Digital Photography Masterclass [Hardcover]

Tom Ang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2008

It's easy to see why digital photography has overtaken analog in popularity-it's affordable, convenient, versatile, and, above all, it makes photography more fun than ever before. Tom Ang's latest book is an in-depth, inspirational, and uniquely practical guide to every aspect of digital photography. There are assignments and analysis spreads, and step-by-step tutorials to help you hone your skills. He teaches you to look at the world with a photographer's "eye" and shows you how to get great shots every time. In short, this book shows you how to master your camera to ensure the best results in every situation and how to push the computer to keep up with your vision.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The book has grasped the essentials of photography and executed the ideas and lessons to a high standard. Your money will be well spent. --Satellite

About the Author

Tom Ang is an award-winning photographer and best-selling author, and is the host of BBC TV's A Digital Picture of Britain. He was Senior Lecturer in Photographic Practice at the University of Westminster for 12 years. His photographs have been exhibited around the world and he has contributed to magazines such as What Digital Camera, MacUser, and Creative Arts. Tom won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for his photographic coverage of the Marco Polo Expedition. He is now a full-time photographer, writer and TV presenter. Tom lives in London. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: DK Publishing; 1 edition (May 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756636728
• ISBN-13: 978-0756636722
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I call myself a photographer, writer, sharer, and broadcaster. If I'm forced to say what I like to photograph most, I'll say it's travel photography because that includes people, landscapes, buildings, nature and the rest. And I call myself a 'sharer' because I don't care too much for the terms 'teacher' or 'educator': what I like is to share my knowledge and experience of photography. I do that through my writing, workshops and Web site.

I've had 28 books published on photography and video (31 if you count the new e-books). The popular 'Digital Photographer's Handbook' has been translated into about 20 language and is now in its 5th edition. My "Digital Photography Masterclass" has proven popular with readers and reviewers: it won the Library Journal's 'Best How-to Book of 2008 and was chosen by Shutterbug as its 'Créme de la Créme' of Top Digital Imaging Books of 2008. We've just revised, up-dated and improved it. Due out in Autumn 2013. The latest, 'Digital Photography step by step', is our best, packing an enormous of information into accessible form.

I won the 1988 Thomas Cook award for Best Illustrated Travel Book for my coverage of the Marco Polo Expedition. Goodness knows how; there were very strong contenders that year. I presented two ground-breaking six-part series 'A Digital Picture of Britain' and 'Britain in Pictures' for BBC. And an eight-part series for Channel News Asia Singapore was broadcast in August/September 2009 and is being distributed in DVD.

I've worked as magazine editor, picture editor and was senior lecturer in photographic practice at the University of Westminster for 12 years. I led a Know How Fund project that reformed the journalism curriculum for a university in Kyrgyzstan, as well as photographing extensively in Central Asia. I was chair of the Arts Council England organization for Chinese Arts in Britain and am a founding member of the World Photography Academy, where I helped initiate and led the Student Focus program for its first two years.

My current interests include documentary film-making, high-definition video, fine-art photography, writing fiction and poetry. I was born in Singapore and now live in New Zealand.

Visit website at www.tomang.com, which will soon be selling eBooks and other products.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 70 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent All Around Book On Photography... September 29, 2008

By Ron J. Carney

Format:Hardcover

From taking the photo, to the finished processed output, this book covers it all - but not in a way that makes it stretch itself too thin. The clear emphasis is on taking great shots, and the way the book is laid out, he breaks it up into sections, each regarding one aspect of photography, and he talks about ways to use it to get improved photos. Then, for each subject, he breaks down a specific picture, and goes over the use of the subject of that chapter in that photo itself, so you can really see how it is used. That is one of my favorite parts of the book. Another part is where other photogs (I assume they are amateurs, but it doesn't discuss) are given an assignment, and then Tom critiques the results, this part is also very helpful. In fact, it becomes even MORE helpful if you take on the assignments yourself, with the goal of incorporating the information in that chapter into your photo taking process.

The next large section is on post processing - the emphasis here is how to optimize the photo, although he does briefly go over more creative things, he just does not get in to too much detail on them, things like superimposing one image on top of another for different effects.

In the last section, he has Q&A sessions with some professional photographersof different genres, and discusses how they went pro, what they enjoy, how they do what they do, and discusses some of their photos with them. This section continues with the Assignments, which I really liked.

Overall I really enjoyed the book, the use of photos in this book was different from any other book I have read so far, it was so much more based on analysis of the image, and why he did what with the photo to improve it, as opposed to a photographer who wrote a book mainly to publish his own photos, or talk about how many awards he has won.

Finally, I would consider myself a very advanced amateur photographer, I am quite well versed in f stops and shutter speeds, and I pulled a great deal of information from this book; and at the same time, I would give this book to a beginner photographer without hesitation, as I think it can help a wide range of skill levels. No book can make someone a great photographer, but this book most definitely (if you actually apply its information) make someone a BETTER photographer.

64 of 65 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best all-around photography book. Hands down! November 15, 2008

By William T. Gilles

Format:Hardcover

I picked up this book a couple days ago after reading such books as Bryan Peterson's, Understanding Exposure, and Scott Kelby's, The Digital Photography Book Vol 1 and 2. Even though I still think Understanding Exposure is the best photography book out there, I believe it caters more to intermediate users like myself. However, Tom Ang has managed to create a wonderful book that caters to photographers of all levels by introducing techniques, terms, and instruction in easy to understand and well written material.

The book throws you right in and after you are done reading the first chapter and get to the first "assignment" you will be craving to take pictures with your digital camera. He does this by showing you various photographs with written accompaniment that explains the design, influence, and technical aspects that went into the photograph. He usually breaks down the photos in 4 pieces by showing a different section of the photo and explaining how that piece relates to the material being covered in the current section. He also shows 9 photographs in a "lightbox" and explains what each photo shows as it pertains to the chapter or section.

Tom Ang gives you an assignment after each chapter which gives you a chance to "do it yourself." The assignment always has to do with some lesson from the chapter. For example, the first assignment is to go out at night and find an area outside with lots of lights and use slow shutter speeds to create an amazing photograph. He asks you to do this because in the chapter he talked about shutter speeds and how they pertained to sharpness and creativity. He then shows examples his students have taken when completing the assignment he just gave. It's a super easy way to see if you are on the right track; you feel like he is actually in front of you teaching.

His material is wonderfully written with easy to understand material. He takes the complex jargon out of it and even if you do get confused by a word, there is a great glossary in the back! He points out myths and fallacies that are often misunderstood by even the most experienced photographers. Each page offers something new and makes you want to turn the page.

Out of all the photography books I have read, which is about 10, this is the 2nd best. This is second only to Bryan Peterson's, Understanding Exposure. If you are a beginner to intermediate photographer, read this first, and then go get Understanding Exposure. This book was great and I was not expecting such a great book when I first picked it up. I will definitely be checking out some of Tom Ang's other books after reading this one.

57 of 72 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't finish it June 9, 2009

By REG

Format:Hardcover

This is an impressive book. It has a tremendous amount of content and the layout is visually very pleasing to my eye. The challenge for me is that I couldn't read it. I've tried 3 times now to read the book but in just a few pages I give up. The author's writing style just doesn't appeal to me.

For example, the authors opening paragraph on the topic of depth of field is this. "It's hard to get excited about depth of field in its usual definition. But in actual fact, it's about a lot more than merely the span of space within an image in which an object will appear acceptably sharp. Depth of field is really about the plasticity of the image - its feel, its handling of space."

Okay, what does that mean? I tend toward the logical so telling me depth of field isn't really about range of sharpness (even though that is exactly what depth of field is) but is, instead, about plasticity isn't understandable to me. What is plasticity?

Unfortunately, the author does not define or explain "plasticity". The only other comment he makes about it in the depth of field section is in his summary paragraph he writes, "The net result is that the plasticity of your image - how it feels and the way it conveys the picture space to the viewer - depends heavily on your control of depth of field."

So, in other words, the depth of field of an image impacts how that image looks.

Why not just say that?

Instead of making up a term - plasticity - and then not defining or discussing the term why not use the term depth of field, which is already commonly used and is the subject of that section?

Does substituting a new, undefined term (plasticity) for a well-know and commonly used term (depth of field) improve the readers understanding of depth of field or its impact on an image? Not for me and apparently not for the author, since the topic the author selected to discuss was "depth of field", not "plasticity of image."

This is just one example, there are others on almost every page I managed to read.

If the author's writing style works for you, then this is probably a good book for you. If an esoteric writing style is not appealing to you, then you might want to select a book by a different author. 3 stars for writing style.