Digital photography is one of the fastest growing segments of the consumer electronics market and the number of books written on the subject is enormous. The number of good books written that encompass the whole that is digital photography is small, the number of great ones smaller still. This is a great book.
If asked, most would say that digital photography has been around for five to ten years and is maturing rapidly. Stephen Johnson would say that we are still in the Stone Age. He would say that we have figured out how to make some tools and that we are only now figuring out what to do with them.
Johnson wrote the book he would like to read and it shows. It is a stunning book that brings together the vastness of the topic into a single handbook. It has some truly magnificent landscape images that show the artistic talent of the author.
While there are many books that show us tricks to perform tasks or give us guidance on how to create something, especially in Photoshop. This is not one of them. This book is a compendium about the process of photography, not about the tools.
Yes, he does discuss equipment and computers as well as the software used to manipulate images such as Photoshop, but as he said in an online podcast with Sara Peyton, he was not out to write another "how to do it in Photoshop" book. He was out to write a book that brought together those items that have been missing in most of the books on the market today.
It is the technical aspects that most books deal with that frustrate the author, as well as the lack of discussion into the aesthetics and the heart behind the image. This has always been my personal viewpoint. I can perform step one, step two, step three and so on. Where I want to go is into the mind of the artist and see with their eyes. This is what allows me to learn and grow. This is one of the appealing aspects of this book and what sets it apart from many on the market.
Article comments
1 - John Lindquist
It would be nice if he reviewer would write something about Johnson's life-where educated, etc.