Digital Photography Expert Techniques, Second Edition

Reviewed by Mike Hubbartt

Digital photography is firmly entrenched in modern society, and people making the move from film to digital often find few salespeople with adequate subject matter expertise. To learn, a few will read the manual the vendor includes with the camera, some ask friends or relatives for help, others turn to the internet, while yet others find solace reading a good book on the subject. Of those methods, I personally prefer a good book, and since I’ve been taking digital photos for a few years and using PhotoShop I opted to look at Ken Milburn’s Digital Photography Expert Tips book.

Ken Milburn is a Photographer, author of twenty-seven books and a Photoshop Guru. While this book isn’t aimed at novices, the first couple of chapters provide lists of must-buy items for digital photographers. Ken provides tips on taking photographs, as well as file and directory naming conventions that make it easier to keep track of your photos - important for novices with few or experts with many digital photographs. I also liked his camera settings recommendations at the start of the book. Let’s look at the book, chapter by chapter.

Book Index

The first chapter of the book focuses on getting you ready to take pictures. It covers things you need to own, how to get the pictures from the camera to the computer, making backups of your digital photos and initial editing. Very good material and well worth the time, even for experienced photographers. Milburn demonstrates how good organization from the start is worthwhile and I heartily agree.

Chapter 2 is ‘Be Prepared’ and anyone planning on taking pictures away from their home should cover this material well before traveling. The author provides lists of accessories to take on a photo shoot and gives good advise how to take shoots. The tips for light metering and how to hold a steady camera won’t be new to film photographers, but will help the novice. One tip I really liked in this chapter dealt with monitor calibration. How many times have you taken a picture and liked what you saw on the computer monitor, but the colors or shading of the printed pictures don’t match the screen? The author mentions your monitor should be calibrated and lists several products on the market.

The third chapter covers image management with the tool you use to view pictures on the computer: the Bridge. Although I did like the information on adding metadata to digital pictures, this was my least favorite chapter in the book. Chapter 4 is the first chapter you actually go into the process of modifying a digital picture. The only downside to the material in this chapter is the audience – many digital cameras don’t take RAW pictures. Check your camera before spending your time in this chapter, and move on to chapter 5 if you can’t use this information yet. Or better yet, buy a better camera.

Chapter 5 is where this book really takes off. It provides a system for nondestructive editing of digital images. The information on the types of layers and purpose for each layer is useful, even though I’ll rarely use everything that Photoshop can do to my photos. But this concise list helps me choose what layers best fit my purposes. Milburn builds on this information in successive chapters and you need read and understand it to gain the most from material presented later in the book.

Chapter 6 covers working on adjustment layers. The author says that adjusting basic levels and curves adjustment layers is the best place to start, and he covers the steps to set shadow, highlight and overall brightness. He also demonstrates (with before and after photos) how that adjusting the curves layer can let you touch up contrast in specific areas of your pictures. Nice! I also liked the demonstrations how you can use both the color balance and curves layers to adjust image color.

The seventh chapter is excellent. It explains and demonstrates how to make targeted adjustments to images. Making a mask, lifting a selection to a new layer and creating neat effects like adding colored light can be useful when doing landscape photography. I especially liked how Milburn explained how to change the background sky in a photograph – some I need to do on a few pictures I took in England last year. Overall, this chapter fleshes out the materials presented in chapter 6.

Chapter 8 is my favorite chapter in the book, as it gives great tips to make huge improvements to images. It covers tools and techniques to repair image details, and the author does some nice before and after demonstrations. I particularly liked how he showed removing pimples and bags under the eyes of a model. Now if I could just figure how to knock off 15 Lbs of my weight from my pictures, I’d be happier… The best thing I liked about this chapter was the process to remove water pipes in the foreground of the picture of a cabin in the woods. During our trip to Scotland, we went to Stirling Castle and enjoyed it, but they are doing considerable renovations, so most of my photos have scaffolds, which really distracts from the ambience of the place. I’m using the techniques Milburn mentions here to remove those modern constructs from this very old castle. Some additional specific types of repairs Milburn covers include: restoring photos, glamour tips, killing eyeglass glare, architectural tips and adding water drops to an image. Fantastic information and a must-read chapter.

The ninth chapter is titles ‘Collage and Montage,’ which is the focus. To be honest, neither have much appeal to me, but I read the material as the earlier chapters were so well done and I learned a lot about making both items. Chapter 10 is pay dirt – it explains how to make your pictures stand out. Subjects covered include applying filter effects, blurring, liquefying and warping, using lighting and colorization and film effects. My only caveat – make sure you read the earlier chapters before you start here, unless you already feel you really know Photoshop.

If you’ve ever wanted to take panoramas, go to chapter 11. Great ti[s how to take pictures to merge together as a panorama, and nice screen shots showing what to expect. Another nice bit of news concerns making your photos look more like a painting. I’ve used Alien Skin’s Exposure (http://www.alienskin.com/) and found it to be good, but pricy at $199.

Chapter 12 addresses how to print and distribute your digital images to the world. Although I have decent printers I still lay out the $.19 per 3x5 print at the local store. I did like the tips on creating a portfolio and a limited edition book – after all, this is the digital age. Milburn also gives the procedure to optimize your photos for the web, including adding copyright and watermark information to your images.

Conclusion:

After reading this book, I have a better appreciation how Photoshop can correct problems I encounter in the field. This book is packed with valuable tips and procedures and before and after pictures to enhance your digital photography experience. This is the third O’Reilly book I’ve read where I felt it necessary to take copious notes for future reference. If you don’t have enough reasons already, add “attend MacWorld Expo 2008 to catch a Ken Milburn session.”

Digital Photography Expert Techniques is loaded with useful tips and equipment lists, general and specific procedures to improve digital pictures, and is organized for easy reference. My favorite chapters in this book were Chapters 6 – 8 and 10, although I suggest Photoshop novices start at the beginning to get the most out of this book.

Recommendation: If you own a digital camera, buy it. It will encourage you to explore Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, and is well worth the time and money you’ll invest.