Rating: 
Summary: Excellent resource, very thoughtful book
Review: I'm fairly experienced in "traditional" photography, having shot semi-professionally for a few years, but was looking for a comprehensive reference on digital photography. Johnson's "How To Do Everything" is what I wanted, and more.Geared towards beginners to both digital imaging and photography in general, Johnson walks the reader through all the important steps: choosing a digital camera, understanding the basics behind photography, composing and making good photos, and what to do with them once you've taken them. The author uses clear, non-technical language to explain his points, and numerous photos and screen shots are included to help the reader. An expanded table of contents, as well as a thorough index, make it quick and easy to find specific information, though beginners would do well to read the entire book through first to gain a basic understanding of the material. Even though it looks like a formidable amount of text, it really reads quite quickly and easily. Johnson really shines, I feel, when he is presenting the chapters on exposure, composition, and lighting. So many people buy a new digital cameras (or traditional SLR, for that matter), run their pictures through software, and wonder why the results are so disappointing -- isn't all this technology supposed to make things look better? Well, to paraphrase Johnson, no; the most advanced digital camera, with the most cutting-edge software, can't make up for poor basic photography skills. Johnson does an admirable job teaching the reader some of the essential basics, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this; many "how to" books are long on technical tips and tricks, with no real instruction on what makes a good photo good. I was a little surprised (and quite happy) to see that the author uses Jasc's PaintShop Pro to illustrate most of his image manipulation examples. This program shares a lot of the same functionality as Adobe's PhotoShop, but with a much lower price tag, not to mention a less drastic learning curve. Still, the techniques are presented in such a way that even readers using other image manipulation software should have no problem understanding and following along. A very user-friendly book, crammed full of solid information. I highly recommend it to all beginning digital photographers -- and even to those with a few thousand images under their belts. There's some advanced material, too, and everyone can benefit from a refresher on the basics!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource, very thoughtful book
Review: I'm fairly experienced in "traditional" photography, having shot semi-professionally for a few years, but was looking for a comprehensive reference on digital photography. Johnson's "How To Do Everything" is what I wanted, and more. Geared towards beginners to both digital imaging and photography in general, Johnson walks the reader through all the important steps: choosing a digital camera, understanding the basics behind photography, composing and making good photos, and what to do with them once you've taken them. The author uses clear, non-technical language to explain his points, and numerous photos and screen shots are included to help the reader. An expanded table of contents, as well as a thorough index, make it quick and easy to find specific information, though beginners would do well to read the entire book through first to gain a basic understanding of the material. Even though it looks like a formidable amount of text, it really reads quite quickly and easily. Johnson really shines, I feel, when he is presenting the chapters on exposure, composition, and lighting. So many people buy a new digital cameras (or traditional SLR, for that matter), run their pictures through software, and wonder why the results are so disappointing -- isn't all this technology supposed to make things look better? Well, to paraphrase Johnson, no; the most advanced digital camera, with the most cutting-edge software, can't make up for poor basic photography skills. Johnson does an admirable job teaching the reader some of the essential basics, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this; many "how to" books are long on technical tips and tricks, with no real instruction on what makes a good photo good. I was a little surprised (and quite happy) to see that the author uses Jasc's PaintShop Pro to illustrate most of his image manipulation examples. This program shares a lot of the same functionality as Adobe's PhotoShop, but with a much lower price tag, not to mention a less drastic learning curve. Still, the techniques are presented in such a way that even readers using other image manipulation software should have no problem understanding and following along. A very user-friendly book, crammed full of solid information. I highly recommend it to all beginning digital photographers -- and even to those with a few thousand images under their belts. There's some advanced material, too, and everyone can benefit from a refresher on the basics!
Rating: 
Summary: would like to see a book similat to this for Mac people
Review: My main disappointment would be all the info concerning storage, editing around the PC/Windows platform As a iMac person this was a total waste.
Rating:
Summary: Just What I Needed
Review: This book delivered exactly what I was looking for. I have had a digital camera for three years, and realized that my lack of knowledge in the basic principals of photography was holding me back. Not only did this book explain clearly and effectively the basics of photography, but it taught me to get the most out of my digital camera's capabilities. I was getting frustrated and now I am enjoying my camera again. I also wanted to learn what to look for in a higher-end camera down the line, and this was covered as well. I understand how to weigh the different features against the kind of pictures I want to take. Well written and useful. I recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Could be a lot better
Review: This book is basically has two parts. The first talks about your camera, and the second shows you how to modify your digital pictures on your computer. In my opinion, too many chapters are dedicated to the second part, and not enough to the first. As the owner of a new and expensive digital camera, I knew I needed help in using it. The manual showed me what the camera could do, but not what I should do. This book doesn't help me enough. I need to find another book. The discussion on photography is too sparse. I think part of the problem is that the book is old. Lots of features on my camera are not even discussed, presumably because they were not common when the book came out. In addition, some topics are only glossed over. The chapters on using your computer to modify the images was of no use to me, even though it's more than half the book. If I had known that, I wouldn't have purchased it.
Rating:
Summary: Could be a lot better
Review: This book is basically has two parts. The first talks about your camera, and the second shows you how to modify your digital pictures on your computer. In my opinion, too many chapters are dedicated to the second part, and not enough to the first. As the owner of a new and expensive digital camera, I knew I needed help in using it. The manual showed me what the camera could do, but not what I should do. This book doesn't help me enough. I need to find another book. The discussion on photography is too sparse. I think part of the problem is that the book is old. Lots of features on my camera are not even discussed, presumably because they were not common when the book came out. In addition, some topics are only glossed over. The chapters on using your computer to modify the images was of no use to me, even though it's more than half the book. If I had known that, I wouldn't have purchased it.
Rating: 
Summary: Look Elsewhere, especially beginners
Review: This book is so fraught with errors, both technical and otherwise, that I will refrain from listing them all here. (I think another reviewer has already started that list...)
With so many books on the subject available, why roll the dice on this one? Caveat emptor - especially for those new to photography, but interested in building a good foundation for taking great photographs, digital or otherwise.
Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Digital Photography would be a great place to start.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've read on digital cameras
Review: This is the best book I have read on digital cameras. Dave has the gift of being able to explain things in very down to earth language. This book goes way beyond just using the camera, it covers editing, special effects, and many other subjects in the photography field. I REALLY LIKE THIS BOOK and highly recommend it to anybody wanting the skinny on digital photography.
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