Book Description

A compilation of color nude photos from 20 erotic photographers, introducing a new style of Nude Art: Simple Nudes, focusing exclusively on a model's beauty. The Simple Nudes philosophy is to ""simply"" celebrate the model's beauty, and not subsume the model to any other purpose, not sex, not Art, not commercialism. Like the Dogma film movement from Europe, Simple Nudes are characterized by * the inherent beauty of the model in the natural state * no forced poses * no unnatural styling or props This new, independent form of expression, also named DOMAI style, from the web site which invented and champions it, is not a compromise between Art nudes and sex nudes, but is a true third art of nude appreciation. ... Read more

Book Description

An updated bestseller, this book of extraordinarily beautiful photographs of nature contains state-of-the-art instruction on how any photographer can aim for equally impressive results every time a camera is focused on the great outdoors. Even highly skilled photographers are often baffled by the problems facing them when they work outdoors. But with this exceptional field guide in hand, every photographer-beginner, serious amateur, semi-pro, and pro-can conquer the problems encountered in the field. Using his own exceptional work as examples, the author discusses each type of nature subject and how to approach photographing it. Specific advice and information cover selection of equipment and lenses; how to compose a shot; how to get close ups; and other tips covering a range of techniques to enrich various types of nature photographs. ... Read more

Reviews (44)

Very useful information, irritating style
I've read this book cover to cover several times and I have to say it has greatly improved my understanding the technical aspects of photography and my results have improved rapidly. I highly recommend the book, especially to beginners like me. That said, I have to say that when I'm looking through the book for the umpteenth time for advice and technical information, the condescending, know-it-all tone that the author occasionally adopts to make his point gets really irritating and detracts from my enjoyment of the book. Also, although the brand-specific information is probably useful for Nikon users, and in the cases of some kinds of equipment like tripods, for people with large pocketbooks, it is of little use to people with other systems or limited budgets, and once again this makes me as a reader feel a bit like a second-class citizen. My point is that John Shaw is a very experienced photographer and decent writer who has collected a great set of useful tips into a handy book, but I wish he would stop bragging about himself and his equipment in the process.

Great advice for all photographers
John Shaw is a master photographer who excels at communicating his knowledge in very clear and concise language. This book is a marvel of efficiency as he covers topic after topic in highly succinct fashion. While keeping each section brief, he manages to teach a lot in the clearest way possible.

Many tips on how to get correct exposure and strong composition are in here as well as techniques for macro photography. Also, a significant portion of the book is devoted to considerations when purchasing equipment and the information is invaluable.

As others have pointed out, the equipment he favors is not cheap but some seem to miss the entire point of those chapters. Shaw does not give the reader a shopping list. He discusses the pros and cons of various equipment and encourages you to weigh the trade-offs to develop your own equipment list. Since much of the better equipment is expensive, this may mean rationing your money to get the best bang for the buck.

This is an excellent book. It covers a variety of topics with a rare clarity that makes it a must have for any serious photographer.

Excellent Author
I won't dwell on this topic, but I've consumed many photogrpahy books in recent years and John Shaw is an excellent writer that gets his point across. I wish I had read it earlier than I did because it is fantastic. He writes exceptionally well and drives his point home from multiple angles. He starts with the essentials like exposure and.... I just can't say enough about the way John is able to communicate photographic concepts and photography in general. The best I have ever read. Second to John's book is, Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs With a Film or Digital Camera by Bryan F. Peterson; Bryan is also excellent. If you buy two books, buy these.

Very nice for advanced and beginner
Great information and reference. Yes, the gear he discribes is pricey pro stuff but its guide to what is best, and from there you can judge what you need or can afford. At least you know that you need a ball head, or that composite tripods are really not worth the price, and how to test tripods in a store.
Nice tips on conditions that I did not know even existed, like snow, there are 3 or 4 different ways it will expose film, all different. Snow is not white like you think, it depends on the weather. Great tips through out the book. I don't read it cover to cover. When I pick it up I just open it and read a few pages on that topic. Great stuff and great examples. Shoting images for over 35 years. I have already used some tips and my outdoor pictures are a notch better. And thats the bottom line, right?

Excellent book
A lot of practical techniques, very easy to follow ... Read more

Book Description

It's an age-old question that has stumped the great minds of history; What is the meaning in life?In his hilarious and uplifting style, best-selling author Bradley Trevor Greive (BTG) finally provides the answer:Figure out what you love and do it.Illustrated with playful photographs of animals, BTG's insightful prose again hits his target straight on.He muses about why we're here and our greater purpose in the grand scheme of things.His informal style provides a refreshing counterpoint to what has always been one of life's big debates.For example, when it comes to discovering your passion, BTG writes, "First, no one else will tell you about it - it's just like walking around all day with a sign on your back that says KICK ME."The Meaning Of Life is a witty, thought-provoking book that makes an ideal gift for anyone who's seeking their true purpose - and wants to laugh along the way. ... Read more

Reviews (29)

Great Photos, Witty and Inspirational Book!
I read this book while I was searching for answers to an unfulfilling legal career and it helped to motivate me to leave a firm that I hated and open my own practice with 2 friends. You can read this book in fifteen minutes, but the ideas will stay with you. Generally, each page contains a sentence or two dealing with a progression of thought about the meaning of life and finding your calling. Each page also contains a humorous animal photograph that illustrates the point of the text on that page. In a way, a book about philosophy that is short and to the point like this one can be more useful than a lengthy, more developed presentation.

Can I rate more than 5 stars?
This book is for anyone and everyone. The author sets the readers expectations in the intro, that this book does NOT provide answers - it is a book about questions. When I picked this book up at [local store], I found myself so overjoyed I read the entire book in the store. With useful wisdom applying to all areas of life, the book does not stress an answer or religeon or method, though it agrees with the loving happiness you will find stressed in any society or religion. Nothing metaphysical - this book is simple and may have a different meaning for each reader.
The most brilliant author since Aesop.

This book should be called 'hurbur durrr'
(...) Who has the nuts to give a book a title like 'The Meaning of Life' and then fill the contents with 'cute' anecdotes and fuzzy animals. Listen guy, you're a moron. You and the John Edwards' of this world need to be castrated for pushing these lies on the weakminded of the world. For all of you that rated this book 5 stars, try applying it to someone outside your insignificant universe of experience. You think a happy squirrel asking a torture victim if he's pursuing what he really loves is going to make him reach some kind of epiphany? What about all the starving children who die before they reach 10? I submit you read up on the full range of human experience next time deusche.

What A Crappy Book
I'm thankful that I was able to get this book at the library and didn't spend $15.00 buying it. I own The Blue Day Book by the same author and I think it's fantastic and it cheers me up right away. He should have stopped with that book. It claims to be a witty, thought-provoking book that makes an ideal gift for anyone who's seeking their true purpose and wants to laugh along the way. The only thing this book has going for it is the amazing animal pictures. It did have one thought that I really liked: "Some people say that life is all about acquiring knowledge. If that's true, then why do smart people dress so badly?"

Not worth the money
This tiny tome is full of cute animal photographs and trite phrases about following your career dream. Definitely not worth the money. ... Read more

Book Description

The photographs by Annie Leibovitz in Women, taken especially for the book, encompass a broad spectrum of subjects: a rap artist, an astronaut, two Supreme Court justices, farmers, coal miners, movie stars, showgirls, rodeo riders, socialites, reporters, dancers, a maid, a general, a surgeon, the First Lady of the United States, the secretary of state, a senator, rock stars, prostitutes, teachers, singers, athletes, poets, writers, painters, musicians, theater directors, political activists, performance artists, and businesswomen. "Each of these pictures must stand on its own," Susan Sontag writes in the essay that accompanies the portraits. "But the ensemble says, So this what women are now -- as different, as varied, as heroic, as forlorn, as conventional, as unconventional as this."

... Read more

Reviews (42)

I'm not Thomas, I'm his daughter, he used my computer to ord
er from Amazon and Now His Name is Stuck on My Account

So much for a title.

Annie Leibovitz's book requires no words. Sorry, Susan, I didn't read your text. The best way to enjoy Annie's photos is to set aside your search for a defining message about women. There isn't one. Women are varied creatures just like the rest of humanity and nature.

Don't you just love looking at them? Don't wish you could get a closer look? Don't you wish the interesting one's would stand in just the right light so you could get a better look? Didn't you always think Hillary C. was beautiful, but you didn't know why?

Thank you Annie Leibovitz for taking the interesting women and standing them in a beautiful light and binding them in a huge book so we can stand and stare as long as we want.

Enough said.

Image as Everywoman
Fiction is my preference when writing book reviews, because I love the complexity of words, stories, and the vagaries of human nature with its endless permutations. But when I received Leibovitz's astonishing compilation of photographs as a gift, I thought I might attempt an impression of page after page of females, as seen through the professional eye of one of the most important photographers of our generation.

Who has not gazed in awe at Leibovitz's unusual perspective, the beautiful made even more so? But I want real women with wrinkles and dirt under their fingernails, the kind of women overlooked in the rush to worship human perfection. I want to see if there is a balance, not just the too thin, too gorgeous, too self-indulgent. In that regard, I believe Women contains a preponderance of well-groomed elegance, albeit impressive, for instance a breathtaking portrait of Gwyneth Paltrow and her mother, Blythe Danner. This particular image contrasts a young woman in the blush of her feminine power with the graceful progression of years that adds to a woman's complex attraction. To be sure, there are folios of celebrities, socialites, all those who live in the rarified strata of entitlement.

While not as numerous, the presentation of real women like me, those who inhabit my world, are so powerful as to diminish the bland compositions of society's darlings. The studies of abused women jump off the pages, eyes glazed, the immediacy of domestic violence tattooing their faces, staring into a future devoid of hope; a remarkably insightful photograph of Ellen DeGeneris, virtually unrecognizable under a layer of cracked white greasepaint; two pre-adolescent girls in the back of a pickup truck, displaying a row of leggy blonde Barbie's, with Ken in a faux high school letter jacket, his plastic Prom Queen sporting a crown atop hair that cascades down the length of her body; three young Latino women glare accusingly at the lens, displaying gang colors with pride, ambiguously dangerous; the lines of age score lived-in faces, eyes shadowed by years of struggle, etched finally by the exhaustion of daily survival. For me, these pictures contain the essence of womanhood, untainted by ubiquitous vanities.

In all, Leibovitz "sees" these women, their strengths, frailties and vulnerabilities. This series of images is a walk through the multi-hued, textured world of women, esoteric, generous, often brutally honest and unflinching. Luan Gaines/2004.

A moving and exceptional book
This is definately my favorite book, and one I enjoy giving to special women friends. Annie Leibowitz has managed to capture the full spectrum of women, from the subdued and simple to the succesful and sophisticated. It is a moving book and a celebration to women's individuality and uniqueness. I warmly recommend it.

Just a name
Although the idea of this book is worthwhile, I am amazed to find so many of the images out of focus. She is supposed to be a fine photographer, but maybe it is this title that has allowed her to feel okay with displaying such poor examples of portraits. It seems she rushed through the work just to get the book published as I don't sense that she put too much heart into the work.

Very Enlightening
I loved the book "Women," this book not only gave information on what all these amazing women do for a living, but it showed the pictures of them at work. A lovely tribute to WOMEN all over the world! ... Read more

Book Description

During the golden age of American theater on Broadway, the names of stars such as Katharine Hepburn, Marlon Brando, and Ethel Merman were writ large on theater marquees. Playwrights such as Eugene O'Neill, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller offered a new play every season.

Photographer Eileen Darby came onto the theater scene in 1939 and eschewed the stiff portraits and fixed tableaux that were in vogue. Her style of photographing not only onstage but also backstage and during rehearsals allowed an intimate look at the creative process of theater.Darby photographed more than six hundred shows during her career, and her portfolio has become the definitive photographic record of theatrical history.STARS ON STAGE is the culmination of Darby’s career in the theater’s golden age and includes dozens of previously unseen pictures of stars such as Lucille Ball, Montgomery Clift, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, and Gregory Peck.As well as the people who created the shows, including Rodgers and Hammerstein, George Abbott, irving Berlin, and Anita Loos.With an overview of the theatrical period by John Lahr and a biographical portrait of Darby and her work by Mary Henderson, STARS ON STAGE is one of the most dynamic books on this most fascinating period of American culture. ... Read more

Book Description

For over 50 years, Richard Avedon (b. 1923) has captured the creative genius of our time with dazzling insight and incomparable style. Spanning the artist's entire career, from the late 1940s through his most recent work, Richard Avedon Portraits offers a superb selection of his photographic portraits.

With uncompromising directness, Avedon portrayed his subjects against a white background, with no extraneous details to distract from the essential specificity of face, gaze, dress, and gesture. This challenging innovation, coupled with the artist's intense interest in his subjects and mastery of his craft, resulted in mesmerizing portraits-among them Truman Capote, Willem de Kooning, Samuel Beckett, Francis Bacon, and Marilyn Monroe, as well as the uncelebrated Americans of his project, "In the American West"-that rival the greatest works in the portrait tradition.

Richard Avedon Portraits is published to accompany a major exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. With its innovative accordion-style design and superb reproductions, the book is a virtual stand-alone mini-exhibition in its own right. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Marriage of Book and Exhibit
Richard Avedon wears several hats. As an artist creating innovative commercial images; He is behind the most dynamic magazine pages of the day,... He is witness of the greatest generation to social and political fact; He tells stories of icons and common men. He places them alike: actors, writers, poets, politicians and artists. The poet who recites through his lens.
Published to accompany a major Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, Richard Avedon Portraits celebrates His lifetime of achievements and almost does justice to the work.

The Book as Art
RICHARD AVEDON PORTRAITS is a stunning work, not only because of the usual expected glory of his photographs, but because of the genuinely artistic concept behind this catalogue for a Museum Exhibition. Slipcased, the book opens as an accordian with single and diptych/triptych photographs viewable by placing the unscrolled book on a tabletop or bookshelf. Not that there are any new moments here: this is a collection of some of Avedon's famous faces and bodies, curated for a specific purpose. But to view Andy Warhol together with his co-creators of his photos and films standing on one page clothed and on another nude intensifies the manner in which Avedon's manner of capturing the star's works so well. We are treated to a full face of Francis Bacon and in the next panel a partial view of his entire body. All manner of odd characters inhabit these deliciously synchronous pages. The back side of this tableaux discusses Avedon, his influences and appropriations from painting and other art forms, and does what it sets out to do - make the pieces of the tableaux relevant in the history of the time in which they were photographed. This is a clever and rewarding book and the book itself becomes art. ... Read more

Book Description

Professional Photoshop 7 not only covers color correcting for press, but also reflects the changing needs of readers by addressing issues such as outputting to color printers and high-volume copiers. The author teaches color correction with Photoshop by demystifying classic skills-analyzing images, understanding colorspaces, working with numerical color curves, using the Unsharp Mask filter.
Covers new Photoshop 7. This edition includes three completely new chapters on previously unpublished techniques for correcting color.
ABOUT THE CD-ROM
Includes original images from the book, bonus instructional materials, Adobe Acrobat Reader for Windows and Macintosh. ... Read more

Reviews (34)

Outstanding Book by Photoshop Hall of Famer
Continuing the advanced techniques of his prior books, all a treasure.

Don't understand the cons mentioned in other reviews here. Professional Photoshop certainly explains methods and advantages of all color modes including but certainly not limited to CMYK. Groundbreaking techniques introduced and explained in an easy to understand lighthearted manner.

Many images in book available on accompaning CD, to work along with author.

The book is certainly user friendly, is a must read you will visit many times. "The" book for Pre Press Retouchers and or Photographers who want the best of Color Correction - Image Manipulation, period !

The Best Book on Photoshop Color Correction
I have read just about everything available on color correction with Photoshop. This book simply goes deeper and further than any other I have seen. It covers creative new techniques such as channel mixing, color correcting with profiles, and the use of alternative color spaces like Lab, as well the more basic techniques like curve writing and selective color. For those who need to know how to correct in CMYK, there is a wealth of solid information and proven techniques, far more than in other Photoshop books which are often more RGB focused.

Mr. Margulis writes in a spirited and refreshing style. He expresses his views on many of the hotly debated color related issues. This makes the book more fun and more thought provoking to read than the usual sanitized computer 'how to' book. One word of caution, this book is for the serious user, and hence the word 'Professional' in the title. Casual users of Photoshop and those wishing to get a little help for occasional image improvement tasks may feel overwhelmed by the depth and would be better served by the more basic material in one of the many excellent general Photoshop books.

The book includes a CD so you can try the techniques using the actual images from the book. This is a better way to learn this stuff and it gets you from being someone who has 'read all about it' to someone who can 'just do it'! If you are serious about improving image quality using Photoshop, and especially if you need to do rescue work on really poor images, then you'll find this book essential and an ongoing resource.

good book but anchored to the past
This is a great book and would get 5 stars except for the fact that the author basically states, that he is only going to address working in the cmyk field because thats the way its traditionally been done. Get over it, move on, when dealing with digital tradition is dead-RGB is in wide use too. Still for overall theory and heavy duty learning this is still a great book.

Difficult, but good
After a trying a bunch of other books, this was the one that totally changed the way I worked in Photoshop and taught me the most, but it's very difficult and highly technical. If you're the type that can wade through that kind of stuff, the concepts are golden. It isn't a text to learn Photoshop, though--it's written to help only with the very specific narrow area of dealing with color correction.

This is the ONE book to own!
I've been using Photoshop since 1991. It's my bread and butter. I've read through at least 10 Photoshop books and this is by far the best one. I've even worked for one of the major computer book publishers and I have to say that as nice as that companies books were, they still don't even touch Margulis's books on Photoshop. WARNING: this book is NOT for the novice, and it is difficult to read. But it is worth it! I would estimate that 50% of all Photoshop books are crap, another 40% are good for novices, another 9% are good for intermediate users, but Margulis's book is part of that rare 1% of Photoshop books that is good for both Intermediate and uber-pros. This is the one book every professional user of Photoshop should own! ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (3)

'...and now, the rest of the story'.
On page six of this large book, Stephen Shore writes, in the Artist's Note, 'The book you are holding in your hands amounts to what might be called the photographic equivalent of a director's cut.' and in the nature of such things you now get an additional ninety-four photos with the forty-nine that were in the original 1982 Aperture edition of the book, though this is not strictly true because some that were in the original are not in this edition.

I bought the original book because I loved the way Shore captured the everyday urban American outdoors and of course the amazing color and detail. This new edition is even better because the photos are now larger (mostly 10.5 by 8.25 inches). The other thing I love about some of these photos is the way Shore captures the street corner, this seems to be a favorite composition (stretching back to the famous FSA photos of the Thirties) with contemporary photographers and Photorealists painters like Richard Estes or Davis Cone. Shore's 'El Paso Street, Texas, July 5, 1975' could just as easily be an Estes painting. There are several corner photos in the book and they are just stunning.

Another reviewer has commented on the amount of detail in these photos, helped of course by the two hundred plus dot screen, the original book used a 175 dpi. Apart from the screen it is interesting to compare images that appear in both books and the color does vary. 'Beverly Boulevard, June 21 1975' in the original (page 39) is predominately brown for the street area, in this edition (page 115) it has changed to a predominately blue cast. I wonder if this is the sort of thing that concerns collectors of first edition photo books?

In addition to the photos in this beautifully designed and printed book there are two text pieces, the first one, by Stephen Schmidt-Wulffen, includes twelve photos from Shore's 'American Surfaces'. The back of the book includes biographical notes and a useful bibliography.

This latest 'Uncommon Places' will be a book I'll look through for some years to come.

Between Gorsky, Sternfeld & Eggleston
This is a book I've been waiting for. I saw some of Stephen Shore's work in a New York gallery last fall and was very impressed. I was sad not to see some of this work in the new Thames & Hudson book, but I am by no means heartbroken.
Shore has added quite a bit of weight to previously published Uncommon Places and the book is well suited to anyone interested in the development of his style.

The work demonstrates a very interesting vein in the "new republic" tradition running very excitingly through American photography now. It is a very democratic body of work. It lacks the now 'oh-so' tired irony that was a hallmark of much late nineties work both in the US and UK.

The photographs that are presented to us are -on face value -seemingly humdrum. A street corner with telegraph poles, a motel bathroom with water in the bath. But on closer inspection there is a haunting beauty to the images; an aching sadness of dislocation, but at the same time oddly uplifting.

These "any-town, anyplace" photographs are perhaps a celebration of our own lives in our own environments. The familiar denies the beauty of our surroundings. What Shore does so eloquently is show us how to look at our world again. There's no politics here, no judgement; this is a straightforward depiction of our homes, towns, cities and countryside that we don't see because our lives are too rushed and complicated to stop and for half an hour stand by Mr Shore's shoulder and take a peak at what he loves about his world. This is a beautifully contemplative set of pictures, the antithesis of the brash, ironic-political, scathing nature of New British Colour.

As with Sternfeld, Shore uses large format and (what I can only assume is) slow speed colour film to draw out a huge amount of detail from his low contrast images. As one looks closer and closer at each print, one cannot help being mesmerised. It almost seems like there's more detail here than in reality. If we were to analyse at this level of detail some of Mr Shore's subjects (if ever we stopped to see them) we'd probably get arrested, or maybe committed. But we get two opportunities with Uncommon Places; we get the chance to spend time absorbed by the huge detail of these scenes, and we get the enormous benefit of seeing the world as through Stephen Shore's eyes. And the world is a better place for it.

Color is Good
This book is an excellent journey through color photography. Stephen Shore uses space and color in a way to descripe a place like no other. ... Read more

Book Description

Today's digital cameras are affordable and provide quality images that rival their traditional film counterparts. Because digital images are easier to share, and because you only have to print the pictures you need, this new medium is both cost effective and environmentally friendly. Best of all, it's fun! With a digital camera, you can set free your creative spirit and take risks you never would with a film camera. The only obstacle is learning how to unlock all or this power and pleasure packed into these pocket-sized picture takers. Digital Photography Pocket Guide, 2nd Edition expands on the basic photography techniques introduced in the bestselling first edition to help you take the kind of pictures you've always wanted to--and now in full color! This book is the photo mentor you've always wanted: it explains each of the camera's components, shows you what they do, and then helps you choose the right settings. When you ask, "How can I get that picture?", simply pull this small guide out of your camera bag, backpack, or back pocket and find the answer quickly. This fully illustrated book covers everything from image resolution,shooting sports action, close ups and night shots, to memory cards, transferring images, archiving, making QuickTime movies, and much more. Topics in the guide's three main sections on "Digital Camera Components","Standard Camera Functions", and "How Do I?" are labeled A to Z for quick reference. Or if you prefer, use the comprehensive index or table of contents to find the information you need. There's even an entire section of easy to read reference tables for quick look up of white balance settings, exposure compensation, camera mode explanations, and much more. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Lightweight and quick reading for busy folks
Thank goodness for the digital camera. People like me with a lousy eye can take hundreds of photos and experiment until our eyes fall out and get a couple of gems. Despite my left-handedness, I don't have a natural eye for photography, art, or anything of the sort. It all went into writing.

With three kids, photos are important to me as I want to take capture many times of their lives so we may reflect on them with a visual aid. A good photo does make a difference. Again, three kids, who has time to read a book or take a class to become one with a camera? This pocket guide fills that need.

It has three chapters with quick reference tables in the back of the book. It's small enough to fit into your camera bag, laptop case, briefcase, suitcase, or jacket pocket. The chapters address what is it, what do I do, and how do I questions.

What is it covers the basic, intermediate, and advanced features found on digital cameras. It's the shortest chapter as once you get familiar with the features, you won't need the chapter anymore and you still have roughly 85 pages of material to support you when you're out there trying to capture the world you see.

Once you've conquered the buttons and figured out what most of the symbols and modes mean, you're ready to dig deeper into the features and gain control of the camera with answers to your what does it do types of questions relating to exposure and flash compensation, white balance, ISO speed, and resolution.

The last chapter is more free flowing as you and the camera have become one. Get tips on taking outdoor and group shots including sporting events where players are moving fast. Capture kids, travel spots, and wedding memories with class as kids grow up, you may not return to the same places, and weddings happen only once (we would hope unless it's a renewal of vows).

Adding this book to your camera bag is a step toward to better pictures and better understanding of those fancy photography terms, which aren't a big deal after you read author Derrick Story's simple and clear explanations.

O'Reilly Digital Studio at its best
I love this book and I will try to share why...

First I will tell you why this book is good for me and then you decide if it is good for you! First few words about me:

I am not a professional photographer -- I am a professional web developer! I do not know much about aperture, exposure, white balance, etc. I am a newly-minted father whose task is to launch a new website with new photos of his beautiful daughter taken with a newly purchased Canon digital camera... All these new things can be daunting.

Here comes help from O'Reilly. I know O'Reilly for their wonderful computer books. I did not know O'Reilly could deliver such high quality consumer information for digital media novices and professionals alike.

The book tells you:

1. The basics of your digital camera.
2. How to operate it and take full advantage of its features.
3. How to achieve success with specific tasks: taking outdoor portraits, taking interesting children shots (try taking a photo of a three-week old baby!), creative architecture shots, landscapes that would make you feel like a pro, and so on...

Last but not least, the book shares computer tips and tricks which would be helpful for any digital camera user, whether professional or amateur: working with RAW files, sending and archiving photos and preparing them for print.

The quick reference tables listed in the appendix of this wonderful pocket guide alone would justify its gentle price ($14.95 in the US):

- exposure compensation reference guide
- flash mode settings
- white balance settings
- metering modes explained in plain English
- camera modes explained in plain English
- reference of number of pictures per memory card depending on its capacity
- etc, etc.

If you spend $300+ on a decent digital camera and all you can use is just its basic auto modes, you are not doing yourself and your camera justice. For less than $15 more with the help of O'Reilly and this pleasantly witty and informative guide written by Derrick Story, you would multiple the value of your digital photography investment -- by taking, storing and sharing better photos quicker and with higher quality and artistry!

Perfect for quickly learning how to take great pictures...
You got a digital camera for Christmas, and you're now wanting to figure out how to shoot pictures that will cause everyone to go "ooohhh!". Your manual will get you familiar with the technical aspects of your new toy, but you should also learn about how to properly frame and expose your shots. To do that, get a copy of Digital Photography Pocket Guide by Derrick Story. It's a great little (113 pages) book that will quickly and concisely convey the information you'll need to take perfect pictures. The first half of the book covers the different features of the camera, such as file formats, spot meters, and white balance. The second half is a "How Do I" series that will help you figure out specific picture taken scenarios, such as capturing action shots, shooting good self-portraits, and taking pictures at weddings. The final ten pages are tables of ISO speeds and exposure settings for certain conditions.

All in all, the book is a perfect way to quickly understand both your camera and the science of photography. There are definitely books that are more comprehensive, but none that are as practical in as short a volume as you'll find here. ... Read more

Book Description

Digital video students and enthusiasts must learn lighting fundamentals and techniques to enhance the visual quality of their work. Moreover, since lighting specifications for digital video differ significantly from those for analog video or film, professional videographers and cinematographers must learn how to adapt their lighting skills for this new digital medium to ensure that the final product meets broadcast standards.This complete course in digital video and television lighting begins with how the human eye and the camera process light and color, progresses through the basics of equipment and setups, and culminates with practical lessons on how to solve common problems. It features clear illustrations and real-world examples that demonstrate proper equipment use, safety issues, and staging techniques. Detailed diagrams, figures, and photos illustrate techniques that enable novices to complete basic lighting setups. This new edition also features a 16-page color insert and new chapters on interview setups and lighting for low budgets. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

More than just a lighting book
I bought this book to help me to set up lighting for Digital Video for instructional work. I gained full understanding about lighting without suffering through attempts of an author to fulfill a writers self image. Read easily and quickly. It is a great information book. Also, he list contact information for equipment vendors.

Too good to be true
I'm not really good at writing reviews, but I love this book so much that I have to say something. First of all, let me say that this book is for everyone who is interested in lighting. It doesn't matter if you're a photographer or cameraman, you'll learn from reading this book. John Jackman is a real expert and is passing along his knowledge in this book.

Personally, I'm a digital photographer and videographer that has been perplexed by the whole lighting thing for years. I'm no pro if you're wondering. This is the third book that I've bought about lighting and the prior two books really didn't teach me anything at all (see my very bad review of the Lighting Cookbook). The authors of the other books are just spoon feeding you tips and diagrams without explaining the logic behind them. It's as if they don't want you to learn anything. Well, John Jackman doesn't just give you a fish, he teaches you to fish and once you finish this book you'll have enough knowledge of lighting to do just about anything and actually understand what you're doing and why.

I received this book in the mail about four days ago and already finished. I just couldn't stop reading it. Once I read the first few pages, I knew that I had bought the right book and I felt like I was actually learning something the whole time.

I'm a digital photographer and if you shoot digital with a prosumer camera, you should know that you can't use the same equipment that they use at your local studio. It's just not very compatible. So, I have to use continuous lighting like they do for video and film making. It has many advantages and is every bit as good. I do video too, so the lighting equipment can be used for both. Anyway, I've got this huge lighting catalog from B&H photo and it's got pretty much any kind of light and accessory that you could want. The only problem is that it doesn't explain what they are and how to use it. This book explains all of this and that's actually why I bought it in the first place. If it wasn't for the "look inside" feature here at amazon.com, I wouldn't have been able to tell what the book covered. So, after seeing the table of contents I bought it. Now when I flip through the catalog, I know what I'm looking at and what it does. Instead of just blindly buying something, I know exactly what I need for my purposes.

Unlike other books that claim to give you low to no budget solutions, this book actually has quite a few. Although much of the equipment mentioned is very expensive. Another one of my favorite things about this book is the glossary with plain language that's easy to read. Almost every term that I didn't know could be found in the back with a simple explanation.

My only complaint and it's really a non-complaint is the excruciatingly boring detail the author would go into when explaining the way our eyes work and some other things. I know that it is relevant and useful information and he means well, but I almost fell asleep through that part. The studio lighting chapter is pretty boring too unless you're going to be a gaffer for CNN. It shouldn't be skipped, but maybe skimmed through.

All in all, I knew this book would be good, but it exceeded my expectations. When they say "expert series" they mean it because this guy knows it all and doesn't mind making an expert out of you either. The great thing about this book is that it assumes that you don't really know anything like a "for dummies" book, but it's not insulting to your intelligence. The author doesn't try to keep you interested by telling stupid jokes or using childish examples. He isn't so full of himself that the book is about him or his work. The book is about lighting and he takes you from the very basics to the advanced Hollywood style lighting.

I'm sorry if this review was annoyingly over-positive, but I'm just very happy with it and I highly recommend it. I also recommend getting a lighting catelog from B&H Photo or some other place so you can see photos of all the lights and tools that are mentioned.

Excellent easy to read book...
I been using lights for a couple of years now but really did not have much of a clue until I read this book. I felt the scales drop off of my eyes as I read though the book. It's a very easy read as well.

EN-LIGHTNING
In the 1st Chapter of his book the author invites us to join him along for the journey in the lighting world of television and video with a promise that by the end of this journey i.e. of the book, we will be able to understand and create with the lights in our own digital frames.
I finished the book, it realy was a journey and Mr. Jackman kept his promise.
Thank you Mr.Jackman

Great Book!
Hey all,

I'm a long time worker in multimedia and the performing arts (with a theatrical education). I did a lot of theatrical lighting as slave labor back in college, but beyond that, most of my experience in film and video was from the acting side.

So before shooting my next short, I decided I needed a primer in film lighting. I bought Mr. Jackman's book about a week and a half ago and, well, for geeks like me, it was a real page turner.

Aside from the fact that I needed to covert all of my theater vocab (cables) to film vocab (stingers) I also found the perspective on DV film making to be dead on in this book.

This book starts out outlining the technical aspects of electrics and lighting. While not the most exciting for a lot of people (although I got excited and immediatly tested all of my wall sockets with my old fluke multimeter) these sections read quick and are a necessary setup for the rest of the book. After the technical aspects are discussed, the book goes in a direction which I genually appreciate.

Instead of treating DV and Video lighting like bad flat TV lighting, Mr. Jackman really goes out of his way to help all of us little guys with PD-150s and the like to light our DV dynamically and artistically. Often the book shows more thrifty workarounds for expensive concepts.

While this book isn't going to contain much new information for the experienced gaffer. It will definetly help any novice, new-comer, or, like me, semi-knowledged person increase their skills in the art of lighting.

Hopefully more people will read this book and less badly lit short films will infest the world. Then we can give all those die hard film guys a run for their money. To paraphase the book: The camera and medium are just tools, they don't think, we do.

... ... Read more

Book Description

His internationally best-selling Griffin & Sabine saga is treasured for its blend of lyrical storyline and compelling, imaginative art. Now Nick Bantock gives a short course in visual creativity in Urgent 2nd Class. A tour through the techniques and materials which constitute his signature style, Bantock shares with readers numerous ways ways of using old paper ephemera -- maps, letters, postcards, ledgers, scraps, photos, and many more items -- to create their own idiosyncratic art. Written for people of all artistic skill levels, the materials mentioned are all easily found and inexpensive, and the processes are simple enough to do at home (and with access to the most advanced machinery used in the book, a photocopier). An inspirational guide to the simple artistic techniques which can alchemically transform ephemera into remarkable works, Urgent 2nd Class is the handbook for a new generation of visual poets. ... Read more

Book Description

Peter K. Burian, co-author of the best-selling how-to guide for film photographers, "The National Geographic Photography Field Guide", has now written a full-color book devoted to digital image creation. In "Mastering Digital Photography and Imaging", he covers all the essentials for digital photographers, including digital camera and scanner technology, capture techniques, choosing software, image optimization, color management, and output. Written by a photographer and filled with practical advice and expert tips, this comprehensive reference is designed to give you expert knowledge, not just information. If you are a photography enthusiast moving from traditional photography to digital, or if you're just interested in learning more about digital photography for work or for fun, this one-of-a-kind book was written for you! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A thoroughly detailed, "user friendly" tutorial
Mastering Digital Photography And Imaging by digital photography expert Peter K. Burian is a full-color, thoroughly detailed, "user friendly" tutorial to making the most of a digital camera or scanner, as well as affordable image-editing software. Specifically intended to aid digital imagers of all skill and experience levels, the individual chapters include cogent and practical advice for selecting the right scanner, image-editing software, and printer, techniques for getting high-quality scans from prints, slides, or negatives, professional-quality methods for fine-tuning digital images, and so much more. Mastering Digital Photography And Imaging is confidently recommended as a truly superb all-around reference, resource, and self-teaching tool.

A digital gold mine
When it comes to digital technology I'm still operating in the Cretaceous Period and yet I found this book easy to understand,
comprehensive and a pleasure to read. ... Read more

Book Description

More then those of any other living photographer, Sebastião Salgado's images of the world's poor stand in tribute to the human condition. Salgado defines his work as "militant photography" dedicated to "the best comprehension of man"; over the decades he has bestowed great dignity on the most isolated and neglected among us-- from famine-stricken refugees in the Sahel to the indigenous peoples of South America.

With Workers, Salgado brings us a global epic that transcends mere image making to become an affirmation of the enduring spirit of working men and women. In this volume, three hundred fifty duotone photographs form an archaeological perspective of the activities that have defined hard work from the Stone Age through the Industrial Revolution to the present. With images of the infernal landscape of an Indonesian sulfur mine, the drama of traditional Sicilian tuna fishing, and the staggering endurance of Brazilian gold miners, Salgado unearths layers of visual information to reveal the ceaseless human activity at the core of modern civilization.

Workers presents its subjects on several interactive levels: Salgado's introductory text expands his passionate photographic iconography, and extended captions, also written by Salgado, provide a historical and factual framework. Evoking the monumentality of Baroque sculpture, images of oil-fire fighters extinguishing Kuwaiti wells are informed by data detailing this perilous venture. Heroic photographs of Cuban and Brazilian peasants harvesting sugarcane are enriched by an overview of the history of the sugar trade, which documents centuries of colonialist exploitation.

On the eve of the millennium, Workers serves as an elegy for the passing of traditional methods of labor and production. Yet its ultimate message is one of endurance and hope: entire Indian families serve as construction crews to build a dam that will bring life to their land, and laborers using contemporary technology connect England and France through Eurotunnel. Honoring the timeless and indomitable spirit of the manual laborer, Workers renders the human condition with honesty and respect.
... Read more

Reviews (15)

Stunning book
This book is an astonishing document on both the talents of Sebastiao Salgado and the roughness of some of the worst professions in the world. The book was several years in the making and it shows. A lot of credit goes to Aperture for such a quality print. Your first impression will be of astonishment as you browse through the pictures of one of the top photographers of this century. Then, you'll want to read the small booklet that explains what each picture is. One day I hope someone will print a teaching book of photography with as good pictures as these, but with all the detailed information of how the picture was taken (film, camera, lens, exposure, # of photos discarded, date, time of day & latitude, time spent to take the picture, etc). If there's anything to critize in this book is that no technical information is given at all. But that was the point of it. It is an art book, not a didactic one.

fantastic book
I first learned of Salgado from reading "Magnum 50 years at the frontline of photography" Magnum lost a great when he left. For months I removed this book from the shelf of the local Borders and studied it over a cup of coffee. Any photographer could learn a lot from study of this book. I eventually bought the book and I continue to study it about once a week. Salgado's eye for showing people's pride while doing what many would consider distastful is what sets him apart. While I like his later books something about this one touches me deeply

Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age
At first glance this book is very intimidating by size. I was overwhelmed by the amount of photos Salgado took of his subjects, which in this book were the workers around the world. As I flipped through each page I began to think of rather than looking at a book of a photographer's work, it seemed as if I was looking at a photo album dedicated to hard laborers. Each photo is extremely vivid and beautifully shot. In addition, each photo gives the impression that Salgado puts thought and emotion before shooting his subjects. This is apparent by the many angles he shot his subjects and more importantly the extreme close-up shots he had. In many of his pictures Salgado appears to capture not just the action of the subject, but the emotion and story as well. You can't help but sympathize for each worker. Furthermore you start to realize how much the world depends on this type of labor in order to move forward. In a sense, this entire book give a view into all the hard work it takes to create all the luxuries we take granted for.

The entire book itself is very high quality. Each picture is printed clearly and at a large scale to show each detail of Salgado's work. It's also neatly organized rather than photos jumbled everywhere. Photos are separated by the location where they are shot. Moreover, aside from the large scale photos in this book which take an entire spread, there are some fold-out pages that contain smaller photos which give it that "photo album" feel.

This book is evidence of how great of a photographer Sebastiao Salgado is.

Astonishing
These are some of the most powerful photographs ever made. They are at once disturbing, thought provoking and astonishingly beautiful. Salgado is a genius of the medium. He is one of the very few who has managed to elevate photography to a genuine art form. By comparison, the work of most other contemporary photographers seems like paint-by-numbers dreck.

Worth the high price
Skin covered with goosebumps, I slowly turned each page of Workers while my lower lip trembled. I couldn't believe the power that those images had.

It's a big heavy volume worth every cent I paid for it. To be honest I was a little cautious when I saw the price, but my gamble paid off. The pages hold the detail and tone beautifully. Salgado drags you into the lives of these people from vast mines of thousands of workers to the effort of an individual. Looking into their eyes will appreciate not only what they go through, but how photography can take you anywhere. ... Read more

Book Description

This art book shows contemporary and cutting-edge work as well as historical. It deals with real-life issues of taking pictures and making prints in the practical way working photographers do.Using strong contemporary portfolio photographs, profiles of top photographers with a look at career matters, it includes practical strategies for taking and printing photographs, and a seamless mix of color, black-and-white, and digital technologies.For photographers and photojournalists. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A word from the authors about the revised edition
The second edition of PHOTOGRAPHY isn't a token revision. It's a major update of a book that we had already designed to bring basic photographic instruction into the modern era without leaving the fundamentals behind. It is, unlike most of its competition, a book you can grow with as your photographic skills improve.
PHOTOGRAPHY is really a cross between a how-to book and a coffee-table book. That's one reason it costs more than a regular photo handbook: In addition to hundreds of technical illustrations there are dozens of beautifully reproduced, full-page photographs by some of the leading photographers of our time. You'll find photographs by Annie Leibovitz, Joel Meyerowitz, Sebastiao Salgado, Mary Ellen Mark, Joyce Tenneson, James Nachtwey, David LaChapelle, Matthew Rolston, Mark Seliger, and many others representing every kind of photographic discipline you can imagine. These images, which have been substantially updated in this revision, are interspersed throughout the text. PHOTOGRAPHY also features a series of individual profiles of well-known working photographers, heavily illustrated with examples of their work, and a compact, illustrated history of photography by New York Times critic Vicki Goldberg.
Why the emphasis on big, high-quality pictures? Because PHOTOGRAPHY is meant to inspire as it teaches.
--HENRY HORENSTEIN AND RUSSELL HART ... Read more

Book Description

Here's a detailed and attractive reference that allows you to jump in, find the information you need, and get back to work. Carefully organized by both tool and task, and printed on quality, coated paper, this innovative book combines the best aspects of an encylopedia with the real-world practicality of a tutorial. It also features a 32-page color insert that illustrates color-specific techniques. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A solid reference for Photoshop 7
Honestly, I was all set to not like this book. It seemed thin, glossy, and it was about an application that I have avoided for years.

I took the book home and began to browse through it. It initally looked like the kind of book I'd never buy whe i had to learn a new software application. It is jam-packed with pictures, numbers, side margins, and small text. The first five chapters alone were about the interface, for goodness' sake!

Was I surprised. This book IS jam-packed. The subtitle is: "Get in, Get Out, Get Exactly What You Need." They did a good job of making that come true. Once I skipped past the 5 chapters of interface (only at first, since I wanted to return to them later), I found a section of chapters on Universal Photoshop Tasks. Immediately, I was able to open a photo from my hard drive, and figure out how to do the basic stuff I was used to doing in other graphics packages. Photoshop seems much less daunting to me now. The "entry level" stuff was enough to keep me reading, learning, and convinced me to put this book on my reference shelf for when I need help with the more advanced stuff.

Nicely organized with visual section markers along the right side of the pages, this book contains as much information as I needed to migrate from other graphics packages and more information than I will initially need as a novice Photoshop user. I feel like I've gotten some basics fairly quickly, and I'm ready to delve into the more advanced features in the later parts of the book.

The visual layout of the book seemed daunting at first, but once I became familiar with the books conventions, which remain consistent throughout the book, I was able to pick up great techniques in a short time. No need to go reading through long pages of text to find a specific feature I wanted. Things are laid out logically, simply, and with a minimum of fuss so that I was able to just browse through and find things of interest. The side margins present extra information throughout the book, including one of my favorite things: keyboard shortcuts! There are tons of them in Photoshop, and tons of them in this book, nicely moved to the left and right margins of the pages, so as to be accessible, but out of the way.

If you are a beginner to novice Photoshop user, this book might just be right for you. It is full of information, well organized for quick browsing and finding the information you need, and light on long narrative passages. Somewhere between a For Dummies book and a Bible book, Photoshop 7 at Your Fingertips is a nice balance of information density with visual organization for many levels of user.

The Photoshop toolbox you always needed
Photoshop 7 at Your Fingertips
By Jason Cranford Teague

Overview.
A new and interesting way of learning the uses of Photoshop. This is an extremely useful toolbox of a book. Not so much a tutorial type, but more of a reference to help find the answers to specific problems.

The layout is different from most books of this genre, with hints and cross-references in panels down the side of the page so if you can't find the answer where you thought to look, you can be directed to another link which you hadn't thought of. Good stuff!

Features.

A paper back book of 540 pages on good quality paper, it has good quality black and white images and screen shots on nearly every page. There is a small colour section which takes you through the usual things like fills and adjustments, blending modes, effects, and filters, then it ends with a gallery of inspirational art by Photoshop artists and their URLs.

The book is well indexed by having the edges of the pages coloured to signify the different sections. This means you can get the information instantly without having to skim through a lot of unnecessary pages and chapters.

Book Description.

This book is broken up into five major sections with further breakdowns after that. These sections are the ones that you need to understand or find your answers to. These are;

1. The Photoshop work space, which is important to understand, from setting up your monitor and learning where the tools are, and even the differences between Mac OS X and OS 9 and Windows setups.

All relevant keyboard shortcuts are inserted in the side panels which relate to the page of instruction you are looking at. This means you don't have to remember them from the beginning, only as you come to them, and the ones you use most will become second nature.

Each tool is explained in detail, and all it's aspects are detailed very well. This is done in isolation from the other tools and away from all exercises, so there is no confusion when you need to use the tool for some new project.

2. Universal Photoshop tasks takes you through the normal things that you need to do on a daily basis such as changing canvas sizes, using the history palette, specifying colour settings, and anything else that you can think of.

This is the largest section of this book, which is understandable. It covers in great detail all the tricky things in a way that will help you to understand the way Photoshop works, and what the terms mean, because when you start, the jargon must be absorbed before it makes any sense.

At 250 pages, you can see how much ground is covered and this will be the most used section of the book by far.

I can't go through all the aspects that are covered in this section as there are too many to pick just a few, suffice it to say that I can't see anything that has been missed out, and that is saying a lot. From small to large tasks, the explanations are clear and concise. Every aspect has been covered.

3. Print tasks are next and this is a tricky area for most of us. Getting your image to print just like you see it on screen is not easy and there are heaps of hints and tips and descriptions of the differences between print and monitor.

Hopefully it will remove a lot of the frustration associated with just this one aspect of your work.

4. Web tasks takes you into Image Ready. This program will help to solve the problems associated with loading your images fast to the net, creating rollovers and hotspots etc. You can even use it to create an interactive web page.

Understanding the reasons for, and how to do, slicing, editing animations, and optimizing your images will make you a better webmaster as well.

5. Digital imaging is the last section and goes into scanning techniques, digital cameras, colour correction, and many other things that you will want help with.

This is the section that most closely resembles other how-to books, with small lessons and examples. This could be used as your quick fix area, but it is small compared to the other sections and has a lot of links back to sections that explain more fully the use of the tools, so you can work out for yourself the best way to achieve the result you want.

Bottom Line.

This book is the toolbox that every Photoshop user could have as part of their collection. I can't give much more of a wrap than that. I found it easy to understand, and the cross-referencing adds much more to your understanding of how to use this program.

Obviously, Photoshop 7 has been targeted, but this book can be used for all flavours of Photoshop, and as the basics of most things you will want to do are covered by all photo manipulation programs, it may be possible to use this book for them too.

© Tim Skyrme, 2003....

Fantastic
I have struggled with various versions of Photoshop for years now and was still struggling when Photoshop 7 at Your Fingertips was given to me as a Christmas present. It is so easy to use that I'm actually printing professional looking photos at last. Other books are as difficult to read as Photoshop is to use but this book is fantastic. I highly recommend it. ... Read more