5 comments about Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Digital Photography (A Lark Photography Book).

1. I will recommend this book to any person interested on the subject.
   The best book I read this year inspirational and motivational reading.
   The author is a gifted teacher. I'll give it six stars.



2. I have been looking for a book that gets right to the heart of HDR photography. I have read several books on the subject or what was to have been on the subject only to find out there was very little actual HDR instructions in these books. I decided to try one more when I bought this book, and I wish I would have bought it first. This book in very informative on all aspects of HDR photography and is not an introduction to photography like some of the others I read. If your interested at all in this type of photography and you want full and complete instructions, this is the book to buy. Excellent study book, and the photos inside are really beautiful. This book has ignited a very very deep interest in me to get out and start using the techniques explained. Get this Book



3. A very informative book with brillant photography,a great guide to getting started with high dynamic range photography for all levels of photograhers.Easily explains all aspects of high dynamic range and the post processing that is involved with the different programs that are available for doing this type of photography.



4. This book is definitely worth reading if you have photography background but are just getting into HDR. I've been a professional photographer for over 10 years, but just started playing with HDR for personal projects. This book provides a solid introduction to the concepts of HDR and the tools that are currently available on the market.



5. This is the best HDR book I have read. It covers all the important issues of HDR and gives your the tools to execute dynamic images.

5 comments about Canon EOS 40D Guide to Digital Photography.

1. I carry it with me everywhere. Great resource, very well written and I learn something new everyday. Congratulations to the author, he knows what the new owner of this fantastic camera needs to learn.
   
   Easy to read straight forward information for a newcomer.



2. This book is a comprehensive resource you are going to benefit from throughout the lifetime of your camera. You don't need to read the whole thing at once- it has worked great for me to take chunks at a time and practice with the newly learned material. This book explains how to maximize the features of the camera for your needs, gives advanced techniques you might otherwise miss with your camera, and gives you the confidence to pick up your camera and know how to achieve what you want to achieve in your images. Especially for those who are technically challenged, this is a must-have.



3. this book is easy reading. gives easy understanding of useful tips & tricks. this is my second book for this camera and is much better with practical use of why and how of photography for this camera



4. This book is worth twice the price if you own the Canon EOS 40 D. I cannot believe how many times I refer to this book to help me with this camera. It is written in easy to understand language. The graphics are exceptional. He leaves nothing out. If you own the camera, you MUST own this book!!



5. I purchased this book based on the advise of a friend who has the same book for his model camera. In short, the book is excellent for someone new to DSLRs, such as I am. The book is great at explaning the functionality of the camera and the "why" we do things, not just the "how".

No comments about Wisdom: 50 Unique and Original Portraits.

5 comments about Cat Gallery Calendar 2009 (Page a Day Gallery Calendar).

1. Spectacular beauty! The photography is "one of a kind" along with the information printed on the calendar. I've learned so much useful information from this calendar; accompanied by humor, laughter, associated with the feline persuasion, provided an added bonus. The plastic holder, which the individual sheets reside in, is solid clear plastic; to be displayed any place of your choice without incident (i.e. falling over, or breakage).
   
   You want the best, well then this is it!!!



2. Have been buying this calendar for several years now. Never miss getting a copy each year. High quality glossy photos on firm large cards, adorable cats with interesting snippets of information. Makes each day a new furry surprise! Sits neatly and firmly on desk. Highly recommended to all cat lovers out there.



3. I get one every year and just love them. They are great for the price. The pictures are top quality and the stand is sturdy. I would recommend this to everyone.



4. I have had this gallery calendar since three years already and must have it every year! The pictures are very bright, spectacular photography and little bits of info scattered on each day, the calendar itself is on heavy thick card stock, the calendar is flipped half way through the year making for a less bulky calendar. It is not a calendar for making notes on, but more a calendar to enjoy the beautiful pictures and photography, every single day is a new treat! Great calendar, highly recommended its just lovely!



5. I had this calendar in 2007. The quality of the photos is superior to that of other cat-a-day calendars I've had. Simply beautiful. I've just ordered the 2009 calendar. If it doesn't live up to my expectations, I will update my review.

5 comments about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques.

1. I got my copy a couple of weeks ago and have enjoyed working through from cover to cover.
   The book is easy to read and has really gotten me up to speed in Lightroom 2 a heck of a lot faster than I expected!
   I am familiar with Chris Orwig's Lynda.com video training materials and was curious to see if he could communicate in print with the same passion as he does in video.
   Not only is the passion there but it is presented clearly and succinctly.
   Totally worth the $$.



2. Quick and to the point. Very helpful. I use it for post-processing wedding shots.



3. I just got my copy of the book this past weekend and already it has already paid for itself! As a new photographer, familar to other Adobe products but new to Lightroom this book is perfect. I find it is easy to simply flip around to the different sections, learn something new and can begin using it right away. Plus no long winded, how-to sections that you don't need or read anyway....
   Adobe Lightroom is such a powerful tool and the more I learn the more impressed I am - and for me this book is now one of those essential for learning how to really use and get the most out of it.



4. Experienced and intermediate Lightroom users will find this a great reference. It's an excellent support tool, topically organized, in the order of Lightroom's modules and tools. If you need help with a particular tool, like the new gradient filter, it's simple to go right to that section, without having to dig through the index. Also, each section gives me just enough to get going on my own, without a lot of extra verbiage, which might be fun to read, but it's becomes more time-consuming when you just need something quick. This was the first book available, and well priced. I'll probably get his Photoshop book, too, when the CS4 version becomes available.



5. I'm always in need of succinct resources that are easy to navigate and which deliver the message in direct and easy to grasp ways. This book really does it for me. I strongly recommend it. Chris has a natural talent for relating to users and communicating in a very effective way. I'm a big fan.

5 comments about Nikon D40/D40x Digital Field Guide.

1. The book does a MUCH better job of describing the settings then the manual. And that's why I bought it. It IS a bit of a technical read, which is VERY difficult for me to stay focused on, but this book was able to give me a little bit more info on my new camera as well as even offer up some photography basics. I especially recommend this book to folks who are fairly new to the digital photography scene.



2. This book is ok, but there are better ones out there. It's a quality publication and advances where the owners manual stops. For someone already familiar with basic photography (use ASM always) then this book probably won't offer you very much. If you're lost when you use manual settings on the D40 this book helps a little, but you may walk away still not getting it. Gets 4 stars because he could have been more conceptual when discussing the art of manually using a camera.



3. I think this book should have been the manual for the camera, because it has nice pictures and it is pretty clear. However, i don't think it has any additional information, so I can't recommend it.



4. This book is filled with great pictures and details. Easy to find what you are working on at the moment.



5. I bought this with my D40 and it is much easier to read (and more user-friendly) than the manual that comes with the camera. It has great diagrams and examples, and the section on shooting in different situations is helpful.

5 comments about The Big Penis Book.

1. Ok, I'm straight but I bought this for my lady-friend. I figured she could use a book like this sort of the way I use the "BIG BOOK of BREASTS". It worked for me, heck whatever it takes right?



2. I'm a straight woman and I LOVE this book! I don't care if the men featured seem gay, a penis is a penis. Awesome book, awesome photography.



3. As a gay man, yes, I have a penis fascination. And having come of age in the 70s-80s, I'm familiar with the studios that provided most of these pictures. But after having my porn-nostalgia moment and looking and page-after-page of phalluses - most attached to unattractive men - I came to find this book more funny than erotic. The poses and the photographic settings of these pictures are really quaint by today's standards, or just downright scary and creepy, if you think about it. It's an amusing archive of gay porn from the 30s to the 80s.
   
   The book itself is way overpriced for what it is. The editorial content is superfluous, and sometimes inaccurate. And the mylar cover was damaged in shipping as well. Wait for this book to go on discount.



4. Well, an artistic look at what most people want to talk about and see, but will not! Great work!



5. Ouch....is the only thing I could think of while flipping through this book. Quite amazing...girls, boys, you'll learn how big they can get. OMG. I enjoyed the pictures. But I would not enjoy them in me. I am a straight female.

5 comments about Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers.

1. I found this book super-helpful. The light setups are clearly documented. Good pointers of what to watch for and what you should be careful not to do. A definite asset to a photographer's lighting library.



2. this book is great - numerous test shots for each lighting style which highlighted subtle variations in the test shots based on changes in the lighting setup. Diagrams illustrating the equipment used and it's position - the only thing I would have added is more specific distance information for the diagrams, including height.



3. I bought this book thinking I would be able to easily set up a studio from it.
   I found this book extremely informative BUT on a medium to high-end level.
   It is not really a practical guide for the beginning photographer however, I am sure I will be refereing it to in the future.
   Chris Grey explains how he set up his lighting in order to get the shots he shows in this book.
   My problem was that most of his sets are based on the photographer buying many many different types of reflectors, lights and flags etc.
   He does not really explain the simple, beginners studio.
   He does not explain for low ceilings etc.
   He shows his shots and explains how he got them so if you have the same set up, the same size room etc, you too can reproduce these shots.
   While it is a well written book, I found it to be on a high level.
   If someone is already at this level of lighting equipment, then he already knows all the info on ratios Chris writes about.
   Great reference guide and enjoyable to read.
   Not for the beginner who wishes to use it as a guide to setting up his first studio.



4. This book jumps straight into the different techniques and does not explain simple lighting concepts much at all. I also thought that the styles blurred together and he didn't separate them out enough and explain the differences between each one.



5. I purchased this book based on the recommendation of another photographer. I have found the book to be well written with excellent illustrations and guides. The only shortcoming, if it can be called such, is the persistant reference to film based cameras and their settings and controls. The text seems to have been written more to help someone who uses, or used, film and has little experience with a digital camera. This does NOT make the information any less relevant, just a little harder to grasp on the initial reading. With study and persistant application of the lessons, I found, and continue to find, the book to be very helpful. I am quite glad I ordered it and would give it very good marks.

5 comments about The Americans.

1. Excellent print quality.. A glance at common people in random daily-life shots. It's a book worth a place in your hands



2. This book was not by Jack Kerouac. It's by Robert Frank. It's one of the seminal books in the history of photography. Many see it as a hate letter to America, but that's a shallow reading of the book. It's some of the best documentary done by a non-documentarian of the American culture of the period. If you really want to see great photography with a point of view, this is a good start.
   
   I find lots of listings get authorship wrong when the book is about a photographer's work. Amazon needs to fix this basic flaw in their system.



3. We're lucky to have this edition. Robert Frank is an old man with health issues now. That he is healthy enough to oversee this work is wonderful. Everything about this edition - especially in comparison to the 2007 Delpine edition I purchased earlier this year - is first-rate. I wish I had known this was coming out!
   
   The book is a little smaller than the Delpine, but that's the only real negative (if it is one) I can think of. The main thing to me is that the photos themselves are how Frank intended them to look. Gone are the overly-lightened faces that plague the Delpine book. This is a pet peeve of mine that kills many photos in this Photoshop age. This is very obvious in the New Orleans trolley photo. In the Delpine work, the faces of the white passengers are totally washed out, and the black faces are awkwardly lightened (someone apparently thought they were helping Frank's work). That's all corrected here. In this Steidl edition things are shown as they were intended. One can even see details in the face of the man at far left, even though it is partially obscured by a window reflection.
   
   Also, on several photos more of the frame is visible. This was most noticeable to me in the Butte, Montana photo of the woman looking out the car window, with several children in the back seat. A good portion of the left side of the photo is now visible, along with more shown on the top and bottom. The new crop just seems more "right." Not too mention that the face of the child in the middle of the photo is too light in the older edition.
   
   Simply put, comparing the two editions is an eye opener. I first saw these photos years ago in a much earlier edition (I believe it was the 1969 Aperture work) and I still marvel at the depth of the images in that printing. I don't have that edition in hand, so I can't do a direct comparison, but I believe the Steidl images are much closer to that ideal. Franks prefers his images a little on the flat, low-key side. Another difference is that the photos are now printed on a non-glossy paper. I was surprised at this at first, but now I believe it works much better for this book.
   
   In short, if you want an accurate, lovingly-printed edition of The Americans at a reasonable price, this is the one. Highly recommended.



4. Looking at this again after many years ( I first came across it about 25 years ago) the images are as poignant as ever. This is truly a great book of photographs and is perhaps the best photojournalist's collection ever published. The new edition has all the gravity and attention to detail that the work deserves.



5. In this new edition of THE AMERICANS, the publisher, Steidl seems to have taken every step necessary to maintain artistic integrity of Franks vision. Even going as far as having Frank supervise the new printing of the photographs used in the book. The paper used in the book is very high quality, perhaps even 'archival' grade. Of course, there is the Kerouac introduction that both rambles, amuses and enlightens. There is a small pamphlet included in the book briefly telling the background story of how this new edition came to life. While this pamphlet is basically an advertisement, it also provides the passing fan of Robert Frank with a greater knowledge of what Frank has done over the course of his life by listing other books and movies that Stiedl will be publishing in the future. Thoughtfully, museum dates are also given for those interested enough to travel to D.C., SF or, NYC for the 50th anniversary celebration and exhibition of the book. From Steidl, this is a fine book; from Frank, a work of art; and a labor of love from all involved.

5 comments about David Busch's Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D Guide to Digital SLR Photography.

1. As one reviewer put it, this is a glorified manual - but that is the strength of this book, and I recommend it highly to beginners, intermediate users and anyone who is "manual challenged." The book goes beyond the manual, however, in discussing lighting, for example, lenses, maintenance, and updating the firmware. None of this additional material is going to do anything for a professional or an advanced amateur, but will be very helpful to all us lesser photographers.
   
   A new Canon XSi user, I wanted to change a camera setting on several occasions, could not find the instructions in the manual or locate the menu item or button, but promptly got the help I needed in this book. I don't go anyhwere without it.



2. As someone just entering the DLSR world, this book gave me alot of information of all the available functions of this camera. Written well, easy to understand....even for me :) Highly recommend this book if you are a new user of this great camera!!



3. I've mastered the controls of my Rebel XSi, but what I really need is some guidance on how to apply those features to take better pictures. That's what this book does, in spades. Unlike the manual that comes with the camera, this book goes into a great deal of detail on WHY you would use each feature. For example, in the section on Picture Styles, the book shows how to use this setting, then explains how you can use Picture Styles to create a soft, romantic look, or reproduce the appearance of certain types of film. The description of how to choose a format setting was followed by two pages explaining when you'd want to use JPEG, when you'd want to use RAW, and when you might want to use both. These explanations of why I want to use features goes far beyond what you find in the factory manual.
   
   I also liked the more than 200 pages of advice on how to use the XSi to take better pictures. For example, in Chapter 4, there are descriptions of WHEN and WHY you'd want to use each of the different metering modes. I learned that there are some situations in which Aperture Priority may work best for sports (I'd always thought that Shutter Priority was the only choice for action.)
   
   In sum, this book has it all. It's a great introduction to the Canon EOS Rebel XSi, but is also a comprehensive photography book that clearly shows how to use the camera's features to improve your images.



4. Somewhat dissapointed by this book. While it does offer better explanations of features than the camera's manual, it does not go into much details about WHY you would use certain features. I was hoping for more pages on how to use the XSi to take better pictures, not what each setting does. For example, nice description on each of the different meetering modes, but how about a few pages on WHEN or WHY you'd use each one?



5. Okay, I admit it- I am very much a noobie to dSLR cameras. I have been reading some of the same sort of generic books that many others have that are recommended to all photographer-wannabes and I've been slowly ascending the dSLR learning curve. But I wanted a book slanted towards beginners or intermediate users that was specifically meant for XSi/450D users. THIS IS THE BOOK! And I have had it on pre-order for almost a month as it was to be one of the first books out specific to this camera.
   
   It has been worth the wait! The very first chapter tells you how to get out there and start taking photos that are much more than merely acceptable. The second chapter is a virtual roadmap to the camera with plenty of large color photos detailing the location and purpose of all the various buttons and knobs. And from here on, the book just gets better! There are chapters on setting up your camera, getting the right exposure, working with light (natural and flash), downloading and editing images, and a great deal more.
   
   My favorite is an entire chapter devoted to working with lenses. For an absolute beginner like me, this chapter has been sooo helpful. Not only does this chapter explain various lens types but it also explains the dos and don'ts of how best to use them. And wonder of wonders, there is even a section in this chapter subtitled "Ingredients of Canon's Alphanumeric Soup" that gives simple explanations of the data engraved or painted on the barrel or the ring surrounding the front of a lens. To professional or even advanced amateur photographers I'm sure that this is information assimilated long ago, but then this book isn't so much geared towards you. This sort of information is invaluable to dSLR beginners such as me and perhaps even to many intermediate level photographers.
   
   Throughout the book there is extensive use made of fairly large color photographs and I should probably also mention that there is a good size glossary in the back followed by an extensive index.
   
   I notice that Busch is nothing if not a prolific writer and based on the large number of favorable reviews on most of his books, he's a darn good one. And finally, no...I don't know the guy but I think I would probably enjoy being a student in a class if he taught them because he writes on a level that I can understand- not too simplistic and not too far over my head.