Customer Reviews:
 Poor choice May 2, 2008
0 out of 17 found this review helpful
This is a very poorly written book. There are other much better alternatives to choose from.
 Brilliant review of the HDRI process! April 28, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was worried that this book would be too technical for me, but it was wonderful. I reviewed each cahpter and then went back and followed the process from the beginning, until I understood it thoroughly, could work my equipment without effort and received the results I was expecting. And it is working for me! There is more information than you will ever need to get satisfying results. But the book is well-researched and the chapters brilliantly assembled. Anyone can learn from it.
Not a Manual April 17, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book gives a good general perspective on the world of High Dynamic Range imaging: the motivation for making HDR images, some theory, file formats, HDR viewing software, photographic capture, software workflow, HDR editing and CGI. Many of the example images are beautiful and inspiring. I found it a useful introduction.
However, despite the title of the book, this is NOT a manual. It is more like a word-for-word transcript of a training workshop. It falls short of the expectations created by calling it a manual.
The technical information is often presented in a vague, loose or imprecise way. The coverage is uneven and sometimes appears downright lazy. Stereographic projection is not explained but is simply described as a 'fun' thing. The author's report on one of the available software packages is basically that he couldn't get the package to work. There were numerous, minor technical errors.
The text is often vague, loose or imprecise. The style is more like a flashy sales pitch than a technical document. At times I found it almost condescending (Quote: "Click the little checkbox, it's cool"). I grew tired and sceptical of the constant use of the word `modern' - especially when the book refers to the fifty-year-old science of Machine Vision as a "new field".
Most of all what irked me about this book was the poor editing. It is really time that the Rocky Nook publishers hired a sub-editor. This particular book is strewn with linguistic mistakes, some of which are distracting or confusing (like writing `predecessor' when he means `successor', or using `eventual' to mean `possible', or `experiences' instead of `experiments', `straight angle' for `right angle', and `backside' for `reverse side').
If we treat this book as the notes-plus-CD from a one-day workshop on HDRI, it is entirely satisfying.
 Great Book April 15, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Im no expert on this subject. This book is great. I work in digital photography and 3d lightwave as well a many other computer software packages. This book is very clear and well organized. You will learn alot about many different aspects of HDRI and lighting.
Should be Called the HDRI Bible !!! April 9, 2008
There are very few articles you can find on the web about HDR photography techniques. To my knowledge, this is the first book to cover the subject. The writing is clear and concise, and he walks through examples with clearity. I'm new the HDR and the techniques I've learned have already vastly improved my photographs. [...]
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