Capture, Digital Photography Essentials. A Review

When I received my copy of Capture, Digital Photography Essentials I was a little confused. At first glance it wasn’t immediately apparent who the book is aimed at. A flick through revealed some beautiful photographs and plenty of chapter headings and sub chapters, but where were the step by step ‘How To’s that I was expecting? Well, that’s not what this books about. Nor is it a coffee table book or a reference book, in fact I’d suggest it was all of these.

I’m not sure what the term is for where this book sits but I know that I like it. A newcomer will, without doubt, gain a lot of knowledge from this publication, without the complicated language and numbers being thrown at them. The experienced user may not get so much out of it, yet its still worth having kicking about for those times when something comes up you’re not quite sure of or if you want the best way to explain something to a less experienced photographer.

So who should get this book? I guess the clue’s in the sub-title “Digital Photography Essentials” but the style and size of the book doesn’t fit the contents. At a cover size of 8in x 10in this gives an open book size of 16in by 20in, not a handy reference book size nor is it a casual read. You have to make space to have a read. Fine if you’re at a table or desk, but not for a casual cup of tea and a couple of chapters.

The best selling photography book ‘The Digital Photography Handbook’ by Scott Kelby is the yard stick here. This more compact book fits into a camera bag or on the beside cabinet with ease and  is what it is, a good read that can be picked up at any time.

Why am I so obsessed with this size issue? Quite simply its the difference between a book I’d highly recommend and a book I’d tell you to get if you came across it somewhere. And that’s a shame, because the content of Capture is concise, easy to understand, well thought out and beautifully presented.

The chapters cover every aspect of taking a photograph from types of camera to post processing. Photoshop and Lightroom get a mention but the bias of this book it to getting the image so no Photoshop tutorials here, but that’s good, it fits in with the purpose of the book.

In summary,  Capture–Digital Photography Essentials is a great book but tries to sit in an area it wasn’t meant to be in. Smaller and cheaper and it would be a must get.