Digital Compact Cameras: Great Photos Every Time [BOOK REVIEW]

From the mountains of feedback that Digital Photography School generates there appears to be a skill division in visitors: there are those who are well up in digital imaging and those who could politely be described as ‘well down’.

For the ‘well down’ Digital Compact Cameras: Great Photos Every Time by Arnold Wilson is a book that skewers into the target with considerable accuracy. In its 144 pages you lead off with the basics, move into the control interface of a digital camera, slide into a discussion of accessories you could do with, then trip into the role of composition, use of colour, depth and perspective etc.

The information is accurate, precise, condensed.

A sample: “Check how a scene will look in a photograph by closing one eye.” Superb advice and a dose of help that should convince the beginner to think carefully before pressing the shutter button. After all, one of the hazards of digital cameras is the ease and cheapness of digital photography. Look Ma! No film! No cost!

I figure, in all the buzz of digital photography over the last few years, it has been all too easy to end up with a torrent of pictures that were, in the cold light of day, not worth the taking. Arnold Wilson’s book comes at exactly the right time.

There is also some serious help in rescuing an image that looked good at the moment of capture but fell over on the monitor: this leads on to advice on how to use image sharpening successfully; crop a loosely composed picture; tweaks to brightness, contrast and colour saturation are just a few basic that may have escaped the beginner’ attention span.

There’s a bit of a chat about the quality of light, how it varies from sunlight through noon to sunset as well as a serious look at the role of colour temperature. The point of these topics is that they’ll encourage the curious to investigate further.

The book has a pile of useful, basic and more than basic info. The printing quality is excellent as are the colour pictures.

Grab a copy of Digital Compact Cameras: Great Photos Every Time at Amazon.