The title Visual Poetry grabbed my attention. The subtite, A Creative Guide for Making Engaging Digital Photographs was promising. Chris Orwig is one of my favorite Photoshop video instructors on Lynda.com. This was an obvious choice for me.

Unfortunately, the book did not deliver on that promise. It's didn't really even come close.

I said this about Martin Evening and Jeff Schewe's claim to writing an ultimate guide. I have zero patience for books that make outrageous claims. Yes, I know it's common. I still feel cheated when books don't live up to their marketing hype.

This is not a bad book. The technical information is solid enough. The photographs are competent. What disappointed me was my expectation from Chris Orwig. I've seen him do much better work. There's no single area where this book excels.

There's just nothing about this book to recommend it. If you really like Chris Orwig and believe his every thought is worth being printed for posterity, then you'll want this book. Otherwise, every topic in this book is done better and with more brevity by photographic books published by Amphoto, Lark, etc. For learning how to craft evocative photographs, I recommend books by Freeman, Briot, Versace, etc.

There are a few evocative photos. A literal handful. Most of the photography is rather ordinary. Not what you expect in book that touts itself as A Creative Guide for Making Engaging Digital Photographs. Now, if he had taken some rather flat and uninteresting shots and done some extraordinary things with them as I have seen authors like Vincent Versace do, my review would be different. Likewise, Chris had the extraordinary photography of someone like Alan Briot, I'd be really impressed and inspired. I'm guessing that Chris Orwig uses stock photos for his videos. They are much more inspiring than anything in this book. The book would have been better if he had used stock photography.

The book publisher must have been banking on Chris Orwig's appeal from his videos for Lynda.com. Chris is definitely an excellent video instructor. Being a great video instructor does not necessarily translate into a great writer. With all of the truly fine books on evocative digital photography to choose from, you won't miss anything remarkable by passing this one by.

I cannot realy endorse this book. On the other hand, I can't say the book is without merit. As I mentioned, the technical content -- as far as it goes -- is solid enough. It's just that, for the money, something like Eismann and Duggan's Creative Digital Darkroom or Vincent Versace's Welcome to Oz: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop.

Recommended with Reservations

Technorati Tags: Digital Photography