Advanced Digital Black & White Photography
by John Beardsworth

This Lark Photography Book is an excellent resource for the fine art digital photographer. The information in the book is very useful because of the examples of before and after images, the descriptive text, and step-by-step instructions. All of the techniques use Photoshop and some are specifically for CS3. The author talks about everything the intermediate or advanced photographer would need to know, including how to capture the image, many ways of converting it to B&W, techniques for optimizing the image, creating artistic effects, and finally output techniques. One of the most impressive parts of the book is the quality of black and white images that are created. The author doesn’t just demonstrate how to make a grayscale image, but how to create a quality B&W photograph that competes with the quality and range of tones of the best silver gelatin prints. The section discussing artistic effects covers many alternative effects and goes beyond adding program filters - actually tweaking the image to create the color, texture, and style so common of photographs created by infrared, Calotype, pinhole and more.

Advanced Digital Camera Techniques is a good new book for doing what you used to do with a film camera, but now with a digital. It covers all of the normal camera techniques, plus what you now need to know to do it digitally. Although a lot of it covers what is in most good photo how-to books, this also has some good tips for the new ago of photography, and there are some things that you can’t do the same way as before. The book is a soft cover, 8.5x11 inches, with 123 pages, and retails for US$29.95.       
I Rate it: A 
(Reviewed May 2005)

Here is another great how-to book from Focal Press. I don’t think there is a single digital imaging subject that is not covered in this new book, and covered very well. It is richly illustrated with before and after images, camera settings, Photoshop tool settings, and explanations.  Anyone who cannot create great digital images after using this book should go back to using crayons.

This soft cover book is about 7x10 inch, with 409 pages and retails for US$44.95.  Distributed by Focal Press at www.focalpress.com       
I Rate it:  A+ 
(Reviewed Nov. 2005)

Click on the above image to find out current pricing or to purchase this book from Amazon.com

Advanced Digital Photography,
by Tom Ang

Advanced Digital Photography is a great group of “techniques and tips for creating professional quality images,” which is probably why that is also a part of its title. It is another top quality AMPHOTO book filled with 144 pages of information not usually found in the general how-to type books. There is info on how to better sharpen, color correct, and blend images, as well as my favorite, the special effects you can do with programs like Photoshop.  This top notch 9x11 inch, soft cover book will not only give you a lot of new ideas, but also the info you need to make them as good as possible. It retails for US$29.95.
I Rate it:  A++
(Reviewed Dec. 2004)

Advanced Digital Photography
Techniques & Tips for Creating
Professional Quality Images
By Tom Ang

If you are new to digital photography you might want to check out this how-to book on the subject.  The book covers just about everything from beginner info to advanced techniques for creating great images, and includes many step-by-step and before & after illustrations.  However, if you already have any of the other books by Ang, you may not need this one.  It is more or less just a reprint of his past books, with new images added to illustrate this new one.  I’d check it out before buying, as they are starting to look like one copy after another of the same material - “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”

This soft cover book is about 8x10 inches, with 144 pages, retails for US-$24.95 – and is published by AMPHOTO BOOKS at:www.watsonguptill.com      
I Rate it:  B+
(Reviewed November 2007)   

 

Currently, in the digital photography field, there is a push for accepting Photoshop Elements as an adequate program for image editing; purchasing the full version of Photoshop CS3 is not necessary for most digital photographers. This is another book by the renowned Elements advocate, Philip Andrews. Like his previous books, this is packed with helpful how-to information carefully laid out and explained fully in an organized creative layout. Unlike many other authors who maximize the use of white space in their books to warrant enough pages for the publisher, Andrews’ books utilize every surface area of every page. The amount of tips, advice, step-by-steps, and demonstrations is like having a personal coach for Photoshop Elements 6.
 

RATING
Text: A+
Layout: A
Photography: A
User: All Photographers
(Reviewed by EP March 2008)

Alternative Digital Photography
By John G. Blair

This book is based on the alternative processes that artistic photographers used to create more creative and unique images such as black and white, infrared, hand coloring, toy cameras, pinhole, and sepia. The author takes those traditional film processes and demonstrates how to create the same “look” digitally. Blair also suggests some of his new ideas of alternative digital processes like fresco, photo impressionism, and neomysticism. Each chapter is devoted to one process which starts with a description and explanation of the original process. The chapter includes multiple ways of attaining the look of the specific process which vary in difficulty and quality of results. This book is for the beginning to intermediate level photographer interested in creating more unique digital images. 

I rate this book A+ (EP)
(Reviewed January 2008)

This hardback book is about 10x14 inches, with 207 pages, retails for US$17.98 – and is published by Sterling Publishers at www.sterlingpub.com
I Rate it: A+++ 
(Reviewed June 2006)

American Ruins
Photographs by Arthur Drooker

I must admit that I am totally prejudice (for) this American Ruins book.  As someone who has always loved to photograph (almost) anything old, and especially with infrared, I found this new book on the subject to be a must-have for my collection.  This book documents historical ruins throughout the United States, from the plantation areas of the south, to Native American ruins of the southwest, and even a king’s home in Hawaii. All have been done with digital B&W infrared images that have been toned so as to look as old as the ruins themselves.  Each ruin includes a page full of history about each place, which is just as interesting as the images themselves.  This book will make one great holiday gift for someone special, that is if you don’t end up keeping it for yourself.

This hardback book is about 10x12 inches, with 144 pages, retails for US-$45.00 – and is distributed by Merrell Publishers at:    www.merrellpublishers.com        
I Rate it:  A++
(Reviewed December 2007

American Mood is a photographic journey. A series of American scenes that are right in front of all of us every day of our lives, but only put into images by those like Farber with the eye to actually see them. Images that are as much dreamlike as they are documentary, while others having bold colors that just jump off of the page. This is one impressive book to add to any photo library. Top quality in every way. Hardback with 100 images on 208, 11x11 inch pages, retails for US$49.95. Published by MERRELL at www.merrellpublishers.com
I Rate it: A+ 
(Reviewed Aug. 2005)

This book is a great addition to any photo library collection. It covers one of the most talked about photo shoots ever done. An entire evening spent photographing the Hollywood goddess who is probably the best-known person who has ever lived. Marilyn Monroe was pure woman and pure child, and one who absolutely loved being in front of a camera. This book takes you through that evening, almost moment-by-moment and not only tells about a photo session, but also the person that Marilyn was. The book is a 7x8 inch hard back with 127 pages, and retails for only US$16.95. Marilyn fans will buy this book out real soon, so I’d say to get it while you can. You won’t be sorry!!!   It is published by Welcome Books and can be ordered at:  www.welcomebooks.com        
I Rate it:  A++ 
(Reviewed May 2005)

   

Animalia
By Henry Horenstein

This is a beautiful book filled with inspiring images of animals. Photographer Henry Horenstein used grainy black and white film, a macro lens, and printed in sepia to avoid documenting the animals. Instead, Horenstein says “I choose to look closely and abstractly—to see my subjects for their inherent beauty, oddness, mystery.” His success is shown with these sometimes hazy, sometimes very sharp images showing off the animals’ texture, patterns, and unique characteristics. The book is bound in a hard fabric cover with attached print of a ray, making it a perfect book to lay out on your coffee table.

Text: A
Layout: A
Photography: A+
User: All Photographers (and non-photographers)
(Reviewed June 2008 by EP)

Antarctica: The Global Warning
By Sebastian Copeland 

This book is full of artistic and scientific intellect on the issue of global warming affecting our southern pole. Sebastian Copeland documented the beauty of the endangered land of Antarctica in order to draw our attention to its severity.  Among these magnificent, large, full-page images are writings from a variety of advocates including Leonardo DiCaprio, Stephen Schneider (Professor of Environmental Studies), and  Zac Goldsmith, (Editor of The Ecologist). Whether your interest is in environmental issues or incredible photography, you will thoroughly enjoy this quality book.

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Earth Aware Editions (www.earthawareeditions) (September 28, 2007)
• ISBN-10: 1933784199
• Product Dimensions: 13.8 x 10.3 x 1.1 inches
• Retail Price: US$55.00

I rate it A++++ (EP)
(Reviewed October 2007)