Michael Freeman is an author I respect both for the quality of his technical writing and for his skill as a photographer. He is a well-known and popular author on digital photography, writing about digital B&W, HDR, photographic composition, night photography, etc.

Mastering Black and White Digital Photography is a good starting point for learning digital B&W photography from a Photoshop perspective. Like most of the recent books on digital B&W, this one is definitely Photoshop-centric. It is also obvious that Michael Freeman is a digital Ansel Adams type. For example, he talks about tonal ranges using Ansel Adams Zone System.

The book does a reasonable job in its coverage of B&W printing. The author discusses duotone simulation with inkjet printers, covers some basic toning, and also has brief discussions about papers and inks, etc.

The problem with this book is that it is not especially deep in its coverage of any particular topic. Most techniques and discussion get two facing pages of discussion, examples, etc.

There's plenty of interesting content. I'd argue that Mastering was a bit of an exaggeration. Introducing seems more appropriate. From the perspective of a beginner to digital photography and digital B&W photography in particular, there is a lot to recommend Mastering Black and White Digital Photography by Michael Freeman.

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