Customer Reviews
Misunderstanding digital photography - By: Rennie Petersen, 19 May 2006 
Reading "Understanding Digital Photography" by Bryon Peterson is a bit like being at a family get-together, & being given a lot of good advice by friendly uncle Phil over a couple of beers. Then you later discover that friendly uncle Phil didn't know what he was talking about! It does mar what was otherwise a good experience.
What makes me think of a family get-together is the folksy, jocular tone & the amusing comparisons between technical subjects & familiar things. Here are a few of Bryan Peterson's more colorful attempts at making digital photography understandable:
- The pixels on the sensor work together like a family, like socialism, & it's too bad Stalin & Mao Tse-tung couldn't see this (pg 16).
- JPEGs are like amnesia or like AM radio or like prepared meat loaf (pg 18, 20).
- TIFFs are like elephants (pg 19).
- ISO is like caffeine, & high ISO is like bloodshot eyes (pg 22).
- Long exposure times cause the pixel family to fall apart & have a nervous breakdown (pg 78).
- Checking the background is important, although typically not done regarding the person you're going to marry (pg 96).
- Over-sharpening a picture makes it glow, which could be used to guide Santa Claus & Rudolph (pg 129).
This style of writing may appeal to some people, but it's definitely not my cup of tea.
The book is richly illustrated with a lot of photographs taken by Bryan Peterson. These pictures do a good job of presenting the various techniques being discussed, & they are all good pictures from a purely technical point of view.
However, my aesthetic opinion of most of the pictures is fairly low, i.e., they are not the kind of pictures that I'd like to be able to make someday.
Bryan Peterson favors very colorful photos, & he admits that he pushes the color saturation up on most of his pictures. The composition & subjects of many of his pictures leave a kind of artificial taste, as if the pictures were being made just for the sake of making pictures that will impress.
Of course, taste is something that is very individual, & Bryan Peterson is a successful professional photographer so there are obviously many people who like his pictures.
The most serious problem with this book is the large number of technical errors concerning digital photography. Here are some of the more serious examples:
- "... the more pixels the merrier" (pg 16). Only true up to a point.
- "Every time you open & close a JPEG file on your computer, the file degrades due to data being lost..." (pg 18). Not true, & Bryan Peterson's warnings against using JPEGs are mostly incorrect.
- White balance should always be set to "Cloudy+3" (pg 26). Poor advice, especially when photographing people because of the need to get skin colors correct.
- Landscapes should be shot at f/22 (pg 34) & macros at f/32 (pg 118). This doesn't take the light diffraction problem into account.
- Depth of field properties of a lens are independent of sensor size (pg 39 & 119). Not true.
- Noise reduction should be done lastin post processing (pg 57). No, it should be done first.
- Clean the sensor with compressed air (pg 127). No, this can damage the camera.
- Take pictures under-exposed by 3 stopsin order to stack 8 of themin Photoshop (pg 148). Crazy advice, you should change the opacity of the layers instead.
- "The output size of that file ... will be around 2048 x 3000 ppi (pixels per inch) ..." (pg 156). Meaningless statement.
Bryan Peterson tells us that he shot film for many years & only recently switched to digital. This book was obviously written before he had learned enough about digital photography to explain it properly.
So, I don't like the tone of the writing & I don't particularly like the pictures & I don't think Bryan Peterson's knowledge of digital photography was up to the task. What did I like about this book?
Actually, the basic concepts regarding photography that Bryan Peterson describes are good. The importance of getting the picture right when shooting it (as opposed to Photoshopping it later), the wayin which aperture & shutter speed affect the picture, the importance of how a picture is illuminated & composed, the value of using a tripod; all of this material represents the core concepts of photography that need to be learnedin order to be able to consistently take good pictures.
Another thing I appreciated was that Bryan Peterson says that understanding the technology isn't the most important aspect of being a good photographer. "... 99% of all successful photographic images have relied on ... setting a creatively correct exposure & ... creating a well-balanced & compelling composition" (pg 10). This book is inadvertent proof that a lack of technical knowledge does not prevent a person with the proper basic knowledge of photography from taking good pictures.
Still, for a book that is targeted at those who want to learn about digital photography, the many errors disqualify it.
Rennie Petersen
Excellent book on digital - By: R. Whiting, 15 Mar 2006 
Bryan Peterson is a really talented & knowledgeable photographer & a very easy to read author. His vibrant style of photography can be seen right through this book.
The book itself is aimed at the users of Digital SLR cameras rather than compacts, & will appeal to the beginner & intermediate amateur who wants to start moving onto more advanced photography. The book does a very good job of explaining all the important techniquesin an easy to understand style. It also covers very basic Photoshop CS techniques. I stress the "Very basic" as Peterson is first & foremost a photographer, & prefers to get his images rightin camera! He does discuss the merits of RAW & JPEG, & his theories on white balance, which make interesting reading.
Highly reccomended
Just Buy it! - By: , 26 Oct 2005 What a fantastic book! Packed with inspirational topics, & great pictures providing excellent examples of the topics such as depth of field, colour, composition etc.
I have another one of Peterson's books called "Understanding Exposure" which is also very good, but this new title is specifically geared towards digital imaging. The emphasis is still on taking the picture rather than on digital manipulation, but having said that, the chapter on manipulation is informative & keeps things at a basic level. The tips throughout the book are great!
Having read through this book very quickly, it is packed full of very useful & sensible information, & you will definitely become a better photographer if you take his lessons on board. The sort of book that you can keep for future reference & ideas - it will certainly be read & re-read many times before I am finished.
Highly Recommended.
