digital photography

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.

This lushly illustrated beautifully produced book of over 500 pages attempts the daunting task of offering a complete guide to digital photography in 107 Lessons. After completing the first 3 sections on digital photography, composition, lighting, exposure, to flash-or-not-to flash and other professional insights -- including a truly outstanding PowerPoint photography course on the enclosed CD, I was ready for a 5-star rave review. That is, until I hit the section on digital image processing. That the gorgeous illustrations were taken with a pro camera, expensive lenses, etc is understandable. What is NOT acceptable is to assume that beginners (no pro would buy such a general book) would have full-version Photoshop plus special plug-ins, AND a full portfolio of pictures from which to pick material for the various examples. Rather than putting demo's, A-V lessons and what have you on the CD, the author could have matched on the CD - chapter by chapter - the photos used for Photoshop technique illustrations. For instance, gorgeous shots of the Hearst castle - one exposed for the white marble highlights, the other for the deep shadows of the outdoor pool - were overlapped as layers to give a full-exposure view from deep dark to bright white. Not to include those learn-along images (not even on the website!) demonstrates a lack of teaching experience outside of the workshop classroom environment, if not disregard for the self-teaching student's needs who might use the more popular lower cost digital imaging software titles such as Paint Shop, PS Elements or Photo Impact.

Other books do a far better - albeit less visually spectacular - job of fully explaining the hows and why's, with full-size images on a CD -- and at much lower cost to boot. Might mention Mikkel Aaland, Greg Georges, Rick Lynch and Scott Kelby [no CD, but at least you can download every one of his images]. For just-starters, nothing thus far has beat the outstanding Tutorial of PSE2 and its "recipes" for quick image correction.

Rick Simmon did a fabulous job in attractive product packaging; he writes in a fluid easy to follow conversational style, and obviously is a gifted photographer. If only he stayed with what he knows and does best, and left the teaching of imaging to others he would have a tighter, lighter and cheaper book to offer.

I am a photographer of ten years, and I was looking for a good liasion to the digital format from film. This book tries too hard to be everything to all levels, and it ends up getting in its own way most of the times. What pretends to be a good overview for beginners and pros, stadles the two and inevitably caters to the lowest common denominator.
If you have any photography experience, understand how to expose a negative, etc. avoid this book. The pictures he uses are not that good or just plain cheesy. It makes me wonder how he got to this point.