I found Michael Freeman’s Complete Guide to Digital Photography quite helpful, even though it is a “general overview” book. I found myself thinking “oh, that’s what I needed to know a few days ago!” Specifically, I appreciated the detail in which the Curves function was explained – it had a very clear description of curves, histograms, etc. Another great feature about this book is the pictures. The quality of printing makes the images great to look at. Michael provides many examples throughout the book to illustrate the processes he is discussing – this was very helpful for me, and added to my understanding particularly when he was discussing Photoshop techniques.
If you are looking to add to your understanding of digital photography, you will probably appreciate the discussion of how a CCD sensor works, how dimensional changes need to be considered (50 mm on film lens will not give you the same frame as 50mm on digital lens; “normal” changes with diagonal of sensor size).
As it is a “complete guide,” Michael spends a bit of time going through different types of photography (photographing animals, still life, people, etc) – but I did not find these sections too long. Overall, this book has a lot of good Photoshop tips accompanied by images to provide clear examples of how you might use each technique. In the digital age, as Michael mentioned, the tricky part is choosing what to leave alone!
Betsy is a Michigan-based 
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