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Mastering Digital Black and White: A Photographer's Guide to High Quality Black-and-White Imaging and Printing (Digital Process and Print) | 
 enlarge | Author: Amadou Diallo
Publisher: Course Technology PTR
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $26.39
You Save: $13.60 (34%)
New (14) Used (6) from $23.72
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 104920
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 392
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.3 x 1
ISBN: 1598633759
Dewey Decimal Number: 778
EAN: 9781598633757
ASIN: 1598633759
Publication Date: May 1, 2007
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Product Description
The very nature of black and white photography places a premium on creative interpretation of the image. Advances in digital technology have expanded both the precision of imaging techniques and the interpretive possibilities for black and white imagery. Never before has such a wide array of tools been available to photographers who have a passion for black and white. Mastering Digital Black and White is written for these photographers. It serves not only as a comprehensive guide for creating black and white images and prints, but also examines the role of artistic craft in the imaging process. Learn how to employ your digital tools as extensions of your photographic vision. Read in-depth interviews with, and view images from, five accomplished photographers as they discuss their process and inspirations. Prepare to indulge your passion for gallery-quality black-and-white images in the digital darkroom. Additional supporting content for this book and a discussion forum for photographers and printmakers with a passion for black and white can be accessed at: www.masteringdigitalbwbook.com
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 A Misleading Title May 23, 2007
K. Tanaka (Midwest USA)
71 out of 78 found this review helpful
Warning: This book is NOT for you if your primary interest is truly that of "mastering" digital black and white photography and printing.
Any time a book title includes the words "mastering" or "ultimate" my smell-o-rama sensor automatically activates. Such sweeping and arrogant suggestions are always over-cooked. "Mastering Digital Black and White" is no exception.
The book is nicely printed and features very good color illustrations, making many of Diallo's image processing points easy to follow. The overall design is easy on the eyes but has that independently-produced look due mainly to the lack of margins throughout the book.
I estimate that roughly only 15%-20% of the book's 357 content pages have any direct bearing on the title subject of "black and white", with many of these pages buried like Easter eggs inside broader topics. Like nearly all of the dozens of kindred books on digital printing and digital photography most of this book's content deals with basic tech and photo topics, survey-level smatterings of "current" software and printers, and little side-bars. While Diallo presents these topics interestingly and with good subject matter authority they can be found in many other basic books and have a rather short freshness life.
All this is not to say that the book is without merit. Although he does indeed mow some well-trimmed lawns Diallo offers some rather unique material and interesting perspectives. In chapter 8, titled "The Limited Edition", Diallo presents a good summary of the controversial topic of artificially editioning digital prints. Like other chapters, however, that same chapter manages to meander into other territories (papers, print storage, archival ratings) before it's terminated. Chapter 9, "The Portfolio", also nicely covers a topic that many will find interesting; that of constructing and presenting a contiguous portfolio of work. Diallo also features some interesting little interviews
In summary, this book delivers very little of what its title promises. Instead, it's really more of an intermediate-level general book on Photoshop and ink jet printing circa 2007. Nevertheless I really did enjoyed reading it, more so than most of its peers that I've read. But, like so many of its peers, its value is diluted by trying to cover far too much ground. I was disappointed that the title represented yet another bait-and-switch.
The market for the truly specialized "Digital Black and White Photography and Printing" work remains open. Next!
Disappointed June 11, 2007
Stephen Best (Australia)
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
If you've managed to get some decent looking B&W prints from your current model inkjet using the relevant inbuilt driver settings and looking to move your output quality up a notch, this book sadly won't help you. Though there's some mention of Quadtone RIP and StudioPrint for linearization (plus alternative third-party inksets) the detail isn't there to show you why and how to get the most from them. In fact, the whole area of selection of media settings for optimal Dmax and tonal separation is absent. What's left is a rudimentary workflow that most anybody using Photoshop for their own output would already know. For someone just starting out, this could be an ideal book to paint the big picture though.
A few bloopers: On perceptual rendering: "When an image contains even a single color outside of the printer's gamut, all the color values in the image are shifted - by the same amount - until the out-of-gamut color is placed inside the printer's range of output" (page 85). On printer profiling: "The idea is to send a range of color values to the printer and compare the appearance of these colors when output on paper with known Lab input values" (page 95). On adjustment layers: "... when it comes time to flatten the image, Photoshop will combine the adjustments into a single edit before applying them to the image's pixels" (page 193).
In fairness to the author, I can't think of any book that meets the stated promise of the title any better. Other than being more up to date, it doesn't really cover much territory different to Harald Johnson's "Mastering Digital Printing" which remains a worthwhile introduction to the field.
 Not at all just for Digital Black and White June 14, 2007
David Hoelscher (Austin, TX USA)
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
I bought this book because I was interested in better digital black and white workflows. The interesting thing, however, is that all of the book's excellent and clear topics are applicable to the color digital workflow as well.
Well written; easy to understand; and quite comprehensive especially when dealing with arcane issues that I've never seen dealt with in print before such as L* monitor gamma calibration.
Highly recommended!
Outstanding Book June 11, 2007
James Steele
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is a really excellent book for those interested in serious B&W digital printing. The book is extremely well written and researched.
Because of the software and equipment-specific references, the book will probably have to be updated from time-to-time to remain current. However there is enough excellent general material that the book will be useful to anyone who purchases it now for a long time to come,
A Must Read for learning to print digitally either color or Black and White May 29, 2007
Richard Massie (Brooklyn, New York)
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
From capture to the digital Fine Art Print, Amadou Diallo will explain the tools of the trade in plain, patient language. He is a master printer and an excellent teacher. He'll take you shopping, and then show you how to select and use the technology to bring the best out of your images. I'm in my 70's, retired from professional photography, and now scanning and printing from my old files for exhibits. It wasn't easy for me to re-think the photo processes I had mastered and make the transition into digital, so I've been soaking up bits and pieces of technique and concepts for about 4 years now. This book wraps it all up into a coherent, step by step procedure to establish your own workflow to maximize print quality for your images. It's the book I've been waiting for.
Richard Massie, Photographer
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