4 comments about Robert Capa: The Definitive Collection.

1. An excellent book, well printed, with a lot of photographs. The whole book gives a very good vieuw of the work of Capa. A must for everybody!



2. As a student of photography in the 1970's, I was familiar with a few dozen of
   these images. However I'm thrilled to be able to experience and share this
   collection of hundreds of Robert Capa's images, in roughly chronological order, including a few glimpses shot by others which help give a sense of the
   times and places in which he blazed fearlessly through his inevitably short life. This is a great gift for anyone interested in the life and work of the
   photojournalist covering the frontlines of world conflict.



3. Some of the best war photography. Includes all of Capa's most famous photos, and gives some biographical info. I found it inspiring -- it's more important to be close than to have fancy equipment. Courage and preparation win out.



4. I have not seen another book on Robert Capa that provides such a complete and insightful coverage of his career and voluminous production. For those who appreciate the importance of Capa's contribution to the history of photography and the rendition of key events spanning a momentous era of human history, this book is a "must-have". At the same time, it is unfortunate that the publishers chose to economize on the quality of the printing and the binding.

No comments about Dog Gallery Calendar 2009 (Page a Day Gallery Calendar).

5 comments about Nikon D70s/D70 (Magic Lantern Guides).

1. I was somewhat disappointed to this book as it seemed to be an expanded version of owner's manual only in new covers. Additionally, all pictures are in black-and-white! You may manage without this guide by just using the manual that came along with the camera. This guide although gives you some good hints every now and then, so it might be a practical addition to the official guide. You may find Nikon D70 Digital Field Guide even more interesting.



2. In spite of the several negative reviews I read here (mainly saying this book contains only that which is found in the product manual) I appreciated the subject matter being presented in a very consecutive and logical manner - so much better than the product manual. This little book IS worth buying.



3. With this book even a person like me who had no knoledge about digital photography like me could take pictures like a pro. Very easy to follow.Best book I've ever bought.



4. This book is a terrific guide to helping understand all the functions of the D70/D70s. The explanation is more understandable than the owner's manual. I think this is a must for all new users of the D70/D70s.



5. I purchased this book several weeks ago after getting my new Nikon D70s and I, personally, think it's a great complement to the camera's manual. Yes, it does cover many of the same topics as the manual (in fact, as I flip through it, I usually have the manual close by), but it's a bit easier to read and uses language that us amateurs (who are new to the DSLR world) would find very useful, epecially when trying to navigate the technical specs of the camera.
   
   I probably wouldn't recommend this book to the veteran Nikon user (it may be a bit too redundant), but if the D70s is your first DSLR, I certainly think it's worth the money if you're serious about really understanding the D70s and what it can do.

2 comments about Picture This: Fun Photography and Crafts (Kids Can Do It).

1. I bought this for my grandson but wanted to keep it for myself when I reviewed it!



2. If your looking for a very basic introduction to photography for kids, this might be for you. It doesn't cover anything in depth, there's not nearly enough space in forty pages for that. On the other hand, if your "small one" is looking for a handful of ideas without the burden of techno speak it's worth checking out. Technically I'd say it's a CRAFT book the USES photography rather than a photography book that offers some crafts as most of the crafts could be done with or without the benifit of a camera. All in all not a bad book but not in the same league as say "The Kids Guide to Digital Photography" by Jenni Bidner.

5 comments about Vanishing Act.

1. Bought this for a Christmas and everyone wanted to look through it before I gave it away. It is great fun for all ages!!!



2. I purchased this book as a gift for my elderly grandma. Both she and the rest of my family enjoy looking through the beautiful photos to spot the camouflaged animals.



3. This is such an amazing and wonderful book of photos taken by Art Wolfe. "Vanishing Act" refers to the natural camouflage of living beings as they blend into their environment, as a means of self-preservation.
   
   Honestly, I have had to look at some of the pictures 3 or 4 times before I could locate the animal, insect, bird, etc. that was lurking there. There is a "cheat sheet" in the back of the book, but I am determined to locate these creatures without resorting to outside help.
   
   It is so amazing that I could look at a large picture 3 or 4 times and not see what I was looking at; however, once you see it clearly you can't understand how you could have missed it in the first place. Isn't nature grand? I have two of Art Wolfe's works hanging on my walls and they are the first things commented on by any visitor to my home.
   
   Buy this book!



4. A mezmerizing coffee table book. It's almost a puzzle to find the incredible creatures in the photos that have natural camouflage. Large format views with lots of detail. A nature lover's must-have.



5. This photography/nature/evolution/puzzle book was simply astonishing. Everyone I've shown it to, from 8-80, has been both amazed by the photographs and thoroughly enjoyed reviewing it. When I brought it to work, a common response was, "Very cool ... Can I borrow this book overnight to show my husband/wife?" I need to e-mail Art Wolfe to ask him if I could represent him on his next creative effort. That way his work will achieve wider distribution and recognition.

5 comments about The Film Developing Cookbook (Darkroom Cookbook).

1. A lot of formulas, critical advice, honest opinions. But also, a lot of missing practical advice, a lot of missing result comparisons. You have to buy it though since there is nothing else out there...it is really a two-star, but the fact that you cannot buy anything else at its level makes it a four star book.



2. Bill Troop has been very well connected to a lot of people in photography over the years and was heavily engaged with developers at Kodak in Rochester. He accumulated a significant amount of subjective information and has pretty much pushed it all right into this book. It's prefect for the darkroom enthusiast who is intrigued with historic processes and how they might effect ones creative options. Note that this is not an instructional book for beginners but something more targeted at the advanced enthusiast whose interest has grown beyond the use of commonly available processes.



3. Things you never knew about the developing process are in this. I was quite impressed, and am enthusiastic about re-reading it.



4. very useful, it goes deep in the film developing as expected. It's a good starting point to make the own recipe and to learn *how works this kind of developer*. And many many more useful storic and pratic informations. Simply I love it. Dedicated to everyone feels to be an hero in this digital war against the true, pure, black and white...



5. I bought this book as the other books I have are now a bit dated. As the understanding of film development is always evolving, I thought this book would give me the latest ideas and knowledge.
   It does to some extent, but I could not help feeling the authors did not take the time to fully research and comprehend the details. Where they have quoted chemists / researchers the details are clear. However where they have tried to interpret or discuss aspects in some places it appears they do not clearly understand what they are trying to explain. The result is that they contradict themselves, fail to make things clear, or just plain get things wrong. They also only seem to address research by Kodak and a few independent researchers. The book thus misses out on research done by Fuji, Agfa, Ilford, etc. which is a significant omission in my opinion.

   So is the book worth it ? I think that I would still buy it as there are very few sources of up to date information available. And to be fair, they seem to have taken care in reproducing the formula. However, I would be sure to read some of the older books on developers, and cross check the information before relying on it.

5 comments about The Basic Book of Photography, Fifth Edition.

1. I give it four stars instead of 5 because it is not a book for everyone. It will not show you how to be a great photographer, nor will it step-by-step for dummies teach you to compose pictures. It will, however, educate you on the details and basics of photography.
   
   I've used a lot of point and clicks, and I've used several SLRs. All in all, even with today's set it and forget it cameras, you can take a good picture but you can't take a great photograph without knowing the technicals of what's going on behind the lens.
   
   Start here if you are patient and want to learn what photography is all about.



2. After doing photography my whole life with a point and shoot camera I finally bought a "real" camera. A Canon SLR that I had no idea how to use. So after a lot of research at the bookstore I settled on this book, and I am very happy I did. It teaches a beginner all the different important functions on your camera that you need to learn and why you need to know it. This book is very concise and detailed. All the functions on my camera are explained in detail in this book. If you have a new SLR that you don't know how to use I highly recommend this book.



3. I found this book to be a nice reference for beginners like me. It does not require you to read it from cover to cover. You can pick and read any chapter you like. The illustrations are good enough and the book is not overfilled with them tunlike some other books that focus so much on illustrations that they never take time to write those simple concepts.
   I think its worth having this book on your shelf if you are gradually starting photography as a hobby.



4. The first print of the book came out in 1974. Needless to say, photography has changed a great deal since 1974. Noted, this book is "fully updated" to cover the digital world, but I advice you if you have any desire to learn about the details of any apsect of photography this is not the book for you. The book reflects the fast changing field of photography-so many pages were devoted to films, instant Polarids, darkroom techniques, processing and protecting films..all extremely important but OUTDATED topics. Photography has mostly gone digital--very few people still take film (I perfer film, but I am a rare exception) and digital world was covered in the most basic way. To be fair, I believe that the samples of photos to illustrate authors' points were welll-chosen. (Many woderful color photos are inculded) However, a comprehensive discussion from film speed ratings to different types of flash gave a reader a strong feeling that this is a "Jack-of-all-trades" and "master-of-none" book. Another words, the book contains every thing basic (ie how to hold a camera) but if you want to learn how to covert RAW digital images from your Cannon to JPAGs for easy internet postings , good luck!



5. I recently decided to really learn something about photography, so I could stop taking lifeless snapshots and actually take some meaningful pictures instead. Until now, I have just snapped away with disposable cameras or an early model, low-quality digital point-and-shoot camera. I recently decided to buy a more sophisticated digital camera and learn to use it effectively.
   
   This book is a great guide for someone who wants to step up to taking some real pictures. It assumes no amount of expertise on the part of the reader, which was a problem I had encountered in other books; you will not find yourself reading jargon that goes unexplained. On the other hand, you don't have to worry about it being over-simplified; it will give you all that you need to really become competent. Not only does it present a wide variety of information, it is organized and composed very well. It is very readable, very well-written.
   
   The only way the book could be improved would be to write a new edition dedicated solely to those who are venturing into photography for the first time in the present digital age, without ever getting involved in film photography. The most recent edition of this book was released in 2003, when the changeover to digital photography was underway but by no means complete. 3 years later, in 2006, most people deciding to take up photography as a hobby are now going to straight to the digital world without bothering to familiarize themselves with film photography. Readers of "The Basic Book of Photography" should know that they will be educated in the field of photography first through film, and then that knowledge will be used to explain digital photography later in the book. 3 years ago when this edition was published, writing most of the book about film and then attaching digital may have been the right way to write a book about photography, but that has changed. Now it is probably time to write a book about digital photography that has one little chapter on film, not a whole book about film with one special chapter on digital. That having been said, you will still benefit enormously from reading everything in this book because the digital photo world evolved from film; if you understand its origins, you will still be learning things valuable to a digital photographer.
   
   The bottom line is this: if you've been taking snapshots your whole life but now you want to know how to really turn photography into a serious hobby, buy and read this book. If you only buy one book on photography, make it this one.

No comments about Bloom.

5 comments about Edge of Darkness: The Art, Craft, and Power of the High-Definition Monochrome Photograph.

1. Barry Thornton's masterful book is all about what you have to do to take those razor-sharp, etching-clear B&W photos. And it's all about film types and film-speeds and focal lengths and tripods and skylight and development chemistry and enlargement lenses and so on. The book is full of excellent guidance, test set-ups you should be doing to confirm the focus of your camera or the film-speed settings or the alignment of your enlarger or the various developer mixes that are available for B&W chemistry and how each produces sharper or less-sharp images.
   Over and over again, he demonstrates that the sharpest photos don't necessarily come from the finest-grained films or the biggest lenses or the most commonly used developer chemistry. In fact, there's a point at which the actual graininess of a film/print -- something you'd think would detract from the sharpness of the image -- actually contributes to the eye's perception of sharpness, of acuity!
   This is one of the best written photography books I've ever read -- right up there with Ansel Adams' classic trilogy and the National Geographic Field Guides to Photography.
   He starts each chapter with a personal event or story about his life, a place he found and photographed, a person who influenced his work. Then, he takes this narrative subject and makes it the illustration of whatever the topic of the chapter is. Beautifully written. A joy to read! And that's really saying something about a book on photographic techniques!
   Of course, the book is printed on high-quality clay paper and is full of exquisite reproductions of Thornton's works. And, like a true technical book, every photo is accompanied by a blurb on the camera, lens, film, development chemistry and times, printing chemistry and times, coatings ..., really, much more information than most readers would care about. But all is meticulously documented and, as you go through the chapters, you come to understand the significance of these technical bits of data -- and the differences in the images they produce.
   This is truly an outstanding book on photography, one of the very best I've read -- and I've read dozens! Yes, it's about B&W scenics, mostly. But the lessons it teaches are applicable to ALL photography and will help any photographer to improve. I highly recommend this well-written and very readable book.



2. As an amateur photographer striving for technical excellence, I found Barry's book and approach extremely useful. I like the way he breaks down the necessary elements of image sharpness and quality into chapters. I can digest them one at a time and try to correct my own shortcomings. The photographs are marvelous and I would have been proud to have created any of them. I only wish Barry were still alive to continue his easy style and dedication to helping photographers. May your memory be eternal!



3. The author's holy grail is sharpness, real and perceived. Type of film, type of developer, type of tripod and camera format, all slanted towards crisp and sharp photos. Nothing about tonality really: There are comparative photos only to show a difference in sharpness, except for a couple at the end showing bleaching techniques.
   A good book for someone who takes architecture or landscape photos (with the requisite time to set up) and who also likes to noodle with their own developers.
   The author's use of anecdotal stories to begin each chapter is a nice touch.



4. Probably one of the best books on B&W processing I've read in the past 20 years. Too bad the first one published by B.Thornton "Elements" is no longer available. Thornton takes on one myth after another and clearly separates truth from myth in the B&W process flow in the darkroom. Just outstanding reading.... highly recommended.
   
   Vladimir



5. What a delightful book! Once you've mastered Adam's beautiful books and the other books about serious zone system work this is the sort of book you hope for. Part memoir, part advanced how-to, and part philosophy put to paper in a delightful prose style.
   Not exactly for beginners -- the author assumes you know the zone system and are serious about doing your own darkroom work. It also doesn't hurt to have read Anchell's Film Developing Cookbook and the Book of Pyro but not needed. The photos in the book are beautifully printed and yet the cost is reasonable. I hope this publisher will continue in this vein.

5 comments about Natural Beauties.

1. I found the quality of the photography ran the entire gamut from the very amature effort that almost anyone with a point-and-shoot camera could accomplish to some exceptionally professional work. Unfortunately, there was too little of the latter.
   
   I was, however, pleasantly surprized to see tht there was little of an overtly soft-porn mode. It seems that too much of the new "nextdoor beauties" photography is just a thinly-veiled, soft-porn eroticism. Still, there was little that would be considered fine art. But, then again, as the author says, that's not the purpose of the book. Just nice pictures of pretty naked girls. It works.



2. As a glamour and nude photographer myself, I purchased this book for ideas and inspiration--I was not dissatisfied at all. I love the use of natural lighting, sometimes less means more and this book packs more than most if you're a connoisseur of natural beauty. I recommend anyone interested in this type of photography, buy it now!
   
   As an author of Garage Glamour: Digital Nude and Beauty Photography Made Simple, and Rolando Gomez's Glamour Photography: Professional Techniques and Images I recommend this book should not only be on a collector's list, but for any student of photography--we're always learning no matter what level your photography. ---Rolando Gomez, contributing writer, Studio Photography magazine



3. I really enjoy this collection, for all the reasons the editor want me to like it for. The models are young, charming, and unaffected. Their poses are [generally] natural and comfortable. Their figures vary somewhat, as people do - some fuller of bust, some charmingly slender. Each one looks like someone I'd like to meet. The big artistic concept here is that there is no big artistic concept. I also like the multiple images and poses of each model, showing more of the variety there is in each unique woman.
   
   Still, the models do tend towards a type: European in features and coloring, twentyish and young-looking even so, and the figures vary only within a limited range. The look is beautiful (or at least pretty), but just one of the many kinds of beauty in the world of women. If you don't have to spend too much, it will add a soft and warm touch to any collection of figure photography.
   
   //wiredweird



4. It was refreshing to review a book of nude photographs of women where the photos were real, untouched & not posed in a way to exploit the models. I have always had an interest in nude photography & the beauty of the female form. Top marks to the photographers, models & editor.



5. So the premise of this cute little book is the overlapping or merged ground between art and erotica. By and large the photos are a success. the woman and settings photographed are truly beautiful, sometimes as art, sometimes as erotica, and usually as both. Some of the women have what is best described as an unusual beauty, as do some of the backdrops. There are a phenomenal number of models from the eastern block. One of the memorable backdrops is of an eastern european or russian forest which has been leveled for timber, leaving a sea of stumps... I can recommend this book as a very nice addition to either a photography book collection or a collection devoted to an appreciation of the female form.