The Basic Book of Digital Photography: How to Shoot, Enhance, and Share Your Digital Pictures    by Tom Grimm & Michele Grimm Order:  USA  Can Plume, 2009 (2009) Paperback     Reviewed by Hilary Williamson I was lucky enough to be given one of the earliest digital cameras as a gift, and enjoyed the freedom to snap as many pictures as I wanted and then to edit out most of them, retaining only the good ones. But I never had any guidance, aside from the technical manual itself. I would have found The Basic Book of Digital Photography: How to Shoot, Enhance, and Share Your Digital Pictures very useful! Tom and Michele Grimm, also authors of The Basic Book of Photography, cover the gamut, even including taking pictures with a cell phone camera. Their first lines (with which I heartily concur) are: 'Digital photography is fascinating, fulfilling, and just plain fun.' They tell us that it gives us instant gratification (no more waiting for film processing), and that there are two big steps to success - 'understanding how to use your camera, including the ways to compose good pictures, and knowing how to improve the results with your computer.' They address both in their handbook with practical hands-on advice. Chapters cover: a quick start guide to digital photography; digital camera choices and considerations; decisions on lenses; worthwhile accessories; selecting operational settings; use of exposure settings; understanding and using focusing modes; shooting techniques for digital cameras; creative composition techniques; transfer of digital images to the computer; naming and organizing them in file folders; archiving digital images for future retrieval; enhancing photos with image-editing software and special effects; printing photos at home; using other photo services for printing; sharing digital photos online; shooting video clips; and using camera phones. At the back of the book is a glossary of terms. I'm giving a copy of this comprehensive guide (which is well illustrated with sample images) as a holiday gift. If you're just starting on digital photography, or have been snapping pictures with a digital camera for some time without developing your techniques, there's a great deal to learn from The Basic Book of Digital Photography. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more NonFiction books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews