One of our recent books, The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations (Focal Press), continues to be the subject of somewhat heated discussion on Amazon, with 17 customer reviews to date. A special thanks to everyone who has said nice things about our book, we really appreciate it!

Most reviewers like the book. One Amazon “Top 500” reviewer raves that [we] “demonstrate the only natural and pleasing example of an HDR image that I have ever seen in this usually-overdone genre…There is something to learn and appreciate in every page. The teaching methods are exquisite, and the authors’ love of their art and their craft comes through on every page and in every image.”

Another reviewer opines: “This book will improve some of your Photoshop skills and probably teach you a few and it’ll help make you a better photographer, but mostly, if you have any kind of eye at all, it’ll start you on the road to becoming an artist.”

In yet another reviewer’s words, “I’ve been using Photoshop for years, consider myself to be pretty doggone good with the software, but after only a week with this book, I’m better and that’s saying a whole heck of a lot. I’d go on, but I think I’ve pretty much said it all, except maybe to say, whether you’re a beginner or an expert, you’ll benefit from this book.”

Even the critical reviews admit that the book has some good points. One such review starts out by commenting that “Harold Davis excels with his backlit images of flowers which have all the delicacy of water color. His technique (he calls it ‘hand hdr’) of combining multiple exposures is covered in detail. He also describes his unusual compositing techniques, which have given him strange and beautiful images.” This reviewer continues by stating that I should be showing how to do things with the latest and greatest Photoshop techniques rather those that have been around for a while: [Harold] “shows too little faith in judicious use of the new context-sensitive features of CS5.”

Of course, we note clearly in the introduction to the book that (unlike many other books) we “don’t focus on the latest and greatest”—and our real-world experiences with features such as content-aware fill have been at times less than overwhelming.

Another of the less enthusiastic reviewers thinks our content is good—but doesn’t like the extravagantly different design and layout of the book.

If you are into Photoshop, why don’t you check out The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations for yourself?