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Photo Book Reviews

Complete Guide to Digital Photography (W.W. Norton) by Rick Sammon Reviewed by Richard D. Zakia Article rating: 1.00

Rick Sammon’s Complete Guide to Digital Photography  is one of the best, most comprehensive books on the subject.  The book is written with the reader in mind, realizing that some readers are already using digital photography while others are considering it, and that some photographers maybe be more advanced than others.

The 517 page 8 x 10 inch book is loaded with easy to follow instructions and ideas.  Its size provides generous space for a gallery for hundreds of color photographs  that serve as examples of what the author writes.  All the photographs are from his travels around the world. They are compelling photographs of interesting and exotic cultures.  It is a show and tell, show and learn book that every photographer will appreciate.

The  reader is encouraged to put into practice the 107 concise and well illustrated lessons, which  advance in an orderly way from camera basics and lighting to digital darkroom and special digital effects. The lessons begin with the importance of first picturing what you are going to photograph, capturing it with your digital camera, down loading the pictures into your computer, adjusting and manipulating the pictures in Photoshop, and then printing the pictures.

Each lesson covers about five pages of verbal instruction with photographs often shown in tandem.  In one example, the effect of resolution on digital print quality is dramatically seen when a high resolution image is shown beside one taken at low resolution.  Important fine detail is lost in the low resolution image. Such comparisons fascilitate learning.

To begin each lesson, Sammon's provides a relevant and encouraging quotation.  Some are by well known photographers and painters, as well as writers such as Mark Twain and Carl Jung.  One of the quotes that I especially like is by Gordon Parks,“Recording images, serenity and beauty was a matter of devout observance.”  This quote caught my eye for it says much about the the book, which is more than just a book on digital photography. 

It is also a book on photography, regardless of the camera one is using.  Sammon continually stresses the importance of carefully observing what you are gong  to photograph--subject, lighting, background, point of view, colors, and so on, before clicking the shutter.  Gordon Parks’ term,”devout observance” is one that connects the photographer with the subject being photographed, something Sammon's stresses throughout the book.

At the end of the book one can find a helpful glossary ot terms, a list of recommended reading including books by the Dalai Lama, and Dr.Seuss, as well as several web sites featuring photographic and digital equipment and photographic workshops.

To the publisher’s credit, the book is well designed not only  in the layout of text and photos but also in the instructional or learning design.  The book proceeds from the simple to the complex in interesting to read and easy to learn lessons.  Each lesson builds on the previous one, and each lesson  builds confidence.

Just prior to reviewing Sammon’s book, I had been trying to learn how to operating a newly purchased digital video camera by reading  the instruction manual.  What a nightmare!  I can only hope that some day instruction manuals will be as well written and illustrated at Sammon’s book.

Richard D. Zakia
Professor  Emeritus,
Rochester Institute of Technology

For more information on how you can get your hand on this one, visit Amazon.com.

And, while you're at it, pay a visit to RickSammon.com, you'll be glad you did.

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