16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography, August 18, 2006
This review is from: Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography (Paperback)
I have worked alongside Steve in Ireland, California and Antarctica and having this book is like having the Master at your side. Steve is the consumate teacher. He has a unique gift of making the complex simple. As a teacher myself, I understand the challenge. In this book, Stephen Johnson takes the reader along on his own personal journey of discovery, dealing with the birth of Digital imaging and the transition from film to silicon in a way that is both history lesson and photoshop primer. The key feature of this book over most others on similar topics is that it is aimed at photographers who are passionate about making beautiful images and not obsessed with the latest filter or gimick. Steve's approach takes you through the process from visualisation to fine print stopping along the way with tips and advice on how to maximise the quality with the minimum of intervention. The book is beautifully written, designed and produced to a standard we have grown to expect from Stephen Johnson. I am making it a mandatory purchase for my Fine Art Media students. As a photographer and teacher for 30 years and working digitally for the last 12 or so, I still could not put this book down. I learnt something from every page. I cannot reccommend it highly enough.
Anthony Hobbs
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb on all counts., August 16, 2006
This review is from: Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography (Paperback)
This is a book for anyone who is a photographer, either professional or amateur. It is also the photography book for the 21st century. Now that film is pretty much dead, both for the camera and darkroom, this book is essential for understanding the new digital technology. Stephen Johnson was there at the creation, and this book takes you through all of the necessary steps for understanding and working in the digital format.
The book is extremely well written. The language is clear, the illustrations are beautiful. I have taken several workshops with Stephen, and as others have said, he is superb teacher. In fact he is responsible for getting me started on the path of digital photography, and teaching me how to scan and print some my old black and white negatives from Appalachia. This has resulted in several exhibits, including a major one at the University of Kentucky next year. In the last few years, I have bought several books on digital photography, but this is the one I will keep close to my computer. A final note: I used to teach photography at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, if I were still teaching (now emeritus), this would be my textbook of choice. It is simply superb.
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most interesting photo book I've read, August 20, 2006
This review is from: Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography (Paperback)
This is a truly fascinating book. Rather than just another How-To book on digital photography, the author takes the reader on a journey through a history of "digital imaging", shows how the same principles of "classic" photography apply to digital photography today, and examines what the future may hold. According to the author, we are still in the stone age of digital photography--we are only now becoming aware of some of the tools that are available. He speculates, "just imagine what the future holds".
Digital photography actually has its ancestors in the cathode ray tube, the television, and even radar. Rudimentary sorts of digital cameras were used in the Voyager space programs. In any case, the digital camera you use today owes a great deal to these early ancestors. Understanding this history is important, so that the workings of modern digital cameras is understood.
While digital photography does not use a darkroom per se, as in classic photography, a computer running Photoshop can act as a digital darkroom. In this section, the author discusses some of the common techniques used in a "digital darkroom". Interestingly enough, many of these techniques have a direct counterpart in classic photography. It is fascinating to see so many similarities.
Finally, there is a very interesting discussion on photo doctoring, ethics, and what the future may hold in this regard for digital photography. In this section, the author shows a doctored photo of President Clinton shaking hands with an alien (courtesy of the Weekly World News), and even more insidious, a doctored photo of John Kerry and Jane Fonda together at an anti-war rally (the photo of John Kerry was taken in 1971; the photo of Jane Fonda in 1972). Through these examples, it becomes clear what a huge moral responsibility photographers shoulder.
This was a great book--not only to read about some of the history of photography, but to also see a master at work on his own photographs. This is one of the most insightful, interesting, and educational books I have read on digital photography, or even photography in general.
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