Overview
Complete Digital Photography is written for photographers of all skill levels who want to use digital cameras to produce quality images. If you're an amateur or hobbyist photographer looking to take better pictures, and you've decided to use a digital camera instead of traditional film, this book will show you the fundamental technical concerns of shooting good pictures. If you're an experienced film photographer interested in making the switch to digital photography, and you want to understand the new technology, you'll learn what's really different about working with a digital camera. In this updated, full-color edition, you'll learn about the latest cameras and technologies, as well as the most recent updates to the software and hardware that you need to edit and print your pictures. Using a variety of practical tutorials, you'll learn about the technical details you need to understand to produce high-quality digital photographs, including image editing, retouching, color correction, noise reduction, compositing, masking, special effects, and more. The image editing examples and tutorials are built around Adobe Photoshop; however, because most image editing programs have the same basic tools and interface, the concepts and examples covered apply to just about any image editing tool. KEY FEATURES- Presents a beautiful, full-color guide to digital photography
- Teaches professional photography techniques that will help you take better digital pictures
- Includes a variety of practical lessons and tutorials, including new video tutorials (on the CD-ROM) on noise reduction, color correction, and cloning
- Contains updated information on editing and special effects
- Explains how to select a camera for your specific needs along with the hardware and software you'll need to create a powerful digital photography system
- IMAGES: Many of the images found in the book in JPEG or TIFF format along with comparison photos taken with a number of different cameras are included on the CD allowing you to examine them more closely, or even print them out on your printer of choice.
- TUTORIALS All of the files you need to complete the book's tutorials.
- VIDEOS QuickTime movie tutorials demonstrating several image editing techniques, including noise reduction, color correction, and cloning.
- DEMOS
- Adobe Systems Incorporated
ImageBuddy (MAC)
- KepMad Systems
iView MediaPro (MAC)
- iView Multimedia Ltd.
PhotoRescue (MAC)
- DataRescue
Portraits & Prints (MAC)
- Econ Technologies, Inc.
Quantum Mechanic (WIN/MAC)
- Camera Bits
Qimage Pro (WIN)
- Digital Domain, Inc.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Both systems require QuickTime 6. MACINTOSH: Power PC-based Mac with 128 MB of RAM and 350 MB of free disc space; System 9.1, 9.2.x, or Mac OS X v10.1.3 or later; Color monitor and video card capable of displaying thousands of colors; Monitor resolution of 800 x 600 or greater; CD-ROM drive. WINDOWS: Pentium processor with 128 MB of RAM and 150 MB of free disk space; Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, or Windows XP Home/Professional; Color monitor and video card capable of displaying thousands of colors; Monitor resolution of 800 x 600 or greater; CR-ROM drive
About the Author
Ben Long (San Francisco, CA) is a successful writer, producer, videographer and author. His previous books include Making Digital Videos, Complete Digital Photography, and the best-selling The Digital Filmmaking Handbook, Second Edition.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewIf you're even remotely serious about your digital photographs, you really ought to check out Complete Digital Photography, Second Edition.
In this full-color book, Ben Long demystifies the concepts you need to understand to create great digital photos, and offers hands-on, step-by-step coverage of the key Photoshop 7 editing techniques you'll need to know.
Long starts with issues that both film and digital photographers share: for instance, apertures, shutter speeds, and metering techniques. What you learn here will be invaluable in choosing your next digital camera, and Long offers specific guidance on this, too: everything from camera design to viewfinders, exposure controls, shooting modes, flash, and I/O.
Once your equipment's ready, he offers a superb introduction to shooting digital -- covering initial camera settings, modes, image size, compression, white balance, contrast, focusing, ISO ratings, metering, and more. There's a full chapter on taking manual exposures, plus coverage of "special" shooting, including black-and-white, panoramas, shooting for the Web, even shooting in the rain (don't, but if you must, cover everything except your lens with a Ziploc bag).
The book concludes with a thorough introduction to Photoshop 7 photo editing. Since image editing is inherently interactive, Long has included several QuickTime CD-ROM video tutorials walking you through everything from noise reduction to color correction. The CD-ROM is also packed with software demos, from Photoshop Elements 2 to PhotoRescue and Quantum Mechanic (great for removing color noise and artifacts).
If you haven't already gone digital, now's the time. As Long points out, today's 3-to-6-megapixel consumer cameras can actually deliver better images than conventional "point-and-shoot" film cameras, thanks to their superior optics. (It's far easier to engineer high-quality lenses for digital cameras than film.) Whether you're moving to digital for the first time, upgrading to a better digital camera, or simply upgrading your skills, there's no better companion than Complete Digital Photography, Second Edition. Bill Camarda
Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.