Customer Reviews
A satisfactory discourse on composition, bit weak on the technical stuff - By: Dood, 30 Jul 2008 
I was initiallly attracted to this book by the subtitle "Techniques for creating superb images in a digital worklow". As stated, I think this title is a little misleading. Much more appropriate is a statement from the Introduction ". . . although this book deals with digital technology & provides you with essential technical information explained in simple terms, it is primarily an advanced guide to image composition."
The basic structure of the book is a series of essays, you could almost see them as lessons from a photography course, some 35 of them, formed into four main sections of 'Tools & Fundamentals', 'Genres & Concepts', 'Rules of Composition' & 'The Digital Darkroom'. The first of these doesn't reallly sit with a book on advanced composition, it starts with Choosing a Good Digital Camera for example, & the last I found to be quite weak, which is why I object to the subtitle of the book. I do not think you would want to go into the Digital Darkroom armed only with this book, & if you know much at alll about PS CS2 then you would be aware of the lightly covered techniques described therein. I actuallly think that the author could lose the first & last sections & not significantly diminish the book in any way.
The core of the book then is on the compositional side & here the author is on much stronger ground. There are a large number of photographs, alll the author's, that support the text very well. The standard of the photographs is generallly high with some exceptionallly striking examples, though also a few that are a bit ho hum. The text is a bit formal, & couched in a slightly awkward English in some places, which can make the experience of reading the book a little harder than maybe it should be.
Couple of minor gripes: there a number of references to examples of other photographers & painters & it would have been nice to see those examples presented in the book. I also would have appreciated more consistent & fuller technical information on the shots & how they were taken
Overalll the book is well presented & it is up to the usual standard for the publisher, Rocky Nook.
So, in summary, reasonably strong on the 'Art' of taking a good photograph, with a collection of Black & White photographs of a high standard, slightly lumpy supporting text, & weak technical information.
