The Photoshop Elements 5 Book for Digital Photographers - Scott Kelby

Advantages: Superb nugget sized tips, fits the camera bag nicely
Disadvantages: None

...There are lots of big shiny books out there that tell you all about digital photography and while many of these are great books, they can be a little intimidating too. Scott Kelby, author of many of the better photography boooks out there has now come up with the antidote. The Digital Photography Book is a mere 200 odd pages and is just slightly bigger than A5 in size yet contains a whole lot of useful information that will almost certainly improve anyone's photography. I was initially wondering quite what Scott Kelby had been smoking as the first few pages were somewhat surreal. Even the author noted they included lame (his word, not mine) humour. After that somewhat shaky start the book morphed in to something far better. Each page is a self-contained tip or concept, often with an inspiring image for illustration. The text is... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Concise yet easy to follow, some impressive looking projects, well presented
Disadvantages: Special effects section, a little light (sic) on explanations

...One thing that often separates an average photo from a great one is the quality of light. Real life rarely serves up the sort of light we'd like (especially in the UK) and so we have to fall back on post processing and editing to tweak things. To the inexperienced user, this can be a bit of a hit and miss affair so I was very pleased to spot a copy of Photoshop Elements Drop Dead Lighting Techniques in the bookshop. The author Barry Huggins runs a multimedia and training consultancy at www.matrixtraining.com and has had his images used around the world so he ought to know a thing or two. The first thing that strikes you is the gorgeous presentation of the book. Ilex Press titles we have seen have always been impressive in this respect with superb quality brilliant white paper, excellent layout and flaps on the thick glossy cover... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good pace, quite gruesome in parts.
Disadvantages: Not 'deep' enough.

...Infected - Scott Sigler. Please not Ciao....this is not an audio book. 'When you hear the voices it's already too late'. I have to say, I find writing book reviews particularly difficult. There is a thin line between enticing someone with enough plot and information to encourage them to read the book for themselves, and too much plot so that they pretty much don't need to read it. At just over 450 pages this is not too long, in fact I read it in 4 days, as one of my 'holiday books'. The cover was what initially attracted me to the book, and when I turned the book over, the short synopsis and recommendations from other authors persuaded me to purchase. At 3 for two in WH Smiths (or was it Waterstones) I did not need too much persuasion. ~~Genre and background~~ Part sci-fi, part thriller, part conspiracy I guess, well, it... Read review

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