5 comments about The Oxford Companion to the Photograph (Oxford Companion To...).

1. Great book. Very informative entries. Would have liked to see more photos that "show" examples of what the entries describe in words.



2. This is an excellent reference book on photography. It covers noted photographers, photographic history, photographic theories, and a great deal more. Oxford Companion books are well known for their exceptionally good quality. The section on digital imaging, for example, is one of the best I have ever read.
   
   Please note that this is a reference book. It is not designed to teach photography. However, any serious photographer or photography student will find this book useful. This book would also make a superb gift for anyone interested in photography.



3. It is through and useful. It's useful as a reference for various techniques, but I use it mostly as a way to refresh my memory on the hundreds, even thousands, of photographers of whom I've heard or encountered. Really first rate reference book.



4. I received this book as a gift and am amazed at the thoroughness with which the subject of photography is covered. The illustrations are beautiful and plenty and the content, rich. This is a must-have for anyone with even a passing interest in photography.



5. This outstanding book covers every aspect of photography, from techniques, to biographies of photographers, to photographs and exhibitions and much more. It is a perfect resource for anyone with an interest in photgraphy, from the art lover to the novice photographer to the most seasoned professional photographers. I was really impressed with the paper quality, and the image quality. It is definitely as described, lavishly illustrated with some breath-taking photgraphs, in color and black and white throughout. And of course, the jacket design makes this a perfect coffee-table book, one you can pick up and browse, and find something interesting every time you dip in to it. For a big, fat art book, the price isn't bad either. Highly recommended for anyone with interest in photography.

5 comments about Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Express HD (Apple Pro Training).

1. This is by far the best self paced overview series I have found for various applications. I wish there were classes near me (but they are hours away) but these are fantastic substitutes!



2. If you're an experienced iMovie user wanting to learn FCE, then this book is not the best one. It's a useful tutorial book for a class, but simple references like creating slow motion clips, importing media from iMovie or iTunes, switching around clips, etc. are simply not easy to find using the index of this book.
   I highly suggest Final Cut Express HD for Mac OS X (Visual QuickStart Guide) as a much better reference guide. And if you can find some audiovisual tutorials about FCE, those would work better for you than this book.



3. This is a very good introduction to FCE. The lessons are well laid out and the author, Diana Weynand, gives you clear instructions. The only weakness here is that advanced editing techniques, and companion products like Live Type and Soundtrack have only electronic PDF's which make it very difficult to learn unless you print out the PDF's (expensive) or have two computers , one for the PDF instructions and the other for doing the lessons(expensive).



4. If you are a beginner as was I, learning Final Cut Express HD can seem very difficult. The Apple Training Series certainly bridges the gulf and provides a painless way via tutorials on many of the skills needed to master FCE. On the other hand, it does not provide insights into all of the features. For example, it does not mention the motion features and how to control scale, rotation, center, or any of the other parameters for motion. Overall it is a good book but not a great one.



5. Just at chapter 6 and have found that the program is simple and easy to follow. Did not start with iMovie so I have no experience, which is why I feel the step by step guidance and building a previous learning is great. Good stuff for beginners.

1 comments about Woodshop Lust: American Woodshops And The Men Who Love Them.

1. I ordered this book without having the chance to flip through it first. In hindsight you could probably read this in 30 minutes at a Barnes & Noble and save yourself $14. It's more of a picture tutorial of various shops around the country. There's not much detail on each shop which is fine as there are lots of pictures which every woodworker likes looking at pictures of other's shops. I'd say it's a good book to flip through but I wouldn't consider it a reference book like some of my other woodworking books. I did get some ideas for my own shop from this book which makes it worth the cost to me.

5 comments about Rodeo Girl.

1. Rodeo Girl is a spectacular and refreshing collection of photographs that will surely appeal to anyone interested in photography, the rodeo, or both. As an age of technology engulfs our world like a whirlwind, Lisa Eisner's lens takes the viewer through frames of the rodeo as though it were a ballad to an endangered species, a slow, lasting glimpse before it disappears forever into the sunset. Eisner finds in the rodeo what most photographers only dream of -- an opportunity to craft deliberate compositions of the spontaneous. And she takes advantage of that opportunity brilliantly. While many of the photographs are indeed of rodeo girls, the palette of subjects depicted is actually much broader. Personally, I like Eisner's sense of photographic artistry, and the high print quality helps do it justice. Among other things, with photographs in colour as well as black & white, warm tones seem to be preferred throughout which makes for a classic appearance and suits the rodeo theme well. To truly enjoy this book, set aside any preconceived notions you might have, take it one page at a time, and turn each one slowly. Otherwise, you might easily miss barrel racer Katie McCoin at Cheyenne taking time out to write a note to someone, hopeful yet easygoing Candice Fernets at the national high school finals in Gillette beaming a winsome smile wide as the West, champion steer wrestler Denver Gilbert spending a quiet moment in the truck, an ever-patient cowboy on the fence with the sun setting in the background, and many, many more memorable scenes of the rodeo that this wonderful collection of photographs will never let us forget. We are left anxiously awaiting the next rodeo, hopefully with Eisner close behind rounding up another volume of luminous photographs.



2. I'm really disappointed. As a current title holder and someone who has competed for national titles I don't think this book is really accurate. It is billed as a rodeo queen pictorial, but the pictures are so limited. It's about rodeo culture. Not rodeo queens.

   There are so many pictures of random rodeo scenes. In fact, I think it gives the layperson a really negative view of the rodeo culture. The pictures are over exposed and the way they are printed make them seem so dated. It's almost embarrasing. The few pictures that she had of queens weren't great, nothing to write home about. If they were of myself, I probably wouldn't buy the book.

   To me it was a disappointing waste of money. But if she got THIS published, I know I could put my personal photos together, not rake the time to title them and be a hit!




3. I was disappointed in this book. I have met and spent time with Miss Rodeo America 1999 and 2000, and the Miss Rodeo California's from 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 as well as held rodeo queen titles of my own.

   I purchased this book as a resource for rodeo and queen competitions. I expected a book about the life of a rodeo queen and some of the challenges and triumphs that are experienced by the first ladies of rodeo. This book is unfortunately of little to no use for current or potential rodeo queen competitors.

   Much to my surprise, this book is a compilation of untitled photos that depict candid images of rodeo queens, children, and cowboys in a variety of rodeo-ish settings. As a coffee table book, this would be great, if all I wanted was a book of pictures.




4. If you have the slightest interest in this book, GET IT! It has the best photos of exactly "Rodeo Girl". Lots of sequins, lots of hair. It looks great on a coffee table too.



5. I am an avid rodeo fan and have been involved with rodeo queens for many years. The pictures in this book are quality pictures that I could relate to and understand.

   However, to the lay person, without captions or stories, these pictures don't tell their "story". There are several pictures of "rodeo girls", but the title doesn't accurately represent what is inside the book. There is an index in the back of the book that gives a brief description of who is in the picture, but it is difficult to tie to the pictures because they are not numbered.

   A good book, terrific pictures that tell a story, but not a book that would appeal to a broad group of people.

1 comments about Scrapbooking Baby's Cherished Moments: 200 Page Designs.

1. I purchased this book because of the reviews . . . none of which mentioned that she uses MOSTLY black and white photographs in her layouts! As ALL sacrapbookers have been taught, black and white photo layouts are done VERY differently then Color photo layouts! I was dissapointed even though I picked up a few GREAT tips!
   
   If you do ONLY or Mostly Black and White Photography and like simple layouts this is the book for you!

5 comments about Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) 5.5 Classroom in a Book.

1. I just read two lessons, and between page 109-page 111, there are a few paragraphs on "Creating evenly spaced buttons for a web page". Every time I tried to drag the styles on to view inside ImageReady, the style is applied to the while view swallowing EVERY button in the view. I don't know whether the editors tested the instructions thoroughly.



2. This book provides a do-it-yourself training program for Adobe Photoshop. It provides step-by-step instructions that will help you explore and learn to use the main features of Photoshop. Each lesson begins with an overview of the skills you will learn, and an estimate of the time it will take to complete the lesson. Following that are the instructions that guide you towards completing the assigned tasks to the artwork contained on the accompanying CD-ROM. At the end of every chapter is a short list of review questions and answers.

   I came to this book as a complete beginner- -the only graphics software I had used before was Microsoft Paint. I had an inkling that my supervisor would soon require me to begin using Photoshop, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to do so without training. I managed to get about a 2 month head start in using this book before I needed to use the software for work. Since I could manage to complete about a chapter a week in this book, that was barely enough to get by when the time came. With no background whatsoever in graphic arts, I had a tough time understanding the minimal explanations contained in this book of gradients, masks, and channels. The explanations of how to use these tools are very clear, but even after learning how to use them, I'm still quite hazy about what they are and why a designer would use them. For that reason, I wish this book had suggestions for further reading, to help graphic novices learn more about the general concepts behind the tools. Nevertheless, by carefully following the training program in this book, I was able to develop the skills necessary to do small photo editing tasks. More importantly, thanks to this book, I am now quite comfortable with the Photoshop interface and all its palettes, which seemed so formidable in the beginning.

   Overall, the instructions and screen shots in the book were quite clear. Even though I was using the book for Photoshop version 5.5 with version 6.0 software, I was still able to follow along on almost every task (sometimes with the assistance of Photoshop Help, to find the new location of the required tools). The only major inaccuracy that I found was in the chapter 15 review questions, where the sequencing of questions and answers was completely disorganized.




3. Don't expect to pass the ACE [Adobe Certified Expert] exam with this book alone, unless you are a seasoned Photoshop guru. I studied this book cover to cover and memorized all the lessons in the back of each chapter, and I only passed the ACE exam by a handful of questions [I got a 78%]. Don't get me wrong, this book is an OK addition to the library as a supplement to the Photoshop 5.5 manual, but it is not as effective at teaching the more useful techniques. I prefer the "Photoshop WOW! Book" style - densely packed with nothing but page after page of useful tips, tricks, how-to's, and techiniques of the masters. This is not that book.



4. This is THE book to learn Adobe Photoshop by. This book will not allow you to master the world's best, but most complicated graphic design program known to man, but you will have the best introduction to the program available. This book is so complete, yet simple to use, I can give it to my student's and say start here on page one and ask me if you have questions. They rarely have questions and when the are done they KNOW the program.



5. This book was very useful to me! It takes you step by step with each lesson provided that explains everything, as if you were in a classroom. It doesn't take up much time, and its very easy to read and understand. If you are looking to learn photshop 5.5 from the VERY beginning, this is the book to start with!

1 comments about Chicago: A Photographic Celebration.

1. This book Shows most of the well know landmarks in Chicago and many more obscure but beautiful Statues,Buildings,etc. It is More Picture than text making it an Ideal gift for foreign visitors to remember their vist to our beautiful City.

5 comments about On the Beach.

1. This is one of those exquisitely printed, oversized photo books that takes you out of yourself and out of your own immediate environment, and allows you to experience the weightless free-flying giddiness of a dreamlike vacation.
   
   It's a joy to get lost in the beautiful natural expanses that act as abstract minimalist grounds dotted here and there with humans at peace and in repose. The late afternoon light captures the dimples of the sand and the ripples of the calm glowing surface of the sea.
   
   What more can I say? Not much. And apparently the publisher knew that, too, because indeed there is only one short paragraph of text at the end written by the photographer.
   
   If you are craving a totally relaxing tropical vacation, this is next best to the real thing.
   
   -- Jim Casper



2. The large format of the images is really strinking. The book was much larger than I expected when I ordered it. I wonder if the prints would be as moving if they were smaller. But the size is part of the work so I guess that question might not matter. I imagine these images would be great alone on a wall as well. The images gave me sense of how limitless our universe is around us. We find things in life to ground us or anchor us but really we are just floating around in the ether.



3. this is a focused work of exceptional calibre. Its presentation is immaculate, and the topic is the beach... still life's or life frozen, the water mesmerizes, the people are sometimes mystifying, sometimes inconsequential, mostly always only a part of a whole much larger. The colours and the clarity of his shots are beautiful. Just make sure you have room for this work!



4. I purchased the book after seeing an exhibition of this work at The Art Institute of Chicago. This book does a fine job of capturing the impact of the exhibition. The images are stunning and perfectly supported by the design and scale of this book. Well worth the price.



5. RICHARD MISRACH SIMPLY AMAZES ME WITH ALL HIS PHOTO PROJECTS. FROM DESERT CANTOS , THE SKY BOOK , SAN FRANSICO BRIDGE BOOK.WE ARE AWAKENED BY HIS ON THE BEACH PROJECT. A MOST INTERESTING AND SOPHISTICATED PUBLICATION TO DATE.A MUST FOR A PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK COLLECTOR.

No comments about Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie: Intimacy and Design.

No comments about Pennsylvania's Northeast: Poconos, Endless Mountains, and Urban Centers (Pa's Cultural & Natural Heritage Series).