd like to disclose that i am a friend of the author's (which is why i know what a good photographer and writer he is). But don't let that stop you from having a serious look into this fine learning tool.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful book, and excellent techniques...
Review: O'Reilly has a book out called Digital Photography Expert Techniques by Ken Milburn. If you're ready to take your digital photography to the next level (close to professional grade), this is a book you'll want to see. First off, the chapter contents: The Digital Photographer; Be Prepared; Bringing Out The Best Picture; Panoramas; Photoshop Selections, Masks, and Paths; Basic Digital Photo Corrections; Converting Photos to Paintings; Special Photographic Effects; Retouching and Rescuing Photos; Creating Fictitious Photos; Color Printing; Use Pictures to Sell Yourself; Sell It on the Web This book targets the professional, or serious, digital photographer who is using an SLR digital camera with at least six megapixels and plenty of memory. It also assumes the use of Photoshop as the base editing tool for manipulating the images. But rather than stick with Photoshop as the only tool, the author will also educate you on other tools or plug-ins that will give spectacular results beyond what you could get by sticking with the base software. Another target for this book is the film photographer who wants to move to the digital realm, but doesn't quite know how best to set up the workflow of processing images. Because a digital photograph can take many forms after image enhancement, there are a number of good ideas here to help you know what to save and what to delete. Each chapter is made up of a series of "tips" on how to do something interesting with your images or with your camera. For instance, in the retouching chapter, you'll find tips with the following titles: Restore Youth; Remove Stains; Eliminate Junk from the Landscape; Cosmetic Emphasis; Focus the Light on Points of Interest; Punch Out the Paunch; Proboscis Pruning and Changing Expressions; and Clone Detail from Another Photo. Each tip or technique is well documented as to the steps necessary in the software to accomplish the effect. He also usually shows before and after full-color comparisons so that you can visually grasp how the effect works and how you can use it in your own work. Now, if you're like me, puttering around in the consumer world of digital cameras, you can still get some great ideas from this book. The tips on composition, image correction, and other basic skills are valid regardless of what level you're at. Your final result may not be quite as good as his due to not having an original image of the same resolution, but you can still end up with some stunning shots that will wow your friends. Bottom line... quality information, well written, beautiful book that should be considered by any serious digital photographer.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful book, and excellent techniques...
Review: O'Reilly has a book out called Digital Photography Expert Techniques by Ken Milburn. If you're ready to take your digital photography to the next level (close to professional grade), this is a book you'll want to see. First off, the chapter contents: The Digital Photographer; Be Prepared; Bringing Out The Best Picture; Panoramas; Photoshop Selections, Masks, and Paths; Basic Digital Photo Corrections; Converting Photos to Paintings; Special Photographic Effects; Retouching and Rescuing Photos; Creating Fictitious Photos; Color Printing; Use Pictures to Sell Yourself; Sell It on the Web This book targets the professional, or serious, digital photographer who is using an SLR digital camera with at least six megapixels and plenty of memory. It also assumes the use of Photoshop as the base editing tool for manipulating the images. But rather than stick with Photoshop as the only tool, the author will also educate you on other tools or plug-ins that will give spectacular results beyond what you could get by sticking with the base software. Another target for this book is the film photographer who wants to move to the digital realm, but doesn't quite know how best to set up the workflow of processing images. Because a digital photograph can take many forms after image enhancement, there are a number of good ideas here to help you know what to save and what to delete. Each chapter is made up of a series of "tips" on how to do something interesting with your images or with your camera. For instance, in the retouching chapter, you'll find tips with the following titles: Restore Youth; Remove Stains; Eliminate Junk from the Landscape; Cosmetic Emphasis; Focus the Light on Points of Interest; Punch Out the Paunch; Proboscis Pruning and Changing Expressions; and Clone Detail from Another Photo. Each tip or technique is well documented as to the steps necessary in the software to accomplish the effect. He also usually shows before and after full-color comparisons so that you can visually grasp how the effect works and how you can use it in your own work. Now, if you're like me, puttering around in the consumer world of digital cameras, you can still get some great ideas from this book. The tips on composition, image correction, and other basic skills are valid regardless of what level you're at. Your final result may not be quite as good as his due to not having an original image of the same resolution, but you can still end up with some stunning shots that will wow your friends. Bottom line... quality information, well written, beautiful book that should be considered by any serious digital photographer.
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