Digital Photography Bible

Rating:
Summary: Blends useful tips on how to make great photos
Review: This 476-page book is principally written for beginners and intermediate users of digital photography, though some tips in it by the book's well-experienced author will also help advanced users. As the title indicates, it is a "Bible" and is structured to cover a great variety of subjects, from deciding the type of camera to buy, to taking great photos, to processing those in your "digital darkroom" (I love that term), to managing your images afterwards both for presentations and storage. It also has many practical tips reflecting the wide-ranging experiences of the author, including setting up a mini-studio on the cheap.

One of the nice surprises was how the book links to a companion website where all the black-and-white figures used as illustrations can be seen in color. (Though for people with dial-up modems, this feature may be a bit frustrating for the extra time needed to download individual images.) Further, the companion website provides other helpful resources, including photography checklists you can print and have handy wherever you go with your digital camera.

The book is conveniently organized into 6 parts on the following major subjects: 1) Laying the Foundation: Basic Digital Photography; 2) Taking the Next Step: Photographs that Wow!; 3) Tackling Different Photographic Subjects; 4) Doing your Own Image Processing; 5) Photography for Professional in Other Fields; and 6) Putting Digital Photography to Work. Each is divided into subparts and various topics with lots of illustrations to further carry the message, including some printed in the book in color.

As I went through the book, some topics reminded me of articles on similar subjects I've read in the past in photography magazines for film-using cameras. But this Bible, updates those subjects to the digital age, and provides readers with easy to read information on how to get the best digital images possible, with some techniques unique to digital photography.

I also liked the extended "Tips" added here and there after subjects. For instance, after discussing how to photography scenes and animals in nature, the author gave good short pointers on being prepared for bad weather when shooting in the wild. (I suspect some were painfully learned in the "school of hard knocks" which the author is helping us avoid!)

All and all, I found this book quite helpful and will be using it in the future whenever I have questions about how to achieve good (or I should say hopefully excellent) digital images.

Rating:
Summary: Padded and Overpriced
Review: This book does have some good basic information, but it is full of fluff, poorly designed, and overpriced. Most of the images are in black and white (there are some color plates in the center of the book and color images on the Web site, which are small and difficult to find), and there are not nearly enough examples. About 75 pages are devoted to realtors, insurance adjustors, etc. For 24.99, the book would have been better with a couple hundred fewer pages and color pictures.

If you want a book to cover the basics, try Derrick Story's "Digital Photography Pocket Guide," or for a much more comprehensive view of digital photography, check out "Real World Digital Photography."

Rating:
Summary: Essential photography information and great photos!
Review: This book is absolutely packed with valuable information on photography, written by a working digital photographer, in a clear, concise style. You'll find lots of advice, tips, and tricks that will help beginners as well as experienced photographers.

Frankly, it's about time that a guide like this should hit the shelves. Most of the "digital photography" books on the market deal more with image editing techniques than true photography. If you want to learn Photoshop, go buy a Photoshop book. If you want to learn how to use your digital camera to take great pictures, check out this book.

The photos used as examples are good enough to make any digital photographer drool, yet anyone who reads this book carefully can probably go out and duplicate most of them. Simon sets the bar high, but at a level the reader can strive for.

As with most books priced economically, this one relies on many black-and-white images, plus a color section where you can enjoy the full impact of the photos. However, unlike some other books I've seen, the reproduction of the monochrome images is clean and sparkling. You'll learn something from every illustration in this book.

I particularly liked the special sections at the back of the book that discussed specific photographic genres, some of which (like real estate photography) haven't been addressed in this much detail in other books. I recommend this book highly.