This full color book is written by 3 well know Authors who take a complete look at Digital Photography. This book covers a lot of ground that is largely ignored by other books. Real World Digital Photography, will take you from Buying a camera and shooting pictures right through to processing and correcting it on your computer and finally printing the results out.

The subject matter is organized into 4 sections:
Digital Photography Essentials Digital Photography Techniques The Digital Darkroom Output, Manage and Present

The first section breaks down the theory behind Digital Photography and explains things like resolution, how a camera works and advice on buying a camera. The authors present this in a friendly and real manner. They don't just sing the praises of digital without also discussing the drawbacks and warnings about marketing hype. I was very please to see that the authors don't try to "shoehorn" everybody into the Prosumer/Professional equipment and look down their noses at the more budget conscious photographer, who may not have the budget or desire to purchase high dollar equipment.

This section concludes with tips on setting up your own studio and walks through some of the accessories and equipment that is available. I would have liked to have seen some tips on lighting and reflector positioning here.

The second section of the book is packed full of tips on actually taking pictures. These is advice ranging from metering to composition. Attention is given to subjects such as white balance, exposure and focal length to help you take better Photographs. In all this section covers a lot of ground and is very helpful to both budding photographers and experiences shutter jockeys who have made the transition to digital.

The section on The Digital Darkroom does a good job of explaining what the present day digital dark room looks like compared to the "chemical room" of film. There is some good explanation of the Hardware involved and setting up the best set up for your needs. This is where Photoshop comes into the picture and is used throughout for image correction and enhancements. There are tons of great tutorials that will show you how to fix up your images and make them look great. Something I found very good is that this book follows a professional workflow, rather than disjointed tutorials.

The final section discusses output. Topics such as printing, color calibration and output to the web are covered in this section. The Authors do a good job of answering the "What now?" that people may ask after their images are all nicely arranged on their computers. The reader will learn how to order prints online and archive those images for a "rainy day."

Conclusion:
This book covers a lot of ground and turns over many stones of knowledge. The scope is excellent and this is a very good all in one book. Because of the scope of the book, I wouldn't say it is an exhaustive guide, however this is a book that belongs on the shelf of every person who owns Photoshop and a camera. (Not just Digital).

The authors are people that really know their stuff and the book is written from a base of experience and not just theory. There is a good balance of theory and practical examples and tutorials. The layout and artwork is clear and inviting. This book lives up to its name and it is a good "real world" guide for Digital Photographers.

If you are an absolute beginner, you may find parts of the book a bit frustrating because of the use of "Industry Jargon" however an Intermediate level user will be very happy with this book.

I highly recomend this book, it is one of the best out on the subject!

Purchase the book here