Start with a Digital Camera

Rating:
Summary: Buy this book before you buy your camera
Review: I was shopping for a digital camera to use for studio still-life photography. It's a confusing world full of technospeak and options. I bought this book and it was clear as day what I needed to buy and my camera ended up costing me a lot less than I would have guessed. I realized I didn't need most of the features on the higher-end cameras. This book also clarified "flash" on digitals and lighting requirements which had previously been mysterious to me. It's easier than you think.

Since getting my camera this month, I have used the camera to create large high-resolution images for 3 projects: a tradeshow booth, an ad slick, and a product spec sheet. I wouldn't have attempted these projects without reading this book.

This book also helps one see how Photoshop and digital cameras go hand in hand to create profession images. Opened my eyes.

Rating:
Summary: a stimulating showcase of what can be done with a digicam
Review: Printed in full color, this about 140 page-long book suggest a lot of ideas what pictures can be taken with a digital camera. It has a small section on the principles of digital photography and necessary computer equipment, a couple of chapters on photography in general (lighting, background, etc.), and finally gives many examples of what can be done with the pictures by editing them in Adobe Photoshop. After all, the major fun of digital photography is that you can edit an image before printing it! The only problem is that you need to have Photoshop (along with a vector drawing program) and should know how to use them to take full advantage of this book's advice. My overall impression is that although one can find a more detailed and serious books on digital photography and image processing, this one may be a good gift to a person who just got his/her digital camera and needs to read somewhere how to start with it.

Rating:
Summary: Something missing
Review: The book is missing something rather important..."Now that I've captured an image, how do I get the color to match what I see, what's on my monitor and on my printer?"

The section on page 100, Color Accuracy, is incorrect. The author needs to develop an understanding of image color management. An image can be printed out of any number of applications and the color will be the same. The print driver menus can cause the color to change...not the application. Also, a properly color managed image will look similar in RGB and CMYK, not as shown in this book.

This is a good book for hobbyists who are not concerned with accurate color, which is fine as long as the book buyer understands this. Those who are concerned with color calibration and management should spend their money elsewhere.