Rating: 
Summary: What a wonderful present
Review: I have just begun reading this book that I received as a gift. WOW! So much information. I can't belive how understandable Mr. Sammon make digital photographyI can't wait to buy it for my friends!
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable to read, inspiring with excellent examples
Review: I have just made the switch from film to digital and I found this book very helpful in propelling me along the way. I have bought 3 books and this is the one I keep coming back to. It is written in a friendly, conversational style and the pictures are excellent. The short lessons help me to put the book down and try things or to think about what has been said. Sammon's commentary is helpful without being overbearing. ("I like this alternative. What do you think?") The heavy paper does justice to the photos and the spine has not broken yet! While I give the book highest marks for "presentation", I think there might be improvement in the organization. The content choice appears arbitrary. Nonetheless, it is fun to read. I love looking at the examples. For this middling amateur, the "lessons" have been interesting, inspiring and informative. This is the book I will take with me this summer. I highly recommend it to others who, like me, are responding to the new challenges and possibilities presented by the digital age in photography.
Rating: 
Summary: casual and fun guide but not for serious pros
Review: I was looking for a semi-serious guide to the digital platform--something readable but very informative. The first half of the book bogs down in some rudimentary lessons on photography in general. His selection of lenses, filters and aperature and shutter priority over manual modes is frankly amatuerish. Ansel Adams rolled in his grave when this puppy went to press. The chapters on photoshop are really nothing that you can't get from a much cheaper book. Overall a great dissapointment. This book is hella expensive. The photos of his assignments are average and explain his overall esthetic, but the lion's share of the book is filled with cheesy pictures of him and his family. I think it is a great book for the weekend warrior wanting to take better pictures, but if you are even remotely serious about photography, there is a good chance that you will be pissed that you coughed up the dough to see a book full of goofy pictures of this ass clown.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book, great for general reference
Review: I would give this books 5 stars, but the author contradicts himself in a few place so that knocks it down a star. Having said that this book contains some great information and even more importantly really great photos with explainations as to why they author feels they are good or not so good. If the best way to learn to take photos is to see good photos, then this book helps greatly as the photos are throughout the book and not relagated to a few pages at the center.
Rating:
Summary: A must have if you are getting into digital photography.
Review: If you are interested in digital photography, this is the best book available out there for this price, Period! I have read several books about digital photography and this books has it all. It is not so basic, yet it is not so advanced that you wouldn't understand what the write is saying. I was very impressed by Mr. Sammon's way of illustrating his points with sample pictures he has personally taken over the years. If you are an absolute beginner (if you have never used a 35mm SLR or a digital camera and a photo editing software before) I do not recommend this book for you. This book appeals to anyone who has a basic understand of digital photography and are interested in learning more about photo shooting techniques and digital darkroom (editing) software. Let me tell you-- you will not be disappointed by this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: Rick has a real touch in explaining how-to stuff related to photography. This book takes a great approach of breaking a lot of great information down into easily understood lessons about digital photography. There are lessons with terrific example photos that nearly everyone will gain from.
Rating:
Summary: Superb book for those moving to digital
Review: Rick has done a great job of gathering together a huge amount of material that is often scattered across many books. Rick's teaching style makes many fairly complex activities clear, and gives the reader something to build on and experiment with. Great stuff!
Rating:
Summary: Great Teacher, Great Book
Review: Rick Sammon is a totally qualified photographer, teacher, writer. A necessary book for your digital library,desk reference, daily use
Rating:
Summary: Good book covering a wide range of topics
Review: Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Digital Photography is aptly named in that it covers a very wide range of topics. The hardware of photography is covered; cameras, lenses, flashes, memory cards, computers, RAM, graphics tablets, card readers, scanners, printers, backup storage, and more. The software of digital photography is covered; organizing photos, editing photos (mostly with Photoshop), and some special effects software. Photographic techniques and how to take better and more interesting photos are covered. There are sections with advice how to treat people you photograph, making macro images, what to do for travel photography, and even advice on getting started as a freelance photographer. There are many things covered that I have not listed. The book is written in a very easy to read conversational style with lots of tips and advice scattered though out. There is an abundance of pictures in this book illustrating everything that is discussed in the text. This book may not go as deep into every topic as some other more narrowly focused books, but it goes more then deep enough into each topic covered to be useful and meet my needs. The only issue with the book would be that the photo editing software used is Photoshop which maybe too expensive for people starting with digital photography. Even though Photoshop (which I don't have because of the price) is used for the editing lessons, I have found that the concepts and techniques are still useful for the more affordable Corel Photo-Paint that I use. Most of the same things can be done same way as in Photo-Paint, they are just in different menus and have different names. Also, most people who don't want to pay for Photoshop could afford Adobe Photoshop Elements, which is very similar to Photoshot and has almost all the capabilities of Phtotoshop. Even without the photo editing sections (which is about one third of the book), there is plenty of good material to make the book worth while.
Rating: 
Summary: There are much better digital photography books out there.
Review: Someone else used the word "pedestrian" to describe this book and I think that says it all. I can see where this book might be easy for a beginner to understand, but I would guess you can find something else just as good for a lot less money, or you may even find free tutorials on the internet.
The book is written for beginners, so why does the author spend most of his time discussing pro cameras costing thousands of dollars in the camera section? A more thorough discussion of what to look for when buying a consumer or prosumer camera would have been a lot more helpful. There is also an error on p. 164 in the "features and benefits" section. The table is titled "prosumer digital SLR" when he is discussing "prosumer digital 'ZLR' cameras," it's very confusing. On the next page he gives only scant attention to "consumer" cameras.
A much better book for someone who wants more depth is "Real World Digital Photography, 2nd ed." It just costs a few dollars more and has so much more useful information.
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