Here is a very informative new book that covers all of the how-to items for working with digital photography, and not just the usual software programs. It is filled with expert advice and techniques from Burian, who is also the coauthor of the National Geographic Photography Field Guide, so you know you will be getting all of the facts you will need to make great digital images. This 8x10 inch book has 272 pages and retails for US$29.99.      
I Rate it:  A 
(Reviewed April 2005)

Both of these books are published by SYBEX and can be ordered at  www.sybex.com

This book has been created with excellent layout and diagramming in order to explain the technicalities of digital photography. The author uses a text explanation, drawings, and images to explain concepts, such as sensor design and resolution. Often, in digital photography books, topics will be covered that many photographers already know from their experience with film. This book really focuses on the digital world of photography. For example, the author discusses exposure by explaining the histogram, setting exposure modes and burst rates. This book would be beneficial to the traditional film photographer making the transition to digital.

Text: A+
Layout: A++
Photography: A+
User: Beginning to Intermediate Digital Photographers
(Reviewed by EP June 2009)

It is so easy as a photographer to spend all your time on exposure, composition, workflow, and running your business. You can forget that there are tools out there that have possibilities for helping you enhance the technical and creative aspects of your images. To help you with just that, Amphoto has created a book completely on filters. Now well in the digital photography age, there are digital filters that provide a infinite number of possibilities, without replacing your ability to still use the optical filters on the end of your digital camera lens. This book talks about both filters and demonstrates the effects by showing before and after images, comparing different filters in the same setting, and images documenting the equipment used. The book is laid-out in a very organized format, making it an excellent resource for any level of photographer.

Text: A
Layout: A+
Photography: A
User: All Photographers
(Reviewed by EP November 2009)

Mastering Flash Photography is a “must have” new book for everyone interested in using a flash to light his or her images. I have looked at many books on this subject, and just about all of them were lacking in one way or another, but this one is as complete as you will find. Its 144 - 8x11 inch soft cover pages cover flash lighting of just about everything you can think of.  The cover here shows a good example of what I mean: a single subject lit by flash while the rest of the image is a bold silhouetted background. This is the kind of book that you want to take along on every photo trip, to make sure you will know how to do the job right.

The subjects covered here range from small flower close ups to a distant gorilla with fill flash added. It also includes all of the information you will need to know what equipment to use, and how to use it. Even the captions are better than usual, with a lot of extra info included.

This book retails for US$24.95, and is published by AMPHOTO Books at:   www.watsonguptill.com      
I Rate it:  A+++ 
(Reviewed Feb. 2005)

Mastering Nature Photography, by John Kieffer is a new how-to reference book for any serious nature photographer. With 271 pages of information, there is not much you cannot find out from it. Its 30 chapters cover everything from shooting to selling your images. It is mostly reference info with few illustrations, but when you need to find out how to do something, you don’t need a book full of pictures. At 6x9 it is also a handy size soft cover book to carry in the field, and it even comes with a bonus CD for both Mac and Windows users. Retailing at US$24.95. Published by Allworth Press at www.allworth.com
I Rate it: A 
(Reviewed Jan. 2005)
   

Order it right now from Amazon.com

About the Author:
Dominic Smith grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Austin, Texas where he received an MFA in fiction and screenwriting from the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. His fiction and essays have been widely published, recently with The Antioch Review, Carve Magazine, Gulf Coast, and Mid- Atlantic Review. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and he has a story forthcoming with The Atlantic Monthly. After taking a university photography class, he became engulfed in the fascinating history of the daguerreotype. His awards include the Dobie Paisano Fellowship from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Sherwood Anderson Fiction Prize, and the Gulf Coast Fiction Prize, in addition, he has been a finalist for the Faulkner Society Best Novel Prize.

In his well-written debut novel, Smith creates a character that cannot be ignored, especially by those of us who are descendents of his passionate pursuit of the permanent fixing of light. Set in a turbulent time in Paris in the midst of revolution and the other mayhem of the middle 1800’s, the scene is quickly compelling. Along with a supporting cast of believable and often endearing characters, we meet Daguerre, now 58, mortally ill from being poisoned by mercury, the very chemical essential to Daguerre’s process for producing lasting images. The same metal that launches his fame and wealth is stealing away his life and mind.

Perhaps influenced by the millennial fervor sweeping the continent around that time or as a simple result of the damage being done to his brain, Daguerre becomes convinced that the world is going to end. Thus, he creates his “Doomsday List,” a collection of ten subjects he must photograph before the final day. The list includes both one portrait of a nude woman and another of Isobel Le Fournier, his first and last love to whom he has not spoken for half a century.

Through a skillful interweaving of flashbacks, we learn about Daguerre’s early life and two transforming experiences he had during an illness he suffered when he was only twelve.  On that fateful day, he fell in love with the young maid, Isobel, who had been assigned to take care of him.  He also discovered the magic of light as it streamed through the curtains of his darkened sickbed room.  The result of these two events provides the unifying theme we pursue throughout the book.

Thereafter, we follow Daguerre’s search for both the method of fixing an image on his plates and his love. He solves the first problem long before the last. He discovers that mercury can act as a fixing agent, preventing an image that has been etched onto a copper plate by the sun from fading. His breakthrough is both a gift and a curse. The ability to take photographs propels him to fame and fortune, while slowly poisoning him with constant exposure to mercury.

Through his doomsday list, he finally succeeds in finding Isobel and expressing the passion he has felt for her. He is helped by a young, jaded prostitute he has paid to model for his nude portrait. The way this happens is another expression of how fate plays with our lives, at times thwarting our dreams while simultaneously creating the circumstances whereby they can be fulfilled. We’re not sure if Daguerre’s doomsday is symbolic of the events in Europe or the actual ending of his life, but through the author’s masterful storytelling, we learn about the connectedness of all things.

I won’t spoil the rest of the tale for you.  Suffice it to say, as a man who is approaching Daguerre’s age in the latter part of the book, I couldn’t help but identify with his life and passions. I also couldn’t help but admire his grace when he faces the losses of his mind, his love, and his life, at a time when his life finally has meaning.

After I finished reading this book that appeared unexpectedly at my door, I ruminated over it for days.  Even now as I write this review, more realizations about the interconnectedness of our lives, our search for love and the meanings of our lives surface, much like an image that gradually appears on photographic paper in the darkroom. The picture doesn’t suddenly materialize. It takes time for the image deepen and become fixed.
(Reviewed Feb. 2006)

The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre
By Dominic Smith
Atria Books Hardcover
February 7, 2006
ISBN: 0-7432-7114-9
Price: $24.00

Chosen for Barnes and Noble’s Discover Great New Writers Program
Finalist--Faulkner Society Award for Best Novel
Selected for Ingram Book Group’s Premiere Picks Series

Michael Freeman’s Top Digital Photography Tips: You Can Think and Shoot Like a Pro with the Secrets of One of the World’s Top Professional Photographers
by Michael Freeman

This book has a wide range and variety of tips for the digital photographer. The images and diagrams of equipment are very impressive and helpful for understanding processes. The book is organized into sections, including Basics, Exposure, Technical aspects, Color, Composition, and more. Under each section are quite a few subtitles to cover the topic. For example, the Color section includes subtopics of Unified Color, Custom White Balance, and Color Target. For such small book, this manual provides a lot of information on the topic of Digital Photography.

Text: A+
Layout: A+
Photography: A+
User: Beginning to Intermediate Photographers
(Reviewed by EP Nov. 2008)

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

Micro Art
by Roberto Dabdoub

Micro Art is a nice little (7"x10") photography book from Pelican Publishers. Unlike "macro" photography, which is better known as "close-up" photography, micro photos are images taken through a microscope. Micro Art is mostly a picture book. Other than the standard introduction, the only text in this book is an image index at the end identifying each image shown. There are 117 images in this hardback book that includes everything from Coca Cola to a 3,000 year old piece of mummy wrapping. Images that are rich in pattern and color, most of which are on the extreme side of abstraction. This is not a how-to book, but a very nice addition to any coffee table collection, and for only US$19.95. 
(Reviewed May, 2004)

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

Any photographer, who uses their work for more than just their own personal pleasure, will have a lot of writing to do also, especially if their work involves a business. If you use Microsoft Office, then you should check out this quick and easy guide book. These are not your normal manual type lessons, but it uses pictures to learn from, and it will have you up and running in no time. With 27 chapters on 437 pages, it covers everything you will need to know to create written pages for whatever your needs may be. From a simple business letter, to creating your own online newsletter, or catalog, it shows you the tools and how to use them.  If you take pictures, then you probably want to show them, and this book will show you how to use Microsoft office to do that. This soft cover book is also a nice size to handle, 7x9, and almost an inch thick, and all for only $21.99-US. I have used many kinds of training books and I find these visual quickstart guides to be the best. Published by PeachPit Press at www.peachpit.com.            
I rate it:   A+ 
(Reviewed Sept. 2004)

Mountain Ranges of Colorado is one of the finest picture books I have seen in years. It is also the largest, and heaviest book I have ever looked at. (You could press clothes with this one) At 13.5x12.5 inches, the images in it are almost 9x11 inches and those are not even the largest ones. Many images are printed in full two-page spreads which measure 10x23.5 inches, and there are so many of them that I lost count half way through the book. The areas of the Colorado Mountains presented are divided into sections, with a state map in the front that includes a transparent overlay of the chapters shown. This hard cover book is also one of the best bound books I’ve seen and I can only say that you have to see and hold it to believe it.  The book has 232 pages with some of the best mountain & scenic images you can find, and they are reproduced as close to an actual photograph as you can get. The retail price is US$75.00, but I would not sell my copy for twice that much. It is published by Westcliffe Publishers and can be ordered at  www.westcliffepublishers.com      
I Rate it:  A+++ 
(Reviewed May 2005)

 

This is yet another in a long list of fine art photography books by the master landscape photography, David Muench, but this one includes an additional portfolio by his son Marc. In many cases when you say, “Like father, like son” it is just a way to describe someone, but in this case, and when the father is David Muench, it lets everyone know exactly what kind of quality work this son produces. In fact with most images in this book, if it weren’t for the fact that they are divided into separate portfolios, it would be hard to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. This hardback book measures 12x12 inches, has 168 pages, and except for the two-page spreads, almost that many images. Images that are printed here as good as printing gets, but then nothing less would be expected from this photo family. The images range from all over the US, and all over the natural world. There are a few I have seen before, but most will be new to most viewers, so that is yet another bonus. American Portfolios retails for just US$39.95 and is published by BrownTrout. You can order it at:  www.browntrout.com       
I Rate it:  A+++ 
(Reviewed June 2005)