Customer Reviews

Total Digital Photography

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Previous reviewer wrote:

"if you have no clue what a stop is, or that larger aperture number means smaller opening and less light, and if you cannot visualize a difference between what a 24mm and 240mmm lenses would show, this book is a very good starting point."

I agree and that's absolutely why I love this book. I really needed something basic.

Pictures are beautiful and content is informative.

Both text and illustration are top notch. The book gives me a relative newcomer to digital photoagraphy both an ovrerall scope of the subject and specific details. I like it.

first off, this book comes in 2 different packaging, the one i got is titled "The Book of Digital Photography" although they are the exact same book. as the author himself said, this is truly an encyclopedic book of digital photography. almost all aspects of (digital) photography is covered and that includes sections on post-processing and printing/storage. it'll make a fine reference book for all photography lovers. the content is rich and diverse, with loads of pictures and diagrams to illustrate points. the high quality of the layout, pictures and text are undeniable. however, my only disappointment is the lack of clear instructions on the post-processing section, alot of the tools and features of post-processing is covered but they are generalised in just telling you what each feature does but not how to get around to doing it. but to be fair to the author, one would need a dedicated book on Adobe Photoshop in order to cover the subject in greater detail. nevertheless, it is a great resource on introducing one to almost all aspects of post-processing with everything clearly illustrated and before/after comparisons shown. the section on equipment/photography/accessories are truly excellent! you get a run-thru of the important aspects of all things photography and its makes interesting reading in bite-size portions for all photography lovers. i would have liked to rate this a 4.5 but unfortunately there are no half-points in the ratings here. i would heartily recommend this book for all photography fans as a "general digital photography reference guide" and would say its well worth the asking price. just a quick thumb-through of this book screams 'quality' but just wait til you jump in to digest tidbit info and you have much to inspire as well as to educate you on all aspects of digital photography. as with all things "encyclopedic", just don't expect everything to be broken down into the minutest detail and you won't be disappointed. every digital photographer should have this book by their bedside to keep the passion for the hobby going.

I found this book to be quite good. It tends to go over basic principles in most areas of photography. This book is in full color and tends to use photos with captions as a way to backup a given point. This truly is a book designed to address digital cameras rather than a general photography book (good as it might be) retrofitted with some digital information.

Pretty decent book. Good for both beginner and advanced user. Not shallow and not too sophisticated, just right.

If you are looking for a VERY, VERY basic intro to / overview of digital photography, and prefer something that is also a nice looking coffee-table book, this is a very good choice. This book is lavishly illustrated and some photos actually provide some useful information (exposure, etc.), unlike Hedgecoe's very pretty, but pretty much useless books.

The content is very, very basic: if you have no clue what a stop is,, or that larger aperture number means smaller opening and less light, and if you cannot visualize a difference between what a 24mm and 240mmm lenses would show, this book is a very good starting point. If you have even a very basic grasp of photography, however, this will be probably too rudimentary. I would very much recommend this as a good intro for a teenager (or a grown up) who got his/her first digital camera and would like to learn more about photography as a discipline.

This is NOT a how-to book, however: because it is so general and basic, it will give you ideas of how things work, but not necessarily HOW to take better pictures with your particular camera. If you are using a basic point and shoot digicam, you should not expect to produce pictures like the ones used for illustrative purposes here: there were most likely taken with top-of-the-line DSLRs, and further edited with photoshop. Still, if you want basic intro with some unrealistically pretty eye candy, this might be it. There are some good diagrams and infographics annd these are very competently produced (although some look vaguely, and somewhat uncomfortably familiar: the lens viewpoint diagram for example, is uncomfortably similar to the one in Lee Frost's excellent Q and A Guide that appears on the p. 17 of Frost's book)

I think the author / editors are somewhat misleading when they say it is also a good book for intermediate photographers. It is not: there are very few things that would be useful for the more competent amateur. Sure, there are a few pages that might be useful (e.g., night-time shooting table with recommended exposure info), but they usually have been covered in more detail in more advanced books. If you want something a little bit more practical, I would highly recommend The Q&A Guide To Photo Techniques instead - less flashy, but more useful.

A must have book for anyone who feels he knows photography! The best part of the book is that it's comprehensive. It has dedicatd chapters on technical (focus, F -stops, speed, light etc and also non technical aspects (framing, colours, texture etc etc). The best part of the book is photo processing. The book covers how to us PC and various softwares to 'process' your photos and it even goes upto storage management of the snaps!

This book is not a bad book, but it is for beginners. I bought it for a course I was taking, but having already taught myself a lot about photography, I found it useless. It focuses a lot on the techinical aspects of photography, but includes very little about creativity, etc. I would reccomend it for a beginner photographer, but not anyone who already knows a fair amount about photography.

Since our books are directed to an audience of paraprofessionals and professionals we're often asked about a great book for beginners. We don't like to suggest books which are short lived. It's better to get a terrific book which becomes a long term reference. This book fulfills both of those requirements.

Brian Stoppee, President/Executive Producer
M2 Media Studios, Inc.

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Great transaction, quick delivery, book is as described.