AAUG Reviews

by Gary Miler, AAUG Member

Robin Williams is one woman Mac powerhouse. She’s been around a long time, and knows how to write so we quickly understand and grasp her points.
Her first book I read, when I was new to Mac’s was an industry favorite called The Little Mac Book. She has a knack for talking to you, not down, and when I picked up that book, I was a newbie. I also read one of her design books, for she is diversified, from graphic arts to now Shakespeare author, and we can catch her on cruises. If you get a chance, do!

This book, was a choice for me to get some basics on Mac’s latest OS - Leopard, and I knew Robin would guide me, offer tips, and have illustrations, and yes, they’re in color. Peachpit Press is a great company, an old guard company, that publishes just the best, and this is one. The book is designed to take the reader from being introduced to Macs, and it’s Operating System, and take you from there. Since I’ve been into Macs for many years now, not sure how many, I went through the beginning quickly, but often because the catchy design approach, illustrations, I would stop, read, and learn something I’d not known.

The book is laid out in it’s Contents at a Glance. It uses lessons, from 1 - Introduction to the Mac OS X Desktop through 24 on page 415: Secure your Mac and it’s Files. (more…)

by Robin Walters , AAUG Member

The Digital Photography Book serves as a quick reference guide for beginners to intermediate photographers on issues from focusing to what equipment to purchase, from composition to the digital printing process. The book is relatively short and each point or technique that he discusses takes a page to explain.

The writing technique of Scott Kelby in this particular book makes the reader feel as if he were out on a photo shoot with you. As Kelby says in his introduction, he is giving tips as if you were a buddy of his out shooting photos with him. He is trying to give pointers for everyday situations such as weddings, people, landscapes, and travel. He gives almost 200 tips. Some of his tips are oversimplified and not every situation he describes can use his “technique”, but his general rules will help produce better photos for the everyday photographer. The tips he does give can also be used for film photography. When Scott does explain a technique, such as shooting flowers, he does it in a straight forward, easy to understand practical way without a lot of technical jargon. Yet, each tip has enough detail that I got a better idea of how F-stops and focal lengths affect my photos. I also learned how and what lenses to use. Not only does the book give shooting tips for special situations, it talks about aperture speeds, macros shooting and a page about sport shooting.

At the back of the book, there is a chapter titled “Photo Recipes to Help You Get the Shot” where Scott shows a particular type of photo effect such as “smooth and silky water” and “dramatic skies” in a landscape shot then, step-by-step, explains what you need to do to replicate the shot. (more…)

by Mike Baranowski, AAUG Member

I felt like this book was written just for me. I had purchased a dSLR and have no experience in shooting film. I already use Photoshop and knew the importance of a decent workflow so I had already purchased Aperture to manage my assets in RAW and JPEG. I was shooting with the kit lens for 3 months when I started figuring out how to get out of point and shoot mode and into priority shooting - this subtitle (beyond point and shoot) hooked me and I was sold from there.

The book is laid out with much white space and good photographic examples (a few small mis-captions but still very well done) so it was an easy and quick read. The book is very logical with chapters on: dSLR Basics, dSLR Controls, Selecting and Using Lenses, Flash Photography, Filters and Special Effects, Working with RAW Files, and Image Editing. Within an hour the author had me out of point and shoot modes and into priority shooting. Much quicker than I would have on my own or with internet search results.

The author talks to many camera manufacturers but has access to much Canon gear because most photos are Canon. He does not make judgments on one brand over the other and the book is very balanced, besides the photos of gear. The book also led me to purchasing a 50mm f/1.4 lens. This has really changed the way I am working on composition while simultaneously staying out of the “point and shoot” modes and the shots look fantastic. I would have liked more material in the lens and priority shooting sections. It was enough to get me to go and try it immediately on a trip but if I had more details on these areas I could explore even deeper with more comprehension. (more…)

by Chuck Maas, AAUG Member

Scott Kelby is one of the most prolific technical writers in the business. By his own acclamation he is the worldís #1 best-selling author of all computer and technology books, across all categories. That means a lot of people must like his books and buy a lot of them (either that or heís really rich and just publishes tons of them that sit in warehouses somewhere). So whatís his style like? How about up-beat, jocular, full of punny side remarks and allusions intended to be humorous, forever positive, anything is possible, never boringÖunless you get just a little tired of the incessant pandering to keep the readerís attention. But he knows the software and is good with tips on how to make it work, and even though heís a Mac evangelist, he takes the time to address cross-platform issues whenever they come up.

The software. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is destined to be one of the most popular imaging programs Adobe, or anyone else, has written. To a certain degree it will very likely slow sales of the full version of Photoshop, not because that is an inherently flawed program, but because Lightroom takes a more streamlined approach in often more intuitive and elegant fashion to basic and intermediate digital imaging needs. It makes a great front end for downloading files, sorting and labeling, making quick and effective adjustments, cataloging and managing the files, and purposing them for output to print, web, or slideshow. In doing all this it doesnít replace Photoshop because Lightroom omits complex targeted adjustments, compositing, or layers, so there are very good reasons to use Lightroom in concert with Photoshop for a full-fledged imaging workflow accommodating efficiency when minor adjustments are enough, and effectiveness when an image simply requires complex work.

The book. In a nutshell, Scottís books work very well for a beginning and intermediate audience. Every individual learns in a different fashion, but the trend of the time is to be simple and visual. Scott accomplishes that through design and method. Throughout the book there are lots of pictures and screenshots with explanatory text along the outside of the pages. The ratio is about 1/3 text, 2/3 pics. And the method goes right to the heart of communication by picking a subject and then taking you right through it step by step. Most of the explanations are lucid and thorough, conveying a lot of info in a short time, and lots of clever suggestions are offered along the way. The coverage is pretty thorough. Of course reading a book does not make one a software expert; that takes lots of serious study and hands-on practice. But again, if you follow all the steps all the way through the book, you should gain pretty good facility with Lightroom.

Shortcomings? Sure; several. For one, software often changes faster than books can be published about it (thatís not the bookís fault of course). With this one you can register with Peachpit.com (parent of the publisher New Riders) for updates, which is a strong step in the right direction. With regard to style, I could do less with some of the humorously-intended but somewhat tiresome banter, but thatís just a personal preference; donít let my view get in your way if Kelbyís style helps you learn. Finally, some folks really need to know not just the ìwhatî or ìhow toî but also the ìwhy;î not too much of the ìwhyî here. On the other hand, if all the ìwhysî were addressed the book would be twice as long, get boring, and probably be bought and read by far fewer people.

Conclusion. A bright tome that deserves space on the bookshelves or most new Adobe Photoshop Lightroom users, especially those who learn well from a light-hearted, mostly visual presentation. Not a bad reference for advanced users either. All in all, solidly recommended.

by Richard Geiger, AAUG Member

What is Aperture? The program is Apple Computer Company’s answer to a digital workflow for digital images. The program tries to recreate the days of editing slides on a light table. The program is like the professional version of iPhoto but with more power. It is also designed to handle RAW images which most professional Single-Reflex-Lens (SLR) cameras can shoot.

The program is a digital workflow program and has many nondestructive editing features built into it. The program is not a substitute an external image editor such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or other photo editing programs if you are interested in more creative editing.

I reviewed Apple Pro Training Series Aperture 1.5: Professionally Manage Digital Photographs. The book covers Aperture version 1.5 and is written for a intermediate level user and has good understanding of Mac OS X. The book is designed to be used in conjunction with enclosed DVD. The book is 543 pages with 12 lessons. I found the book most useful when I followed the exercise instead of just reading the book. The book gives you a feel of a college text book. Each chapter tends to build on the next chapter so it is not that easy to jump around in the book.

If you are just starting out with Aperture I would recommend “Aperture Expose” by Ellen Anon and Josh Anon. The book covers Aperture 1.1 but the current is version 1.53. However, the book gives you a good introduction to Aperture for an new user, but would be a light side for a intermediate user. (more…)

by Anita Williams, AAUG Member

As a point-and-shoot type of photographer who would like to do better, this book was an inspiration. I must admit that the book was definitely beyond my experience level through most of the chapters. However that did not inhibit me from gleaning many good ideas to try to put into practice in my future photographic forays. I will now be able to go through my camera manual with a new understanding of its innumerable features. As we all know camera manuals are written in a unique form of English barely understandable to the average person.

Douglas Rea is an excellent writer in that he can actually put a photographic procedure down into words that are understandable. He opens each of his chapters with a short introduction that piques the reader’s curiosity. You actually want to read what he has to say about that chapter’s topic. His illustrations are excellent and really do evolve to prove a point he has made in the text. He delves into the all aspects of creating the image the photographer actually “wants” and gives tips and suggestions on how to get there. It is beyond a how-to book though in that Rea wants the photographer to develop good habits including thinking and feeling out the entire photo process ahead of time.

The title tells it all though. Preventive Photoshop is all about using your senses and your camera’s devices to capture the best possible digital images on your camera. The point is to increase the photographer’s time taking pictures and to minimize the time spent trying to reshape, remake, and sometime reinvent photos in Photoshop. (more…)