This fast-facts reference offers an engaging, easy-to-understand introduction to the tools and how-to's of digital scanning and photography. Home users learn the basics for using the latest digital imaging technologies -- including the built-in capabilities in the new Windows Millennium Edition operating system -- to take, scan, edit, print, and e-mail digital pictures. Coverage includes converting pictures from conventional point-and-shoot cameras and other media to digital format, selecting and operating a digital camera, manipulating images on the PC, adding special effects, and sending pictures electronically.
Dan Gookin explains the latest consumer trend in PCs in Digital Scanning and Photography: specifically, how to choose, buy, configure, and use scanners and digital cameras. The book addresses both Microsoft Windows and the Mac OS, and general information (what resolution is) intermingles with specific instructions (how to resize an image in Adobe PhotoDeluxe). The illustrator of this book deserves great praise. The technical drawings, which showcase such details as where you plug cables into a scanner, are razor sharp and almost photo-realistic. Maybe they're ink-enhanced photographs--it's hard to tell; but, in any case, they're far better than the grainy photos that usually populate books that have a hardware angle.
Gookin, a pioneer of the trend in lighthearted writing (as in DOS for Dummies), communicates lots of facts and well-reasoned opinions without being dull; often, he's downright funny. But sometimes the flip shtick goes a bit too far, as when he remarks that all scanners should come with some kind of software that makes them go: "If you haven't found the scanner software," Gookin writes, "search the scanner box again." Okay; but less obvious advice would be to go to the scanner manufacturer's Web site to see if they have the software available for download there. --David Wall
Topics covered:
Digital imaging for home and small-office users of scanners and digital cameras
Consumer information on equipment features and pricing
Instructions on hooking up a scanner
Information on alternative image-file formats
Tricks for getting the effects you want by using image-editing software
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
good information and helpful:
Helpful and good information this book will get you up and running with scanners in no time.
Great helpful guide:
I don't own a digital camera (35mm buff) but just couldn't get the hang of achieving even decent scans of my 35mm shots. This book follows Adobe Photodeluxe to the "T" but is very useful for anyone with a scanner. Changed everything and frequently use the book as a reference tool. Best bet for the price!
Now I know!:
I can take a picture using my digital camera and I can even use the software, but the pictures looked horrible. So I broke down and bought this book. Wow! Now I know what I was doing wrong - lots! It's the technical information about resolution and working with the software that makes all the difference in your pictures. This is a must buy. If you've spent the money to buy the camera, spend a little extra, buy this book, and do it right.
Surprise! You don't know as much as you think you do:
I recieved this book as a gift and I snickered, thinking I already knew a lot about digital photography. Boy, was I wrong! This book is full of great information about things that really matter (resolution for example). This is a must buy for anyone scanning or using a digital camera. Really, there's a lot to learn!
