Customer Reviews

Creative Digital Photography

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I was stunned when I read in the introduction that Mr. Busselle had gotten to the point in his career where he wasn't taking shots because he'd felt that he had already taken many similar shots!

This intrigued me, so I bought the book.

Straight off I realized that this isn't a book about taking photos with a digital camera, but rather a book about the revolution that computers have brought to the artistic endeavor of photography! Mr. Busselle embraces this revolution with a passion and discusses some of the myriad of possibilities in the digital imaging world.

The book is well written and filled with examples. I'd suggest a strong working knowledge of Photoshop if you plan on purchasing this book.

If you are looking for a book that will teach you how to take creative shots with your digital camera, this is not the book for you. The photographs are very beautiful, but 99% of them were taken on film. The author discusses scanning the photos after they have been developed and manipulating them on the computer. At the very end of the book the author discusses his views on digital cameras; he doesn't appear to like them and would rather use film. That is fine, but then why call your book, Creative Digital Photography? Why not just Creative Photography? I had hoped to learn more about digital camera techniques but came away from this book empty-handed.

I found the title and book description misleading in that the contents cover VERY little photographic technique and even less specific information on getting the most out of taking pictures with your digital camera. Instead, the bulk of the book focuses on what you can do with a digital image when creating a final product. On this acccount it appears to be quite thorough, and if you are a Photoshop wiz you might get alot of great ideas here. Also, to give it its due: the book is physically beautiful, and while it lacks editorial clarity, the images and layout are stunning.

If you own a digital camera, and are looking for a title that will help you wade through the sea of camera settings and effects, I would start elsewhere.

There are two books with the same title: "Creative Digital Photography" written in 2002 by Michael Busselle and another one written by Peter Cope in 2005. The two books are very different. Basically, Busselle's book is artistic while Cope's book is technical. However, after reading both books, it is Busselle's book that energized the creative juices and caused me to buy Photoshop CS2 (gotta blame it on someone). It has some absolutely stunning images.
True, Busselle comes from the film world and probably all the images in the book were scanned into Photoshop. But that is because he has been a photographer for 50 years.
If you are planning to buy only one book on digital photography, I'd definitely recommend buying this one.

I know the title may be a bit misleading, but I found this book to be fabulous. I know how to use my digital SLR, I know how to use the mechanics of Photoshop, but what this book is teaching me is how to use these tools to express my creativity. He does not waste time on which menu to click on, but instead stresses how to use the filters and photoshop technology to make interesting images. As an amature digital artist, I loved this approach better than the other crop of how-to books. It is pretty easy to tell people how to use layers, it is another thing to show what kinds of cool effects you can make when you combine two different pictures in separate layers and blend them together.

He has lots of examples that illustrate his points. I think of this book as a guide as you navigate thru the uncharted waters of digital photography.

Studying the text and photos in this book will teach you a lot about how to turn good photos into beautiful photos. The book focuses on how you can enhance photos with software and does not say much about standard photographic topics such as camera types, aperture, shutter speed, focal length and such. He used Photoshop but you can use any of several photo manipulation tools to do the things he recommends because he emphasizes aesthetic aspects of photography rather than the mechanics of any brand of software. Although this book was published way back in 2002, people should find it helpful for many years into the future.

YOU HAVE ASKED FOR A REVIEW FOR A BOOK THAT I HAVE YET TO RECEIVE FROM AMAZON - IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME AND I AM STILL WAITING