I was a beginner digital photographer when I got this book. Taught me a lot and I still use it and what I learned every day. Glad I bought it.

I'm a photography major and was required to get this book for class. Though it has a high price tag, it's very useful and will probably last for the rest of your life as a guide to photography. It starts from the beginning, from how a camera works, to how to develop film, printing, color photography, and more. There are detailed pictures, charts and examples to help you understand certain concepts.

This is a genuinely well thought out book concerning digital photography. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good grasp on all of the concepts surrounding Digital Cameras and image post-processing.

I'm teaching a beginning digital photography class and this book was the one being used by the college. I went with it. On first read, liked the book but as I tried to structure a methodical, logical class, I found the book to be frustrating. The book jumps from one topic to another, often with no thorough treatment of a subject. Topics are scattered through it. It often promises "we'll cover more on that later" without really covering it well later. The book can't be read by a beginner because terms are often used without being defined or taught. The book assumes you already know about photography. I found I could not assign much reading from the book until 1/2 way through the course when the students had finally been introduced to ISO, shutter speed, f/stops, depth of field, exposures, stops, white balance, etc.

The back 1/2 of the book focuses on Photoshop CS which was not the SW we used in the class. That part of the book was nearly useless for us.

For someone already familiar with photography, this book isn't bad at all. As a text for a class, I'd not recommend it.

It's a good book, I'm doing first year photography at uni and this is one of the text's. it's writen in a way that is really easy to read and it covers everything really quite well.

Great for beginning photographers! It even talks about budget considerations. It gives all the basics you need to know. Easy to read and understand.

I am an amateur photographer, but this book really gave me a better understanding of not only the basics, but also some of the things that will help me take it to the next level. It also covers some of the business aspects as well, such as work flow, and attempts to make the connection here and there with cost and time. For the beginner, the book does a great job at explaining the basics. Although it tries to cover both point-and-shoot cameras as well as DSLR cameras, this book is definitely more for the DSLR user. I liked all the Photoshop lessons, tricks, and tips in this book. But if you're not using Photoshop then you might be a disappointed, especially if you're a beginner and do not intend to use anything but the editing software that came with your camera. There are huge sections of this book that talk about more advanced Photoshop editing that a beginner will not use. On the flip side, a professional will find most of this book to be basic material and just an interesting comparison to what other professionals do.

I got a tick from the price of this book. The author does a great job organizing the book... the only problem everyones camera is diffrent

My college professor had us return our texts and order this one instead, as the savings was substantial. He said that Real World Digital Photography was a great tool for undergrads interested in photo, and represents the best information at the best price he's seen. This book covers everything a beginner in the digital game needs to know: digital VS film, buying a camera, what to do in extreme picture conditions, even setting up a digital darkroom and a workflow.

The book can be slightly dry and dense in parts, but never so much where I'd want to put it down. If someone read this book cover to cover, they would have a fair grasp on the basics of taking a digital image, editing it, and printing it. For anyone just starting to get "serious" with their digital photography, or just starting out, this book is highly recommended.

This book gives you an introduction overview of digital photography on a very basic level. Not enough if you want to learn more in depth about photography or how to use your digital SLR camera.

The information is broken down in a simple-to-read format, so it's easy to retain all the technical information. The only thing I don't like is that the authors are quite biased about the products they use, and at points, they really try to push it on the reader. I like to know what the pros use, but I like to know about the other options as well.

If you are just getting into digital photography or are at the intermediate stage this book is for you. It is probably the most complete book on digital photography that I have seen. It has 698 pages of valuable information that is sure to aid you in becoming a more knowledgeable and better digital phothgrapher. It begins with "Why Digital" and from there covers everything imaginable dealing with digital photography. If you use "Photoshop", you will be pleased by the amount of detail that has been given to users of this very capable program. The book does not cover everything that can be done with this wonderful program but it does provide enough detail to get you well on your way. This book was published in 2004 and is a little behind on some of it's information. For instance, it referances Photoshop 7 and CS while CS3 is just about to be released. I would still highly recommend this book. It is a little pricy but I believe it is well worth the price.

Fast service and product arrived just as described. Thank you very much.

Apart from the relatively new (and very effective)Dennis Curtin e-book on digital photograpy, there are very few books on digital photography which are capable of explaining the principles behind effective photo-taking like this one. True, practising film photographers of yesteryear will already know about aperture and shutter speed and program modes and evaluative/matrix metering. But not many will know that digital cameras have only ONE, factory-set ISO speed; it can't be changed. Dialling in higher or lower ISO 'speeds" is really just about amplifying or lowering electrical input to the (fixed-sensitivity) sensor. It explains nicely why higher ISO ratings produce so much noise....
For me, as a photographer looking to teach other photographers, the absolute core of the book is Part Two: Digital Photography Techniques. This is because what goes before and after this massive four-part book will continue to change as the technical excellence of digital cameras continues to improve and astound. However, photography techniques remain immutable: cameras need light, aperture and shutter selections, compensatory metering techniques and a range of lens lengths for a range of photo-taking situations. Thus, the 3 remaining sections (Digital Photgraphy Essentials, the Digital Darkroom and Output, Manage, and Present will change and adapt to incorporate the latest and greatest changes in digital photography. The information in Section Two however, Digital Photography Techniques, will remain the core of the technique of picture-taking.
At 698 pages, this book is a hefty read. But for the post-beginner photographer wishing to learn more about the CRAFT of digital photography, this book is (still) currently very hard to beat. The ART of digital photography remains where it has always been: in your personal vision of the world around you.

Apart from the relatively new (and very effective)Dennis Curtin e-book on digital photograpy, there are very few books on digital photography which are capable of explaining the principles behind effective photo-taking like this one. True, practising film photographers of yesteryear will already know about aperture and shutter speed and program modes and evaluative/matrix metering. But not many will know that digital cameras have only ONE, factory-set ISO speed; it can't be changed. Dialling in higher or lower ISO 'speeds" is really just about amplifying or lowering electrical input to the (fixed-sensitivity) sensor. It explains nicely why higher ISO ratings produce so much noise....
For me, as a photographer looking to teach other photographers, the absolute core of the book is Part Two: Digital Photography Techniques. This is because what goes before and after this massive four-part book will continue to change as the technical excellence of digital cameras continues to improve and astound. However, photography techniques remain immutable: cameras need light, aperture and shutter selections, compensatory metering techniques and a range of lens lengths for a range of photo-taking situations. Thus, the 3 remaining sections (Digital Photgraphy Essentials, the Digital Darkroom and Output, Manage, and Present will change and adapt to incorporate the latest and greatest changes in digital photography. The information in Section Two however, Digital Photography Techniques, will remain the core of the technique of picture-taking.
At 698 pages, this book is a hefty read. But for the post-beginner photographer wishing to learn more about the CRAFT of digital photography, this book is (still) currently very hard to beat. The ART of digital photography remains where it has always been: in your personal vision of the world around you.

Title: Real World Digital Photography, 2nd Edition
Author: Katrin Eismann, Sean Duggan, and Tim Grey
Publisher: Peachpit Press
ISBN: 0-321-22372-1
Pages: 678
Published: November, 2003
Reviewer: Robert Saucier
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Real World Digital Photography, 2nd Edition is solid information for those just getting into digital photography with point-and-shoot cameras, those with a bit more experience, or those who are stepping up to digital SLR (dSLR) cameras from the world of 35mm film.

The authors take the reader through a wealth of information; from how digital cameras work to how to set up a "digital darkroom."

Real World Digital Photography is divided into four major topic areas:

"Digital Photography Essentials," "Digital Photography Techniques," "The Digital Darkroom," and "Output, Manage, and Present."

"Digital Photography Essentials," takes up almost one-third of the book. This section offers an introduction to digital photography for the new or soon-to-be digital photographer. It covers the history of digital photography, jargon, how digital cameras work, how to buy a digital camera, and what accessories are "must-haves."

"Digital Photography Techniques," the shortest of the four sections, covers the creative act of creating a photograph after first detouring into some technical aspects that the reader needs to consider prior to snapping the shutter.

"The Digital Darkroom" and "Output, Manage, and Present" make up the last half of the book. These sections deal with improving your photos after shooting and how to best store and show those photos.

There is a wealth of techniques for adjusting visual elements (color, contrast, sharpness) as well as performing editing tricks such as removing unwanted elements or applying creative plug-ins to create a work of art from what might have been "just" a nice photograph.

Storage of old photos has moved from the shoebox to the spindle and the pros and cons of long-term storage solutions are covered here. There's also discussion of planning for changes in storage media - a real concern for the prolific shutterbug!

Overall, the authors present information simply but with plenty of detail. Complex topics are described as simply as possible and the information is presented in a progressive manner. Readers with more experience will be able to make use of the table of contents and the index to quickly move to topics of interest.

I'm not new to either film or digital photography but I appreciated the photography "refresher course" provided in chapters 6 and 7. These chapters provide the meat regarding technique in composition, framing, and lighting. Unfortunately, this technique section is the lightest area covered.

I also thought the details and methods described in the editing chapters were fantastic although geared to Photoshop users. While many of the editing processes could be duplicated through trial-and-error, offering more specific tips for using Paint Shop or one of the other lower-priced editors would've been a big plus. After all, someone using a one or two hundred-dollar point-and-shoot probably wouldn't spend the $649.00 to buy Photoshop.

There are few shortcomings to be found here, especially considering the age of this edition - almost two and one-half years old as of this review. My only real grumble is that, while recommendations on software tools were more than adequate, little to no mention was made of freeware tools such as Google's Picasa (an image management application) or The GIMP (a Photoshop-like image editor).

Real World Digital Photography is a definite winner loaded with excellent information for both new and veteran photographers. It's definitely earned a place on my bookcase!

Having undertaken a number of photography courses and worked in digital for some years I was not expecting this 'prescribed text' for a Uni course to be adding anything to what I already owned.

I was wrong, this one is the best guide to photography and digital I have seen and will help any aspiring photographer achieve their aims.

I used this book as a text book during a digital photography class at Rice University. It guides you from very basic information about both photography and digital photography, through very advanced techniques for getting the most out of your camera and images. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants begin, or improve their digital photography and photoshop skills. afterall, everyone know that girls only like guys with skills.

photoshop skills, photography skills....

I used this book as a text book during a digital photography class at Rice University. It guides you from very basic information about both photography and digital photography, through very advanced techniques for getting the most out of your camera and images. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants begin, or improve their digital photography and photoshop skills. afterall, everyone know that girls only like guys with skills.

photoshop skills, photography skills....

i needed this book for a college digital photography class. i used amazon due to the reasonable price offered. the book it self is not bad. i have only read up to chapter 5 and so far so good. lots of information.

"Real World Digital Photography" is a 698 page introduction for neophytes entering the magical world of digital photography. While it is an introduction to digital photography even seasoned veterans will find it informative and useful. The book is so comprehensive that there is a Table of Contents preceeded by Contents at a Glance. What's the difference? Contents at a Glance covers only the chapter titles while the Table of Contents covers the details found within each chapter.

The breadth of this book is evidence by the chapters: 1) Why Digital; 2) Nuts and Bolts of Digital Imaging; 3) How a Digital Camera Works; 4) Buying a Digital Camera; 5) Essential Accessories; 6) Digital Photography Foundations; 7) Seeing the Light; 8) Building a Digital Darkroom; 9) Download, Edit and Convert; 10) Essential Image Enhancement; 11) Digital Darkroom Techniques; 12) From Chapter to Monitor to Print; 13) The Digital Portfolio; 14) Archive Catalog, and Backup. While the topic of digital photography is not computer platform specific, it is evident that the authors have written it with PCs in mind as all of the screenshots are PC based. The book does cover Mac programs such as iPhoto and Roxio Toast.

The first part of "Real World Digital Photography" is an exploration of digital photography from its history, to how it works, to hardware and accessories. The second part of the book focuses on digital photography techniques and the "digital darkroom" or what the photographer can do once an image is captured. The final third delves into output or how images are viewed and how they can be saved or preserved. The explanations of the features of image processing programs such as Photoshop is easy to understand. The photographs and printing reproduction is of the highest quality to shows nuances in compare and contrast situations.

The authors, Eismann, Duggan, and Grey, clearly have the beginner in mind as the writing is straight forward and concise without being condescending. There are generous examples of products that were leaders in the market during the time the book was written (2004). This is the second edition of this title in Peachpit's "Real World" series so I am assuming that the photographs and product references are refreshed as books like this have a relatively short shelf life. My suggestion is when purchasing books that cite release dates and name specific products such as this one, check the dates of when the products were released and the date the book was published. With the digital photography market changing so rapidly, products are quickly overshadowed by new models or products almost monthly. Products more than a year old may be outdated technology so "caveat emptor".

Over the years I have purchased several digital cameras, each one newer with better features than the one before. This book is an excellent resource for me as I have begun a search for an ultra-compact digital camera to pack around. For the first-time digital camera buyer, or someone who is looking to upgrade his or her camera or is learning basic digital imaging skills, this book will be invaluable. At $49 it is one of the pricier books on the market but the breadth and depth of "Real World Digital Photography" makes it a superb value.

Real World Digital Photography has it all, from buying your first digital camera to shooting great photographs to processing your images in Photoshop and putting them on the wall or in print. Read it straight through or used as a reference, I have never been left withouth an answer.

It is a must have.

I wrote to the author's reply email address with a question about the text, around August 05 and never received a response. It would be a better book if she took a little time in each chapter to discuss using the information in the real world before having to read several chapters to get to the hands on application of the technology she presents. This one point is why I chose not to give it a 5.

I have enjoyed this book and found it very helpful in using my new digital camera.

I went to a large bookstore today looking for a basic book on digital photography I could buy for my newbee sister so she could get some real insights into the camera I bought for her Christmas present. I'd looked through about fifteen different books and they all sucked until I looked at this one. I started paging through the beginning of the book and I thought, "This is perfect! It gives basic but rigorous descriptions of all the fundamentals that I would teach my sister myself if I lived near her." Then I started looking over the rest of the book and to my amazement, I found chapters written at a depth that even I was interested in reading (look up some of my digital photography on www.dpreview.com) and I ordered a copy of it for myself. I am now about to order a copy of it for my sister!

This book not only covers settings for the camera but takes you into saving, organizing and most important, into editing, particularly with Photoshop CS. This is not sugar coated obvious stuff but really gets into the pros and cons and the whys of their recommendations. Great for ex-film users and for the serious amateur.

Two thumbs up! I loved this book. Like a movie with subplots, Real World Digital Photography can be read and appreciated on many levels. It appears that the authors intend for it to be all things for all photographers, and in my opinion they've succeeded as well as can be expected. But if the book has one "focus", it would probably be for the experienced digital SLR user, and for the film SLR user who is considering making the conversion.

You can just use it as a reference book for questions about lenses, filters, white balance, metering, or practically any other photography subject - whether film or digital. However, many will prefer to read it cover-to-cover, even at 700 pages. The flow of the book is aided by innovative and intuitive approaches for the explanation of countless topics, including the comparison of the destructive effects of "over-editing" to too much sanding on a wood project. And the authors aren't afraid to voice their opinions about the benefits (or lack thereof) of Photoshop plug-ins, nor are they hesitant to make bold predictions - such as the forecast that tiff might eventually replace the psd format.

Every step along the way, the authors illustrate the differences between digital and traditional photography, which can give you a better understanding of photography in general. For example, the five-page analysis of the similarities and differences between film grain and digital noise provided a great platform for understanding both. The ten-page explanation of the ramifications of digital cameras' CCD's being smaller than a 35mm film frame provides a thorough understanding of lenses in general. The breadth of the book is, well, breathtaking, with every conceivable topic being covered -- from the authors' opinions on the best way to use histograms to artistic ideas for composition of your pictures to recommendations on which type of camera bag to purchase! Whew!

Speaking of histograms, a three-page section reporting Photoshop co-creator Thomas Knoll's opinions about the ideal histogram was pretty profound information that I've never seen anywhere else. For me, at least, this was worth the price of the entire book.

Most of the last 200 pages cover photo editing using Photoshop. I would describe these 200 pages as "meaty". There are no trendy Photoshop tricks here -- just solid photo editing approaches that are worthwhile for even the most serious Photoshop user. I enjoyed many of the authors' fresh viewpoints and approaches to essential digital photography editing. This section is probably too serious to constitute an introduction to Photoshop. Instead, photographers who are considering purchasing Photoshop for the first time could review these pages for examples of what the program can do.

If you're currently using a film SLR and you're thinking about making the move to digital, this book is a must. It gives you all the information you'll need to make the right decision on whether to go for a "point and shoot" or an SLR, and which features you might want. It might, in fact, cause you to decide to keep you film-based SLR and buy a digital "point and shoot" camera. Even if this book were to make you decide against making the digital conversion, I feel certain you'll gain a much better understanding of your film camera as a result of the in-depth film vs. digital comparisons.

Dennis Chamberlain
Adobe Certified Expert - Photoshop CS

This is the best single, overall volume on digital photography that I've seen.

Equipment selection, composition, lighting, camera settings, and post-production are all covered in detail.

This is not by any means a "For Dummies" book. If you are seriously into photography and are willing to spend the time, this book is an excellent resource.

The post-production material is very much centered around Photoshop. If are are interested in using another program, much of this material will be of limited use to you.

I have lots of experience with film photography. I have been
buying books and trying to make the transition to digital
slr photography. Tim Grey finally wrote the book that I need.
It really fills the bill. If you already have the concepts
of film speeds, shutter speeds, aperature etc. down pat, this
is the book you need to help transfer that knowledge to the
digital world.

I received a copy of this book for Christmas. I don't even own a digital camera but as soon as I finished reading several chapters
I decided to purchase one. This book informs with lively, fun, personal anecdotes from professional digital photographers, but it is down to earth and simple enough for anyone to benefit from. It takes you from theory to practical usage, helping with incredibly useful camera purchase information all the way to software manipulation techniques to wring the most from that digital camera. Highly recommended and fun to read!

Marvelous! This book is encyclopedic in size and content. However, it presents the material in an easy-to-read style with a multitude of pictures, and with more pictures on the companion web site. I enjoyed reading it and gained much new information on the technology - digital photography basics from the camera thru file-handling to editing, managing files, printing and storage.

The chapters on editing are quite long, appropriately, for this discusses the "digital darkroom", the important difference from conventional photography. I have seen other books focused on material which is presented here in one or two chapters. But those chapters are long enough and detailed enough they could have been separate books. With all the material in one book the information is cross-referenced to integrate the various technologies into a cohesive whole that leads to making of better pictures, whether that be on the Internet or as prints. The book is divided into four sections: 1] Essentials; 2] Techniques; 3] Digital Darkroom; and 4]Output, Mange and Present. There are 4 chapters ranging from 12 to 112 pages. The Companion Web Site provides the pictures shown in the book so the reader may practice the editing techniques presented.

This book provides information on photographic equipment, software and techniques for use by a wide range of users. It covers cameras which are entry-level, deluxe point-and-shoot, "prosumer" and professional. While acknowledging that the basics of photography are the same for film and digital equipment, it identifies the differences in the digital camera and digital photography and discusses them in detail. The information is more than is needed by the user of an entry-level camera but the concepts of camera operation are useful for all and apprise of features in better cameras that might make one's photos better.

There is a chapter on how A Digital Camera Works. This discusses: lenses, fixed, zoom, interchangeable, and special; the viewfinder and the LCD; the shutter, including the delay needed for the camera to process light data and means to compensate for the delay where needed; the sensor including the size and quantity of the pixels and the size and type of sensor; and flash units both on and off the camera.

The chapter on Buying A Digital Camera ha a lot of information on various types of cameras and provides a guide for the purchaser. It recommends a few sites, www.dpreview.com, www.photo.net, and www.fredmiranda.com and the Companion Site includes specific cameras in each price range. The sensor on digital cameras is smaller than the 35 mm film frames. For the same lens a digital camera has about 2/3 the effective focal length. This is one reason the digital camera lenses are "wide angle".

There is a good explanation of the different image file formats, RAW on top-of-the line- cameras, TIFF and finally JPEG. Cameras usually store the date in JPEG format since the files are much smaller. But this is because the JPEG protocol "compresses" the file using various algorithms and in the process losses some of the data. Then as the JPEG images are edited and resaved further image data is lost. Therefore, it is desirable to work with non-lossy formats such as TIFF and PSD, converting to JPEG when needed for final presentation.

The heart of this book is in Chapters 10 and 11, 196 pages covering image-editing techniques, the "digital darkroom". The author uses the tools in Adobe's Photoshop CS [expensive] while stating that many of the editing features are included in the lower cost Adobe Elements 2. In following her discussions I found that Elements did not have all the tools she was using. However, I still found her approaches and techniques quite usable.

Years ago I dabbled in using a darkroom for film work. It was difficult and non-forgiving. It was a struggle to avoid stained fingers and carrying that chemical smell outside the darkroom. The Digital Darkroom is much more powerful, easier to use and easily correctable. Her guidance will be very useful to me as I manipulate my digital images. An interesting point she makes is that digital photography consumes more time than film - because we become involved in all of the steps, especially the editing. I find that quite true. With a film camera I bring the film in for developing. In a day or two I return to get the prints. With digital I first edit the images, cropping and changing exposure, perhaps even eliminating some part of the original image. I then send the files for printing by a service - either online or in a local store. I find these prints better than I could produce on my own printer, although the new, more expensive printers, some using 6 colors, are said to do a wonderful job.

The book explains the difficulty in getting the eye's picture into the camera, onto the computer monitor and onto prints. Each of these creates colors differently and it is a wonder we can come as close as we do to having the pictures on the monitor and in prints so close to "our reality". There are procedures for improving the quality of the images on each of these devices. Also, she discusses a number of alternatives for sharing the digital images - e-mails, web sites, slide shows, projectors as well as prints. The final chapter discusses the saving and management of the image files - both the raw and edited images. Onsite, offsite, hard drive, tape, CDs and DVDs are all discussed.

It was a chore to go through this very big book. But it was enjoyable for the eye-opening information it presented. If you are serious about digital photography this would be a good book to have. I will continue to use it.

I am a teacher for photography and movie making part time and a freelance designer and animator the rest of the time and I find this book as a first class aid in all respects and mind opener for fundamental understanding of digital photography.
I am somewhat disappointed of the printing and paper quality of such important book.
I like to recommend it to all professionals or prosumers that are eager for more knowledge without having to "worm" through too many unnecessery books.

Excellent, up to date and very well written book covering digital photography from A to Z.

Well-written means that in our family, where one of us has been a photojournalist for a very long time and the other is just coming into her own as a digital fine art photographer, we both are learning from it.

My wife tells me that some of the books that I bring home make her head hurt. This one she says is consistently approachable, informative and with three authors offering their insights, flexible.

It covers a huge amount of territory, it is a very large book, and it will appeal to both novices and those of us who think we are "in the know" but still want to learn more.

The basics are presented in such a readable way that even if you are sure that you know all that stuff, it's still enjoyable and informative. You can read the book straight through or just hit the chapters on what interests you at the moment and find very useful tips that should make your picture making life easier.

Covering as much ground as it does in a constantly changing field, it does not have all the answers. What it does do is refer you to other books that are more narrowly defined and cover a single aspect in more detail when the authors feel that more explanation is necessary.

Anyone who picks it up is bound to learn something new and worthwhile.

This book serves as a great reference and instructional text for all interested in digital photography. The sections on image enhancement and advanced digital darkroom techniques are indispensable to having a succesful digital workflow. Real World Digital Photography is a very welcome and useful addition to books on digital imaging and is applicable to both newbies and advanced users.

This book is a good start for perhaps someone that knows nothing of Digital photography. A lot of time is spent on the types of cameras and how to set up a shoot. I would have liked to see more information on actually working with the resulting photos.There are examples of this, but it would have been nice to have more focus on it.

The cover of "Real World Digital Photography" checks off the target audience level as Absolute Beginners, Intermediate, *and* Advanced. That may be the main problem with the book -- while there is a lot of useful information within, it's a bit all over the place and thus won't turn you into an expert at anything. This may be the author's goal, as they declare that their readers are "working professionals" -- those who need to use digital photography in their work: graphic

artists, designers, editors, real estate agents, insurance adjusters, etc. However, it will leave experienced computer users looking to learn more about the Photography aspects of Digital Photography a little bit empty.

I found a few of the authors' choices on organization to be counterintuitive. For instance, a long section on studio lighting in Chapter 8 that gets very advanced very quickly (e.g., comparing photofloods with halogen lamps with HMI lights, using light meters and grey cards) comes before the Essentials of Photography section in Chapter 9. Similarly, a chapter on Immersive Imaging and QuickTime VR -- taking panoramic shots, building interactive object movies -- (Chapter 11) comes before the chapters on Correcting Your Photographs, Preparing Images for Print and The Web, and Archiving Digital Images. You can, of course, always just jump to the section you need.

On the positive side, the book is printed on high quality stock and includes tons of very valuable sample photographs, both in black-and-white and in four sections of color plates. Also, I found a number of valuable tips in the section on Correcting Your Photographs, such as how to use Adobe Photoshop features like the Unsharp Mask and manual image adjustment of "levels" (though the section does not pretend to be a complete manual of Photoshop's features). The authors have devised a useful categorization of camera types: Gadget, Entry-Level, Deluxe Point-and-Shoot, Professional Lite, and Professional. These terms are used helpfully throughout the book to refer to the various kinds of cameras that are available.

For me, the book would have been much more useful had the authors expanded the chapters on photography itself and on manipulation of digital images to help you creat great photos, and less time talking about RAM, storage devices, and hardware; but I think that's because I'm more of a hobbyist/photographer with a lot of computer experience rather than an average computer user who needs to suddenly use digital photography in the workplace. Those users may find this work more valuable. A final note: The book is copyrighted 1999, and so it is a bit dated at this point with its references to prices and camera features.

I am a newcomer (9 months) to the world of photography, graphic design, digital imaging, and since Christmas, digital photography. I have had a crash course in these subjects because of a new job, as I am now a magazine editor and webmaster with no training in any related topics. I have been frustrated all along the way as I've pieced together the basic concepts about scanning and fought to learn the horridly obscure Adobe tool interfaces of GoLive, PageMaker, and Photoshop. (Hard-core Office user here.)

This book brought it all together for me and made me a true convert to digital cameras. It provides step-by-step principles for anyone who needs things laid out a bit at a time, yet you can choose the chapters that relate to your present needs. For example, since I got a digital camera for Christmas, I skipped the chapters on buying one, and didn't miss out on a thing. But even better, they provide some basics for photography and for digital image correction in Photoshop, which was PRECISELY what I needed right now. If you're a beginner, but a fast, systematic learner, this book's for you.

I loved it, and I'm looking for more books by these two authors. I love their sense of humor and appreciate that they haven't made me feel stupid for not having learned all of this material somewhere else already. They're fun, kind, and supportive--not like that awful Dan Margulis of "Professional Photoshop," who spends as much time panning other professionals and making me feel dumb as he does teaching anything.

It is very diffucult to write a book useful to absolute beginner's and to professionals who work every day with digital camera equipment. A true professional would probally only find a few chapters worth reading, and a beginner would struggle through the Photoshop lessons. The book in my opinion would be most useful to anyone in the intermediate range that is interesting in learning more. I read the book cover to cover, and found that it filled in a lot of holes in my knowledge on the topic. Overall the book provides an excellent overview of digital photography.

And like the reviewer who gave the book 2 stars said, specialized books on more specific topics would be more benefical. For example there's a chapter on Quicktime VR; if you really want to learn about this topic, you're better off buying a book on it specifically. For photoshop, a book like Photoshop Artistry 5.5 would be far superior. But if you're looking for an overview of digital photography, this book is great.

The back cover says the book is suitable for absolute beginners, intermediate and advanced photographers. I don't believe it's possible to write that covers all levels and "Real World" illustrates my point. There is a table that compares the costs of cameras and films with a $45,000 investment in absolute top end studio equipment (maybe there are three people who might be interested in this -- for the rest of us a wasted page). No comparisons for the person who takes snap shots, the amateur, or the advanced amateur (I would guess over 99 percent of the buyers of the book). At the other end there is an example of a scene taken with a wide-angle lens and a telephoto lens to illustrate wide-angle image bending and telephoto image flattening. This is clearly of interest to beginners only.

The book also suffers from a common problem in photography books. Much of the time the sample photos are much too small to illustrate the differences in resolution the authors are trying to show. The authors try to solve this problem with special color pages. Sometimes this works, sometimes not. The first color plate compares four digital cameras. The pictures are all of pumpkins but not the same shot. How do you compare? The best choice (according to the authors is a Kodak DC200). But the comparison with 35mm film is of two pumpkins of quite different color saturation.

There is much material about specific products that will be obsolete by the time you buy the book if not when the book was printed. For example the three cameras the authors compare with 35mm film (Casio QV-10, Canon PowerShot 350 and Kodak DC200) are all no longer actively sold.

The book also needs a good editing. There are obvious typos.

Now having said all this, why do I give it 2 stars? If you want to know a bit about the technology behind digital cameras, digital photography, computers as they relate to digital photography and printers you can get a quick overview (enough for a beginner to ask some intelligent questions when he or she goes out to buy some equipment). There is a worthwhile chapter on studio lighting. There are useful hints that can improve your photographs (many of which you may have heard before -- move in close, angling the subject, rotating the frame, etc.). There is some good stuff in the chapter on Photoshop.

All in all there are much better books on "taking good photos", and much better books on Photoshop (my personal favorite is "Photoshop 5 & 5.5 Artistry"). This is the only book I've bought that addresses Digital Photography in the large and it's probably the last I'll buy. I will probably buy more specific books on individual photography subjects. For example I've just bought a book specifically aimed at the Nikon 990. The field moves too fast. There is much better information in some of the forums; although I'll admit much of it is buried in a ton of clutter.

So far I have not seen a better book on digital photography than this one. The authors did a great job of thinking about every aspect, every problem, every question that a person considering switching to digital photography may think about. They start with general practical questions, such as what are the advantages and disadvantages of digital photography compared to traditional film photography, how good a digital camera should be for each purpose, how much a digital studio would cost and how this cost compares with cost of photography on a film. Then they describe at length how digital cameras work, what features they must have and may optionally have, and to which extent these features are useful. Then they discuss what computer, printer, storage device, and software you will need to edit, store, and print your images. Some basic operations in Photoshop are explained, including preparation of pictures for the web. Finally, there is a very nice introduction in the essentials of studio and outdoors photography.

The style of writing is very nice - clear, detailed, but at the same time not too wordy. There is no silly jokes, and only as many pictures as necessary to illustrate the text. It is worth adding that since this book is not oriented at particular models of cameras, computers, or software, but rather deals with general ideas of digital imaging, it will not get out of date as fast as it happens with most books on computers and electronics.

Books as comprehensive and detailed as this one are few, and I can highly recommend it for anyone interested in digital photography. About 400 pages full of detailed information are certainly worth the price of this book.

I would characterize the level of this book from novice to intermediate, maybe even with some overlap with the advanced level.

Real World Digital Photography is a reference book for digital camera owners of all levels. The book covers topics such as how digital cameras work, how to buy one, imaging techniques and fundamentals of photography. Real World Digital Photography is a book that you will refer to often. It authors, Deke McCelland (Photoshop Bible) and Katrin Eismann, are experts in the field. Real World Digital Photography is written in a clear, concise, understandable style. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about digital imaging and getting more from their digital camera.

The current zoom in digital photography has spawned literally hundreds of thousands of "new" photographers and at the same time lots and lots of questions about this new craft. The &FOTOgraphics department at graphic-design.com has received hundreds of letters with all kinds of questions on how to take better digital pictures. Real World Digital Photography is what we'll be recommending from now on! Deke McClelland and Katrin Eisman have forged what will become the BIBLE of Digital Photography -- with the answers to everyone's questions about this new way of taking pictures. I recommend REAL WORLD DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY to anyone who wants to take their digital camera out of the realm of snapshots and into the world of industrial strength image techniques.