Real World Digital Photography (2nd Edition)
by Katrin Eismann, Sean Duggan, Tim Grey

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Book Reviews of Real World Digital Photography (2nd Edition)

Book Review: Digital Photography Explained In Detail
Summary: 5 Stars

The chapters on editing are quite long, appropriately, for this discusses the "digital darkroom", the important difference from conventional photography. I have seen other books focused on material which is presented here in one or two chapters. But those chapters are long enough and detailed enough they could have been separate books. With all the material in one book the information is cross-referenced to integrate the various technologies into a cohesive whole that leads to making of better pictures, whether that be on the Internet or as prints. The book is divided into four sections: 1] Essentials; 2] Techniques; 3] Digital Darkroom; and 4]Output, Mange and Present. There are 4 chapters ranging from 12 to 112 pages. The Companion Web Site provides the pictures shown in the book so the reader may practice the editing techniques presented.

This book provides information on photographic equipment, software and techniques for use by a wide range of users. It covers cameras which are entry-level, deluxe point-and-shoot, "prosumer" and professional. While acknowledging that the basics of photography are the same for film and digital equipment, it identifies the differences in the digital camera and digital photography and discusses them in detail. The information is more than is needed by the user of an entry-level camera but the concepts of camera operation are useful for all and apprise of features in better cameras that might make one's photos better.

There is a chapter on how A Digital Camera Works. This discusses: lenses, fixed, zoom, interchangeable, and special; the viewfinder and the LCD; the shutter, including the delay needed for the camera to process light data and means to compensate for the delay where needed; the sensor including the size and quantity of the pixels and the size and type of sensor; and flash units both on and off the camera.

The chapter on Buying A Digital Camera ha a lot of information on various types of cameras and provides a guide for the purchaser. It recommends a few sites, www.dpreview.com, www.photo.net, and www.fredmiranda.com and the Companion Site includes specific cameras in each price range. The sensor on digital cameras is smaller than the 35 mm film frames. For the same lens a digital camera has about 2/3 the effective focal length. This is one reason the digital camera lenses are "wide angle".

There is a good explanation of the different image file formats, RAW on top-of-the line- cameras, TIFF and finally JPEG. Cameras usually store the date in JPEG format since the files are much smaller. But this is because the JPEG protocol "compresses" the file using various algorithms and in the process losses some of the data. Then as the JPEG images are edited and resaved further image data is lost. Therefore, it is desirable to work with non-lossy formats such as TIFF and PSD, converting to JPEG when needed for final presentation.

The heart of this book is in Chapters 10 and 11, 196 pages covering image-editing techniques, the "digital darkroom". The author uses the tools in Adobe's Photoshop CS [expensive] while stating that many of the editing features are included in the lower cost Adobe Elements 2. In following her discussions I found that Elements did not have all the tools she was using. However, I still found her approaches and techniques quite usable.

Years ago I dabbled in using a darkroom for film work. It was difficult and non-forgiving. It was a struggle to avoid stained fingers and carrying that chemical smell outside the darkroom. The Digital Darkroom is much more powerful, easier to use and easily correctable. Her guidance will be very useful to me as I manipulate my digital images. An interesting point she makes is that digital photography consumes more time than film - because we become involved in all of the steps, especially the editing. I find that quite true. With a film camera I bring the film in for developing. In a day or two I return to get the prints. With digital I first edit the images, cropping and changing exposure, perhaps even eliminating some part of the original image. I then send the files for printing by a service - either online or in a local store. I find these prints better than I could produce on my own printer, although the new, more expensive printers, some using 6 colors, are said to do a wonderful job.

The book explains the difficulty in getting the eye's picture into the camera, onto the computer monitor and onto prints. Each of these creates colors differently and it is a wonder we can come as close as we do to having the pictures on the monitor and in prints so close to "our reality". There are procedures for improving the quality of the images on each of these devices. Also, she discusses a number of alternatives for sharing the digital images - e-mails, web sites, slide shows, projectors as well as prints. The final chapter discusses the saving and management of the image files - both the raw and edited images. Onsite, offsite, hard drive, tape, CDs and DVDs are all discussed.

It was a chore to go through this very big book. But it was enjoyable for the eye-opening information it presented. If you are serious about digital photography this would be a good book to have. I will continue to use it.

Summary of Real World Digital Photography (2nd Edition)

Whether you're just making the transition from a lifetime of traditional photography or are looking to bring your digital photography skills in line with today's market, if you're serious about digital photography, you need this book. In the four years since the first edition was published, just about every aspect of digital photography has changed (often radically--and it's all covered in these pages. Organized in four major sections--Digital Processing Essentials, Digital Processing Techniques, The Digital Darkroom, and Output and Presentation--the focus here is on getting great pictures and spectacular printed output through a combination of smart techniques and the right equipment. As with all of the titles in the Real World series, the authors here realize that this entails learning not just techniques but the concepts behind them. For a professional-level understanding of the digital photography process--from how a digital camera works to advice on buying cameras and accessories, choosing hardware and software, downloading and outputting images, and more--this is the place to turn.

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