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The Complete Guide to Digital Photography 4th ed. (A Lark Photography Book) Features

• ISBN13: 9781600593017
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

The Complete Guide to Digital Photography 4th ed. (A Lark Photography Book) Overview

The Complete Guide to Digital Photography 4th ed. (A Lark Photography Book) Review

I have quite a few photography books – virtually all film and film processing related. All of those are looking pretty horribly dated. Even the most basic topics, like exposure and composition take on different implications in the digital world. As just one example, while relationships between aperture and shutter speed haven’t changed, the finality of the exposure isn’t as critical in digital, you have very different kinds of under and over-exposure considerations for post-processing, you have in-camera options (depending on the sophistication of the camera, of course) for adjustments, color curves, white balance, etc., and the results in terms of exposure artifacts and how you deal with them are just different.

What this means is that a book written for the digital photographer really should not be a re-work of an older film-based work. Freeman’s Complete Guide to Digital Photography is written 100% from the digital point of view. It’s brief bits of content regarding film cameras, formats, processing, lenses, etc. are only by way of explanation – and often the starting point for explaining why and how they are changing because of digital.

My purchase of this book is the result of a search in order to go back to square one. Like many, I’m late to digital, apart from owning a digital point and shoot camera or two. I wanted a book that didn’t rehash what I already know about photography and wanted one that had the right balance of content range and emphasis to get me off on the right footing. Unfortunately, almost every beginner’s digital photography book I found suffered from one or more of the following deficiencies: throwaway content (e.g., the history of photography, evolution of digital cameras, too much computer hardware content); film content; superficial coverage; deep coverage on only one or two topics (typically section after section on specific types of subjects such as portraits, landscapes, etc.); dated content (e.g., dead websites, old cameras, PCs, and software); and condescending content that talks down to the reader.

I wanted something that focused on the essence of digital photography. While you can’t avoid some of the above, I didn’t want it to dominate either. I found the type of coverage I was looking for in this book.

The format initially led me to think it was too superficial. A huge range of topics are presented, typically taking only 2-4 pages each. I picked it up and put it aside several times while comparing other books, finally noticing that content in each section sets you up for content in later sections in a rather subtle way. Some early chapter content on 35mm format and sensors, for example, leads directly to comments on viewfinder and LCD screen changes in a later chapter.

This book covers a lot of ground – cameras & sensors, in-camera processing, exposure, workflow, post processing and software, printing, PC and monitor considerations, file formats, cards (CF, XD, etc.), lenses, stabilization, and a lot more. The format – very brief topical chapters – is easy to read and, again, deceptively simple. The result is a beginner’s guide that adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

This book will be first on my recommended list for anyone starting out in digital photography.

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