The Book of Digital Photography
At last a digital photography book that is written for a beginner with the technicality that is easy to understand. It covers all the steps of digital photography from Capture, Manipulation to Output. There are tips and tricks that would make you ask yourself why you havent thought of it…the Duh tips. 
There are also comparison shots to make a point or two to show what happens if you do this. Something that would help slow learners see the picture quickly.
I read the first pages and scanned the rest, but so far I am having a fun time reading it. I am not a stick to the rule person, I usually learn the rule and experiment later – even if I haven’t mastered that rule yet.
The 180+ pages covering the CAPTURE part deals with digital technology basics, framing, composition, lighting, camera modes, etc. It also discuss specialised photography such as portraits, travel, sports, architecture, people, wildlife, abstract and many others. Yup, this part is oozing with tips, comparison and advice.
The MANIPULATION part discuss important notes about RAW files and processing, the importance of screen calibration, basic photoshop techniques(mostly used with mac computer as far as the screenshots are concerned), advanced photoshop manipulation techniques such as blending, curves, channels, tone adjustments, selective colour balance, blur, shapening, distortion and photomosaics. This part is not really useful to me unless I spend what little money I have on Photoshop software. I am using Picasa from Google and rarely GIMP. I am still trying the Lightroom which I think is great but I need to learn it first so I can use it to the full and buy it (Free limited-time version until end of February only).
OUTPUT and STORAGE is a gentle reminder about properly storing the digital photographs. It discuss the many ways to store the photos and what are available at the market right now.The book also discuss ways to recover data even with a list of URLs of softwares to make it easier. I once wondered about how to recover deleted data, searched the internet and some discussion forums on flickr but I really didn’t the technicalities. All I know was it was possible. Well, now I know how 
For the output part, it covers the printer, ink and paper – as which to use and what they output is if you use that kind of paper ot ink. There is also a page about photo sharing online of which flickr, shutterfly, photobox, pbase and photobird are given as examples.
When it said Everything on the cover it really meant it because the book also have a list of useful links which I think is great.
So if you want to learn a bit more or even brush up your photography skills – get this book. It is worth it.
The Book of Digital Photography by Chris George, originally 20£, now only 13.20£ from Amazon.co.uk
Tags: book, Photography book
