Digital Photography: Expert Techniques
Book Review

By Dale Farris, Vice President Golden Triangle PC Club April 2004 General Overview Serious photographers, including professionals, who want to take advantage of the unique creative powers available through digital photography and digital image processing, including Photoshop CS, will find this problem-solving book invaluable. Rather than a general discussion of photography principles, "Digital Photography: Expert Techniques" focuses on workflow: time-tested, step-by-step procedures based on hard-nosed experience by and for genuine practitioners of the art. The past few years have seen a revolution in the field of photography. Darkrooms, negatives, and noxious chemicals have been replaced with the simplicity and convenience of digital cameras, home computers, and photo-quality printers. Add image-editing software, such as Adobe's Photoshop, and photographers can perform a nearly infinite number of corrections and enhancements to make their images the best they can be. With so many tools now available, many photographers face an obstacle in finding a comprehensive guide to putting it all together to produce the top-notch photos they want. Ken Milburn's "Digital Photography: Expert Techniques" offers a wealth of techniques and practical advice for those who are ready to move to the expert level in digital photography. Author Milburn draws on his many years of experience in the field to provide invaluable tips and tricks, as well as a start-to-finish workflow, including time-tested, step-by-step procedures, for turning digital photographs into works of art. Using hundreds of stunning, full-color, glossy photos and a friendly, conversational tone, the author presents detailed information on what to look for in today's affordable high-end digital cameras, using simple techniques and equipment to shoot spectacular shots, instructions for shooting great panoramas, dos-and-don'ts for creating better Photoshop masks, and professional digital darkroom techniques for everything from knockouts to restoration to transforming your photos into watercolors. Special Features Author McClelland has organized one of the best books available on the general topic of digital photography. While the author does emphasize the use of Adobe's Photoshop CS program to implement these techniques, which is understandable given that Photoshop now dominates the image-editing market, the author does also point out how to do many of these super editing techniques using various other software applications now on the market. The book will show you how to: Prepare to get the best shot Extend the capabilities of your digital camera and bring the best images out of your photographs Effectively shoot and merge panoramas Use Photoshop's palette of tonal and color-correction tools Effortlessly create paintings from photos Create special photographic effects, including tips for product and glamour photos Retouch damaged photos into perfect condition Composite two or more photos together to get the maximum visual effect Choose and calibrate your printing equipment Create archival-quality prints and sell your photos on the Web The book includes tons of glossy, full-color photographs showing the various steps to follow as you implement these neat instructions. Mr. Milburn goes to great trouble to clearly detail the many things you can do with Photoshop CS, as well as other applications, and shows you in full color photographs what to do. These full color, glossy photographs make this one of the most valuable of any books on digital photography, and this added color value makes the price point for this book very reasonable. Table of Contents The thirteen (13) chapters include the following: 1)   The Digital Photographer 2)   Be Prepared 3)   Bringing Out the Best Picture 4)   Panoramas 5)   Photoshop Selections, Masks, and Paths 6)   Basic Digital Photo Corrections 7)   Converting Photos to Paintings 8)   Special Photographic Effects 9)   Retouching and Rescuing Photos 10) Creating Fictitious Photos 11) Color Printing 12) Use Pictures to Sell Yourself 13) Sell It on the Web Target Readers The author explains that the book is for any digital photographer who has dreamed of becoming a "serious" digital photographer. The book offers help to experienced photographers who are crossing over to digital, or those who want to make their digital workflow more efficient. The book also focuses on solving the problems that arise most frequently during the day-to-day tasks of digital photography. Finally, the book goes well beyond Photoshop solutions. Whenever a solution is available in Photoshop, the author will cover that method first. After all, most readers are likely working with Photoshop more than any other image-editing program, so much so that is has become the de facto image-editing standard. However, if there is a more time-efficient, technologically advanced, or easier solution available via another third-party program or plug-in, the author will also show you this. He also explains that his book is NOT designed as a guide to how to learn Photoshop CS. I suggest readers who need more detailed instructions on learning how to use Adobe Photoshop CS consider another new O'Reilly book, "Adobe Photoshop CS: One-On-One," by Photoshop expert Deke McClelland. Click here for a quick review of "Adobe Photoshop CS: One-On-One." Also, author Milburn explains he has focused the book on digital true single-lens-reflex (SLR) cameras that have higher megapixels of non-interpolated resolution, or in other words professional-quality digital cameras that let you clearly see exactly what the lens sees. Because these cameras are all capable of producing high-quality RAW files, he also explores how to get the most out of these RAW files. He also explains the new features in Adobe's newest Photoshop CS program (version 8) that solve particularly annoying, professional problems. However, if you have an earlier version of Photoshop, don't worry. You should be able to master almost all of his examples in the book with Photoshop 7, and probably in any version newer than 5.5. In addition, he states you will likely be able to accomplish these tasks using Adobe's Photoshop sibling program, Photoshop Elements 2, or any other image editor that supports layers and Photoshop-compatible plug-ins. Book Contents 467 pages; introduction; acknowledgments; hundreds of glossy, full-color photographs; expert advice tips; figures; index; cover colophon Author Ken Milburn About the Author Ken Milburn has been a photographer, both full- and part-time, for nearly five decades. Ken has written over 300 articles and columns for computer magazines as well as 17 books on web design, Flash, (mostly) Adobe Photoshop, and digital photography. Books currently in print include "Digital Photography: 99 Tips to Make you Look Like a Pro," "The Photoshop 7 Virtual Classroom," and "Photoshop Elements 2.0--The Complete Reference," (all from Osborne/McGraw-Hill), and "The Digital Photography Bible," 2nd Edition, from Wiley. His newest book, for O'Reilly, "Digital Photography: Expert Techniques," was released in March 2004. He has taken his Photoshop and digital photography expertise to an even broader user base by working as a contributing editor for the MSNPhoto web site, authoring user hints for the PhotoWorks online film processing and printing service. ISBN March 2004 - First Edition 0-596-00547-4 List Price $44.95 $65.95 CAN About O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. O'Reilly & Associates is the premier information source for leading-edge computer technologies. O'Reilly communicates the knowledge of experts through their books, conferences, and web sites. Their books, known for their animals on the covers, occupy a treasured place on the shelves of developers building the next generation of software, and their conferences and summits bring innovators together to shape the revolutionary ideas that spark new industries. From the Internet to the web, Linux, Open Source, and now Peer-to-Peer Networking, O'Reilly puts technologies on the map. Anyone involved in information technology can always depend on O'Reilly for high quality books, as well as the most authoritative works on the market. The company's commitment to technical expertise in their books is matched by their commitment to quality production, now famously recognized by their "lay flat" binding that makes reading an O'Reilly book very convenient. Among the sea of computer titles that now fill the shelves, professionals in information technology have for many years realized the super value that is always present in any O'Reilly title. Publisher Contact Marsee Henon marsee@oreilly.com O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 1005 Gravenstein Highway North Sebastopol, California 95472 707-827-7000 800-998-9938 FAX 707-829-0104 www.oreilly.com