Alain Briot has written some very interesting essays for Michael Reichmann's site: The Luminous Landscape. Mastering Landscape Photography: The Luminous Landscape Essays is more inspirational than technical.

There are thirteen essays in this book that discuss how to visualize, craft, present, and market prints from fine-art landscape photographs. It also contains a collection of Alain Briot's stunning landscape work.

This is the latest in the new generation of product reviews from The Light's Right Studio. Rather than impressions and brief descriptions, this is a 40-page .PDF that takes a very close look at Neat Image.

Neat Image is a software tool to remove noise from digital photos. It comes in standalone and Photoshop plug-in versions, and it's compatible with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and other photo editors that support Photoshop plug-in filters. The standalone version can be used as an external editor with Adobe Lightroom.

This is the first in the new generation of product reviews from The Light's Right Studio. Rather than brief descriptions and impressions, this is a 28-page .PDF that takes a close look at Nik Dfine 2.0.

Nik Dfine 2.0 is a plug-in to remove noise from digital photos. It is compatible with Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. There is also an Apple Aperture version available.

This is the fourth in the new generation of product reviews from The Light's Right. Rather than impressions and brief descriptions, this is a 26-page .PDF that takes a close look at Noise Ninja 2.

Noise Ninja is a plug-in from Picturecode that's designed to remove noise from digital photos. It is compatible with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and other photo editors that support Photoshop plug-in filters. There is also a plug-in compatible with Apple Aperture. A standalone version is also available.

This is the second in the new generation of product reviews from The Light's Right Studio. Rather than impressions and brief descriptions, this is a 26-page .PDF that takes a close look at Noiseware.

Noiseware is a plug-in from Imagenonic to remove noise from digital photos. It is compatible with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and other photo editors that support Photoshop plug-in filters. There is also a standalone version available.

Photoshop CS: Essential Skills by Mark Galer and Philip Andrews is an updated version of one of my favorite books oh Photoshop editing skills.

The technical prose is excellent. So are the sample photos and the DVD instruction. This book offers lots of practical, photographer-to-photographer advice.

Scott Kelby has a distinct writing style. It's not fancy. His books definitely do not read like a warmed over version of a user's manual. Scott's technical writing is more conversational.

I recently reviewed Martin Evening's book, The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers, and highly recommended it. Scott Kelby's book complements Martin Evening's book.

Martin Evening is a successful commercial and glamour photographer. His book, The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers, is written from a photographer's point of view.

This makes it different from books by authors like Scott Kelby, who come from the Adobe Photoshop world and have more experience in the graphic arts than digital photography.

Michael Freeman is among my favorite authors on digital photography. I own several of his books for Amphoto, Lark Photography Books, etc.

I have to admit that I was disappointed by The Complete Guide to Night & LowLight Photography. My main motive for purchasing the book was my daughter's expressed interest in learning how to do night photography. So I bought this book, based largely on the title and on my previous experience with Michael Freeman's other books. When I recieved the book from Amazon.com, I immediately felt like the book was misnamed.

This is the third book I purchased on HDR last week from Amazon.com. It's a tough choice which is better: The HDRI Handbook by Christian Bloch or High Dynamic Range Digital Photography by Ferrell McCollough. I'd give the top honor to The HDRI Handbook, but it's a close call.  Mastering HDR Photography by Michael Freeman is also worth reading, but if I had to pick just one for my bookshelf, The HDRI Handbook would be that book.