1 comments about Nikon D60 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)).

1. Very useful information. If you've owned nikons before, or are a new user, the information is very helpful. It will assist you when taking photos for the 1st time or will help you to take better photos.

5 comments about The Eye is Quicker: Film Editing: Making A Good Film Better.

1. Loads and loads of analysis on the art of editing. Not just edits that don't jar, but edits that adds emotion and builds the story. Best book on editing I've yet found. I give it 4 rather than 5 stars because sometimes it's a little unclear.



2. There are a few great concepts that Pepperman barely manages to get across but for the most part this Ivy League educated reader was lost. Pepperman uses scenes from films not just as examples, but as the jumping off point for his theories. Yet he doesn't give enough detail that if you haven't seen a scene you can still follow what he's saying (his chicken scratch drawings do little to help). Rather, he provides you every page with a "hint!" or a "tip!" or if you're lucky a "hint & tip," such as "ask a lot of questions!" or "a study in asymmetrical beats." (Seriously, I pulled those two at random and they mean little more in context than out). I began to ignore these diversions but holy god, did anyone edit this book?



3. Many books are written on filmmaking, yet far too few are written by those who can bridge the gap between theory and application. In this book, you get both.
   
   Anyone who does not appreciate the INVALUABLE education that this book is, simply does not have enough experience with editing to understand the value of the insight.
   
   As a professional filmmaker, I nearly butchered my first feature, only to ressurrect it by applying what I learned in this book. The author references many films I had not seen, but the lessons were clear, and the illustrations more than clarify the cut points he is referencing.
   
   This book is written by an editor, for filmmakers, with the lessons being most profound to someone who can nod there head, and say, "yes, I too have experienced that challenge, and / or made that mistake."
   
   This book is not formulaic but an in-depth look at the principles of not only good editing, but good story-telling from the perspective of the editor. It is the principles and techniques learned in this book that allow the reader to come away with an arsenal of tools and check-points. When you are stuck and frustrated, you have to understand good fundamentals, and be able to check your work against those principles. Without an understanding of these principles, a filmaker is left with only instincts, opinions, and guess-work. OR, even worse, become reduced to chasing his/her tail in a vain attempt to make a film that pleases people.
   
   If you are a filmmaker looking to learn the science of good editing, then this book is for you. Once you learn the science, the art is up to you.
   
   
   Mike Reilly



4. I may be spoiled from reading other editing books (i.e Murch etc.) but from the high brow tone of this book, I expected the author to have a much more impressive film background. There are good bits mixed in there which is why I gave it three stars, but you have to wade through an apparently unedited and not fully developed mess to get there(my opinion). This is particularly ironic in a book that is supposed to show you how to seemlessly integrate something. Read this book because you have to for the few essential concepts that it does bring across, but I bet you won't enjoy it. It appears as a series of half formed lesson plans. I found it a very taxing read and should be read as a last of a series of editing books not only for comprehension but so you are not discouraged from the field altogether. Perhaps another edition with a coauthor and an editor would be in order. Also, too long by half. Again you should read this book, but maybe try and borrow it from somebody.



5. An excellent book for everybody who wants to edit a film, either a professional or a student if a Film School. Written in a simple way and with lots of easily understood examples.

5 comments about Photographing the Southwest: Volume 2--Arizona (2nd Ed.) (Photographing the Southwest).

1. In the first edition of this book I found Mr. Martres' directions to be hard to follow and, in some cases, in error. This edition has greatly improved them.



2. This was the first book of the "Southwest" series that I have read. I purchased the book to prepare for a trip I was taking to Arizona. I found the book to be an excellent reference for someone that isn't familiar with all of the wonderful landscape locations available in the Grand Canyon state. The only thing that would make the book better would be greater details in the "getting there" sections. Some local maps and maybe GPS headings would also be a great addition. Some of the best spots are very difficult to find and these additions would really help out. Overall, I am very pleased that I bought this book and kept it by my side throughout my journey. I highly recommend it.



3. If you're planning a tour of the American Southwest these brilliant books are simply the best possible guide to what to photograph, and how. In three volumes Martrès guides you to all the photographic highlights of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. At the well known tourist spots he tells you what and when to shoot for best results, but he's also not afraid to take you off the beaten path to some less frequently visited scenic gems.
   
   I've just completed a photographic holiday following roughly the traditional "grand circle" route, and I couldn't have got some of my most successful shots without these books.
   
   The author provides consistent, detailed instructions for each location, including guidance on lenses and timing. Sometimes he even tells you which rock to stand on! Follow his instructions carefully, and you'll usually get good results, although some instructions require careful interpretation.
   
   It's also great fun shouting "snap!" when you realise the only other souls in some lonely location are also clutching a copy of the same book.
   
   All three volumes have recently been updated, with high quality colour photos throughout, and a comprehensive index of locations including ratings for accessibility and scenic and photographic value, invaluable if a tight schedule means making difficult choices.
   
   I'm already planning my next trip using volume 3! Highly recommended.



4. A beautiful book but lacked the technical information that I take a keen interest in.



5. I recently purchased this book while on a visit to Sedona. I was looking for the Arizona Highways photography guide, but looked at this one at the bookseller's suggestion. The AH book is better for learning composition, lighting, etc, but if you are a nature photographer looking for a where to go book, this is the better choice. Well written with great suggestions for scenery on back roads and hiking trails, as well as the all important recommendations for which time of day and season to visit. There are no maps, so you'll need an atlas or GPS. Great pictures of what you'll find at any given location (better color reproduction than the AH book, too) and suggestions for side trips/hikes and best venues. Highly recommended for serious photographers.

1 comments about Wedding Photography NOW!: A Fresh Approach to Shooting Modern Nuptials (A Lark Photography Book).

1. I've read many books that are supposed to serve as an introduction to wedding photography for serious amateurs or budding professionals. This is the best book that I have found.
   
   1. This book is comparatively slim at 128 pages. Most of the other wedding photography books weigh in at over 200 pages; however, most other wedding photography books are also completely overloaded with filler material that is common knowledge to anyone but an absolute photography beginner (and absolute beginners shouldn't be in a position to photograph a wedding to start with). This book for example, spends only 18 pages talking about all of the equipment you'll need and gives only the details you have to know to make an informed decision about cameras, lenses, maintainence, flashes, computers, software, etc. This leaves more time for learning about how to take the pictures and isn't filled with useless paragraphs explaining how "cases and bags help protect camera equipment" like many other wedding photography books.
   
   2. The first sign of an amateur when asking about how to recreate a photograph they see is "What shutter speed/aperture/ISO did you use?", as if by dialing in certain combinations of these parameters, a beautiful picture will suddenly emerge. Most authors will prominently label every picture in the book with their camera settings without offering any other insight into how they composed the shot. This information is useless to anyone who has more than the most basic understanding of camera function and already knows how to properly exposure a photograph. What I want to know is how the composition is formed, and this book delivers.
   
   3. This book offers lots of tips on how to interact with people at the wedding, which is probably more important of a skill than anything having to do with your camera. Included are tips in getting the bride and groom to "loosen up" so that portraits look more natural. And by tips, I mean the author gives step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow.
   
   This book is the best wedding photography introduction I've seen and is recommended to anyone who already understands the effect of aperture on the depth of focus, for example, and wants tips they can actually use to apply their photography skills to wedding photography.

1 comments about Greenpeace: Standing up for the Earth Calendar 2009 (Wall Calendars).

1. Our world needs help in so many ways! This is a simple and beautiful way to spread the message. I give them every year for the holidays and Amazon.com is the only place I can count on to have them! Thank you!

1 comments about Ansel Adams 2009 Engagement Calendar.

1. Lovely vintage Ansel Adams photos - perfect for our decorating project - six framed photos over the black entertainment center.

5 comments about San Francisco Giants: 50 Years: 50 Years.

1. I'm sure the author is a nice guy and everything, but he writes like an eleven year old! This photos are nice, but I can look at those on the internet for free.
   
   Save your money on this one, folks. Buy game tickets instead. No matter how obnoxious the fans are around you....they can't be worse than this guy!



2. If your a loyal S.F. Giants lover, you'll need to get this fantastic history book. (with simply great pictures) It covers the Giants days at the old S.F. Seals ball park at 16th and Bryant. I use to get there on the Muni for I think 5 or 10 cents each way. But more than a fan gem, it covers the Giants MLB history like no other book. A great gift, should be displayed on a coffee table etc., etc.



3. My siblings and I bought this for our dad for father's day and he was really happy with it.
   
   One of the neat aspects to it is team photos and lists of the team players during specific years.



4. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 50 YEARS BY BRIAN MURPHY: As only a recent fan of the San Francisco Giants, I know of the 2002 World Series defeat, Barry Bonds's race to reach and beat Hank Aaron's homerun record, and the young and magnificent arm of the 22 year-old pitcher Tim Lincecum. I know the names of the great Giants like Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Juan Marichal; but the period from the 1958 move of the New York Giants to San Francisco up to the end of the 1990s is a time I know little ...more SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS: 50 YEARS BY BRIAN MURPHY: As only a recent fan of the San Francisco Giants, I know of the 2002 World Series defeat, Barry Bonds's race to reach and beat Hank Aaron's homerun record, and the young and magnificent arm of the 22 year-old pitcher Tim Lincecum. I know the names of the great Giants like Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Juan Marichal; but the period from the 1958 move of the New York Giants to San Francisco up to the end of the 1990s is a time I know little about. Thankfully 2008 is the fiftieth anniversary of the San Francisco Giants, and to commemorate it a beautiful book has been published, written by Brian Murphy (a host for the KNBR sports radio station), celebrating the fifty years of San Francisco baseball history with the Giants.
   
   The cover of San Francisco Giants: 50 Years captures the book perfectly with a split picture: on the top is Seals stadium, formerly a place for minor league baseball, it was where the new San Francisco Giants played their first games; at the bottom is the breathtaking AT&T Park, where the Giants currently reside. A foreword from longtime fan Danny Glover takes the reader back to moments in Glover's history as a little boy watching the greats play as Giants. Brian Murphy then sweeps you back to the first days of the New York Giants gracing the streets of the city by the bay as the new San Francisco Giants. Murphy uses a descriptive style that congers images in one's mind of the history of this baseball team, not overloading the book with stats and numbers, but providing facts and details where necessary, informing the reader of the many great strides the Giants have made, as well as the crucial times they came within reaching distance of the World Series ring: in 1962 against the New York Yankees, in 1989 against the Oakland Athletics, and in 2002 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
   
   Brian Murphy takes the readers through the many highpoints of the San Francisco Giants history, as well as the many low points. There is the miraculous story of the pitcher Dave Dravecky, a star for the team until a tumor was found in his pitching arm, who after surgery and recovery returned to pitch one of his best games ever. In the following game, he snapped his humerus bone, and eventually had to have his arm amputated. The story of the great Bobby Bonds, as his son hung around the clubhouse and watched his father and god father, Willie Mays. The career of Barry Bonds who came to the Giants in 1993 and spent the next fourteen years smashing records and creating news goals for future players to reach. And hints at possible future greats for the San Francisco Giants like Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, who pitched in the 2008 All Star Game at Yankee Stadium. The book ends with a superb finish: an afterword from the great Willie Mays, as he recounts some of his memories as a Giant.
   
   San Francisco Giants: 50 Years is a treasure for any sort of fan of the Giants bursting with photos, booklets featuring team photos and opening day lineups for all fifty years, along with an audio CD recounting fifty years of play-by-play highlights. It is a book that will never spend long on the shelf, as readers will keep picking it up again and again, whether to look up a detail of history, check on a team member or stat, or simply to look at some of the greatest players the world of baseball has ever known.
   
   
   [...]



5. The book came absolutely perfect. I am very happy with the service.
   I couldn't wait to open it and start reading it. I am a huge fan of the Giants. Thank you

2 comments about Magic Lantern Guides: Canon EOS Rebel XSi EOS 450D (Magic Lantern Guides).

1. This book is well illustrated with pictures and diagrams. The Magic Lantern Guide makes a complicated camera user friendly.



2. Really like this book, very helpful diagrams and explanations, it really should have come with the camera. My only complaint is that I would have liked color images in the book.

4 comments about Learning to Breathe: One Woman's Journey of Spirit and Survival.

1. The book is a quick read, one reason for that is "you can't put it down." It's an amazing story, simply told. Worth reading.



2. "Learning to Breathe" is a memoir by San Francisco-based photojournalist Alison Wright who flat-lined while on the operating table following a horrendous bus crash in Laos. Her doctors told her she should be dead, would never walk normally again, and recommended she put away her cameras and do something else with her life. Ms. Wright responded by climbing Africa's tallest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and publishing several photo books.
   
   At one point, Ms Wright recalls someone asking, "What are you willing to give up to find what you are looking for?"
   
   What indeed!



3. Learning to Breathe will knock your socks off! Just as the heroine of the story, photojournalist Alison Wright, manages to survive one terrifying near-death situation she hurtles herself (and you along with her) into yet another one...and then another one!! Where in the world does she get the courage to go on, you wonder? The fact that this amazing and true story is told in an honest, straight-forward style only adds to the drama. An inspirational and transformative emotional journey that takes you from the depths of the soul to the highest mountain peaks. A terrific page-turner! Loved it.



4. This is a book everyone should read - very inspirational whether you need it or not!

5 comments about Digital Restoration From Start to Finish: How to repair old and damaged photographs.

1. This book is thoughtfully written with many good photo editing techniques that I haven't seen in other books. Worth the money. The author explains multiple methods for accomplishing similar results. A good book.



2. Once I started reading this book I had difficulty putting it down until I had finished it. It was so interesting to read how it would be possible to transform sometimes hopeless looking photos into beautiful photographs. It explains a lot about masking & curves adjustments & I feel that this book will be my restoration bible. Since I've had a computer less than a year & Photoshop for a few months, I didn't understand a lot of what I was reading, so I don't know if this should be a beginners first restoration book. It provides a sophisticated approach to digital photo restoration from scan to print.



3. Although I am most heavily involved today in taking new photographs, I have an interest in restoring and repairing many old photographs that I have digitized with my scanner. This book is the best guide I have found for everything from minor fixes to full-blown reconstructions. It is highly recommended.



4. This is an excellent guide to restoration of old photos and negatives. Everything you'd want to have explained, laid out in step by step detail. This covers most all of the situations you're likely to be confronted with. Highly recommended.



5. This is a great book for beginners and professionals. Although, if you are a beginner, you will need some basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop CS2 or CS3.
   
   Ctein does a great job of walking the reader through the individual photo restorations. He also lets the reader know about different types of software that will help with the restorations and how the software works. I found this to be very helpful.
   
   I wish I had this book when I did my first restorations.