No comments about Weather World: Photographing the Global Spectacle.

5 comments about Adobe Photoshop 7.0 for Photographers, First Edition.

1. Mr. Evening does a great job of getting you into the digital world. The beginning of the book explains the color spaces and what this means in terms of what you see on your screen and what comes out on print. He then goes into Photoshop itself and teaches you everything you need to know to masterfully play with your images.
   A great, great buy!



2. If you are completely familiar with other Photoshop versions and are a professional photographer this book could possibly be of some use. For an amateur photographer just getting into digital photography this book is not for you. There is a lot of fluff and not much body to the book which makes it hard reading. The CD Tutorial is a joke. The dialog speeds along with a small black cursor that can not be located most of the time making it almost impossible to follow..



3. No, this book isn't quite for beginners - I wouldn't use it as a photoshop primer. However, I am also not a professional photographer or photoshopper - and I have gotten so much from this book.

   Within 5 minutes of picking up this book I had taken a color digital photograph and made it look like it was shot on black and white infrared film.

   It took me a similar amount of time to make color images look like I had used an alternative process to develop the film.

   The steps for just about anything you'd want to do creatively are short, easy to follow, and are accompanied by excellent demonstration photos. The book is in full color, which is extremely important given the subject matter.

   I highly recommend this book to anybody who wants to take digital photographs and do artistic and wonderful things with them.




4. This is not a large book for the price, but the production values are excellent. All illustrations are in color and at high resolution, so you can actually see even the most subtle effects of image manipulation.

   This is not a beginner's book, and it is not for those who wish to use Photoshop principally for painting or drawing. Rather, it is just what the title says--"for photographers." If you already know the basics of Photoshop and the elements of photography, I think you will find this is the most valuable Photoshop book in print today.

   The book is divided into short (2 to 4-page) sections, each dealing with a common photographic problem (too dark, too much highlight, eyebrows too thin, waist too thick, facial blemishes and wrinkles, red eye, yellow teeth, color casts--you name it) and step-by-step remedies for each, including specific numerical values to plug into dialog boxes for filters. The book is useful for all sorts of photography, but I have found it most useful for pictures of people. The author apparently has extensive experience in fashion photography; his techniques are especially strong in the area of making people look better than in real life without producing any perception of artificiality.




5. I purchased "Adobe Photoshop 7 for Photographers" specifically for instructions on improving my photography processing skills. I have experience developing film and paper-based photos, providing me with comprehension of photo lab techniques as well as the associated dark-room lingo. Combining this background with an intermediate-level understanding of Photoshop, I was quite keen on diving into this book.

   While most of the content I found to be very useful, in many instances the editing was so poor that the book suddenly resembled a cloak-and-dagger mystery. Quality of instruction, it would appear, is sacrificed for speed of publication (admittedly, not uncommon in application books these days). If one combines the print instructions with the enclosed CD, the "Aha!" moment comes across much more easily; however, there just aren't enough of these print/CD combinations available for the reader's enjoyment. It's a real missed opportunity. What's more, (I have no idea if this is true or false) it appears that the publisher of the book and the publisher of the CD might be from two completely different companies; no doubt separated by the Atlantic Ocean. I must agree with a previous comment on the CD content: The narration speeds along at lightning pace, often ahead of the visuals, while the poor cursor has difficulty just keeping up (even on a fast G4 with all content saved on hard drive). It's nearly impossible to follow the narrator's cursor, unless one knows Photoshop well enough to listen for audio clues.

   Still, there's a lot to be had between the covers, and it's worth scrumming through the content despite the bruising editorial.

No comments about Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish.

No comments about Printing for Digital Photographers.

5 comments about A World of Our Own.

1. The surprise about this book is the number of quotes from women artists themselves, not just from the l9th and 20th century, but from earlier centuries too. In the l6th century Sophonisba Anguissola's father thanks Michaelangelo for helping improve his daughter's drawing. In the l7th century, Artemisia Gentileschi says "I will show my lord, what a woman artist can do." In the l8th century, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun recalls her technique for making the most of the looks of the women she painted. The author shows how for 500 years women have made up a sigificant minority of the community of working artists. The book is lavishly illustrated with rarely seen images of women artists at work and of the paintings and sculptures they produced. This book would make a wonderful present!



2. The surprise about this book is the number of quotes from women artists themselves, not just from the l9th and 20th century, but from earlier centuries too. In the l6th century Sophonisba Anguissola's father thanks Michaelangelo for helping improve his daughter's drawing. In the l7th century, Artemisia Gentileschi says "I will show my lord, what a woman artist can do." In the l8th century, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun recalls her technique for making the most of the looks of the women she painted. The author shows how for 500 years women have made up a sigificant minority of the community of working artists. The book is lavishly illustrated with rarely seen images of women artists at work and of the paintings and sculptures they produced. This book would make a wonderful present!



3. The surprise about this book is the number of quotes from women artists themselves, not just from the l9th and 20th century, but from earlier centuries too. In the l6th century Sophonisba Anguissola's father thanks Michaelangelo for helping improve his daughter's drawing. In the l7th century, Artemisia Gentileschi says "I will show my lord, what a woman artist can do." In the l8th century, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun recalls her technique for making the most of the looks of the women she painted. The author shows how for 500 years women have made up a sigificant minority of the community of working artists. The book is lavishly illustrated with rarely seen images of women artists at work and of the paintings and sculptures they produced. This book would make a wonderful present!



4. The New York reviewer makes a good point but it's not ALL quotes.The book is also pretty informative about the career options open to women in the past and how they made use of them. The author takes a level-headed view and makes you feel admiring of the way women have been getting on with the job of being artists for hundreds of years. There's some stimulating pages at the end about the role of feminism as well.



5. The New York reviewer makes a good point but it's not ALL quotes.The book is also pretty informative about the career options open to women in the past and how they made use of them. The author takes a level-headed view and makes you feel admiring of the way women have been getting on with the job of being artists for hundreds of years. There's some stimulating pages at the end about the role of feminism as well.

5 comments about Master Posing Guide for Portrait Photographers: A Complete Guide to Posing Singles, Couples and Groups.

1. J.D. Wacker has compiled information based on something, but it is hard to tell what that is. The title is misleading and inaccurate. If you are looking for a 'Master Posing Guide' or any kind of posing guide, this is not it. The pose on the cover is very nice, but is not even described in the book. Wacker refutes the title early on, explaining how he is going to reveal much more then posing techniques. He goes on to do little of this as well. Clearly, the cover art and title are intended to get you to buy. Though there is some practical information in the book, it is not a Master Guide to anything.



2. This is a no tech book. It is strictly about posing. J.D.Wacker takes you through the psychology and mechanics of posing the subject. The section on Children and pets is adorable.



3. I didn't like it. I thought it would have pictures of poses, but most of it was reading. Things I already knew. I'am not a porfessional at all.



4. This was not as informative as I had hoped. Other books by Amherst Media were more informative and better money spent.



5. I have found it hard to locate a decent book on posing. This one is really devoted to posing side of portraiture. What I like best about it is that it develops principles to work towards with your posing rather than a catalog of set poses.

No comments about Takashi Homma: Tokyo.

5 comments about America From 500 Feet!.

1. What a great time to appreciate America and what better way than to see it all from a different perspective! Many books offer images of our beautiful country but seeing it from the air is breathtaking. As an amature photographer, I have visited and photographed many of the places in this book but I feel like I'm seeing them for the first time all over again.

   I met Bill Fortney on one of his Great American Photography Workshops and have never forgotten him. He is one of the most special people I have ever met and his passion for photography is infectious. You'll see that passion in the photographs in this book.




2. Bill Glenn & Wesley Fortney's book America At 500 Feet contains superb photography (one could only expect that from Bill Fortney)but contains an equally important sub-story--one of a unique father/son relationship. Every father who views this book will be jealous of the unique adventure that Bill and Wesley shared. Here is a son who was willing to quit his job to pursue a new identity and, in the process, becomes an accomplished photographer. Bill's reward is deep seated in strengthening the bond with a father's most precious possession--his son.
   The pilot's logs personalize this book and bring the adventure into your living room. I don't know when I have enjoyed a book like this so much! This is must for anyone interested in outstanding landscape photography and a story of a unique father/son adventure of the highest level!



3. I have collected many works in the genre over the years. This particular one by Fortney I find especially compelling. I gasped in abject wonder at the first facing photograph when turning the page following the author's introduction. Extraordinary imagery. Captivating perspectives, rich in composition. Handsomely reproduced so the printing effectively achieves resonance. Definitely one for the coffee table. If you've had the opportunity to drink in aerial vantage points when flying commercial airliners, you will be in for a treat because of the immediacy inherent within most shots. Thoughtful commentary into the context of certain photographs enhances the overall appreciation for what ultimately contributed to the finished product. I truly hope more works of this stunning artform emerge. What's next, Mr. Fortney?



4. I was given your great book for Christmas this year. It is a terrific concept and even better execution!
   
   However, as a confirmed and dedicated Westerner, I have to tell you that you need to study up on your geography. Your first book section is the beautiful West, and most of you second section (mislabeled Central) is of the beautiful West.
   
   Credit needs to go where it is due, and there is no place on earth to match the American West.
   
   Your other obvious mistake is missing Oregon. It has more variety of land forms and natural beauty than any of the other 50 states. And I'm not prejudiced! From the rugged coast to the Cascades to the Columbia Gorge to the great high desert and ponderosa forests of eastern Oregon, it is unbeatable.
   
   About my outdoor life in Oregon, I'll excerpt your quote on p 59 of the book.
   
   "all my days...each one holds its surprises and I have seen almost more beauty than I can bear."
   
   In my Oregon experience that beauty has been a pigmy owl, a black bear at 20 yards, an eastern Oregon rainstorm that swept by us raining 20 feet away while we were dry, elk feeding along a forested slope with the herd bull bulging, the majesty of Steens Mountain and its 5000 foot eastern drop-off, a flock of 300 swans migrating south over the Blue Mountains, a pair of great horned owls high up in an old ranch barn along the edge of a high desert miles long lake, the multi-colored layered rock of the John Day Fossil Beds Monument--for miles and miles.
   
   You gotta come to Oregon where you can do a book just on this great state!
   
   Thanks for your book...really.
   
   Lee Findley



5. This is a lovely book that I find I can only express my enjoyment in somewhat paradoxical criticisms: I wish there had been more and I wish it had been slightly larger. That is to say, the photographs were so striking that I wanted more and I wanted them larger.
   
   As other reviewers have noted, the book consists of low-level aerial photographs of various wilderness and wooded spots in the United States taken from an ultra light aircraft. Not every area of the country is represented, but I'm not sure that that makes very much difference. Even areas that I know looked completely fresh to me. This really is America as you've never seen it before.
   
   If you enjoy nature photography or "from the air" books, you should definitely check this one out.

5 comments about The White Rock.

1. This book is more about the self absorbed author than Peru or the Inca. Hugh Thompson's idea of exploring seems more like pointless wandering. I would certainly not recommend this book to anyone



2. The author does a great job of recreating both the ancient world of the Incas and the modern world that exists around the ruins today. You definitely see the sights, smell the odors, hear the sounds.
   
   It keeps your attention while taking you to an exotic world past and present



3. I read this book some years ago and as a fan of travel literature placed it near the top. However, I did not write a review at that time. Now, having recently returned from a two week vacation in Bolivia and Peru, I can see what a fine book it is. The Incas were the last of the world's great civilizations to be "discovered." Since they developed in isolation and were not literate, we must try to interpret their mind set from what has survived these 500 years. Mr. Thomson manages by observation, rigid scholarship, many miles on the trail, along with canny speculation to get inside the mind of the Inca as well as anyone. For all of you romanticists out there this book comes as close as is possible to the modern possibilities of adventure.



4. _The White Rock_ by Hugh Thomson is a fascinating, well-written account of both the author's travels to Inca sites in Peru and Bolivia and his efforts to address the big discrepancies between popular conceptions of the Incas and the actual evidence of what they were like, an effort complicated by the fact that the Incas left no written record and much of what know about them comes from the often biased accounts of Spanish conquistadors and from the supposition of archaeologists.
   
   Though Thomson visited a number of Inca sites throughout the book, Machu Picchu clearly dominates, as it is most famous Inca site, the one most likely known to the average person. The very familiarity of the place he wrote can lead to misleading impressions of the Incas and Thomson regretted that few visitors to Peru traveled beyond it.
   
   The author recounted a number of misconceptions regarding the site. Many suppose that it is a major site for archaeologists; it is not, as the site was thoroughly excavated by the famous (and some say "over-enthusiastic and cack-handed") Hiram Bingham in the early years of the 20th century, who acted "with the over-confidence of an age of certainty" and so thoroughly excavated the site that little was left for later researchers. In addition, later restoration efforts to prepare the site for tourists were often done with little thought for archaeological preservation.
   
   Speaking of Hiram Bingham, he is famous for having discovered the site. Thomson wrote that it would more accurate that he should be famous for having publicized the site. A geographer by the name of Antonio Raimondi had a site labeled as Cerro Machu Picchu on a map made in 1875 and in 1902, a full ten years before Bingham visited, Don Enrique Palma of Cuzco visited the site and left an inscription on its walls.
   
   Tour guides and many popular books on Machu Picchu speak of the city's great religious significance, but Thomson interviewed archaeologists who said that the site was not a religious shrine at all. Occupied for less than a hundred years, largely forgotten after it was abandoned (something the Incas would not have done if it was a religious or especially a pilgrimage site), it was basically a winter quarters for the Inca emperor (known as the Inca), a country estate or leisure complex, a "gigantic hunting folly" that was "both too impractical and ostentatious" to maintain, basically an old country house and pleasure resort built on a grand scale at the height of the Inca Empire and then "left to fade away as royal tastes and fashion moved on." While the site was attractive both for its milder and warmer climate that Cuzco and its abundance of game, it was an expensive locale to live in.
   
   Those who maintain the notion that the site was religious point to the great number of female skeletons unearthed at the site, labeled by many as "Virgins of the Sun." In fact later studies showed that the proportion of male and female remains was about equal; this misconception dates back to one of Bingham's colleagues, George Eaton, who in 1912 wrongly identified most of the remains as female.
   
   Another misconception (albeit one that the Incas themselves promoted) was that they were the only or the first Andean or South American civilization. Incan rulers like the famous Pachacuti (originally known as Inca Yupanqui but who took the title Pachacuti or "Transformer of the Earth") promoted within their own society powerful origin stories, as Pachacuti, though important as he led the first wave of Inca conquests to Bolivia and Lake Titicaca, bringing an area from Colombia to Chile, some 3000 miles and about the size of continental Europe, under Inca control, carefully promulgated official versions of Inca history.
   
   In reality, the Incas were adept at incorporating whole tribes into the Empire, as large numbers of people or even whole populations were taken away from their homelands to serve as tribute labor elsewhere in a system called mitamayo (the workers were called mitimaes). Thomson compared the Incas to Stalin in the way that they moved around client peoples, shipping them from one part of the empire to another to do jobs, moving potentially difficult peoples into new, uninhabited (and distant) areas, even splitting towns into upper and lower sections and having them compete in providing services to the State and the town itself.
   
   The Incas were noted for appropriating the ruins of previous civilizations, altering them as they saw fit, manipulating and distorting the meaning of the ruins and of history. In reality, the Incas, "[f]ar from imposing order on an unruly bunch of savages, ...were merely the latest dominant tribe (and a short-lived one at the that) in a series of Andean civilizations" that had existed for over 2000 years previously. The Incas built their achievements on earlier civilizations such as the Moche of the north of Peru (noted for their magnificent pottery), the Huari, and the Tiahuanaco culture (who produced magnificent stone buildings) near Lake Titicaca.
   
   Thomson also recounted many other aspects of the Incas. He noted their careful uses of terraces and canals, giving them the ability to support thousands where only dozens now live today. I had heard of Peruvian mummies before, but I had no idea of their role in Inca society; when each Inca died, his estate or panaca continued to maintain his palace as if he were still alive, with the Inca's mummified form resident in the old palace and brought out for feast days and coronations (Thomson wrote that the"mummy lobby" was very powerful towards the end of the Inca empire and was a system open to much abuse). Other interesting topics covered include the building, planning, and maintenance of Inca roads, Inca architectural methods and styles, and the course of the Spanish Conquest, particularly the struggles of the last Inca Emperors.
   
   The book is also a great and witty travelogue particularly of Peru, with maps and many photos.



5. Good story of modern-day explorers looking for Inca ruins in the mountains and jungles of Peru. A little too "New Journalism" touchy-feely and not enough straightforward writing knocks it down a peg from "What a classic!" status. And I wish there were more pictures.
   
   But it does stir that part of the imagination where there are places of the world not yet explored, or once explored but long-since lost, the sense of a very far-away place in time and space that where there could still exist El Dorado.

No comments about Native American Photography at the Smithsonian.