This is a book that covers a vast array of topics - everything from gear to posing to lighting to image processing and more. As a result of the coverage, much of it is introductory and the reader will want to consider other books more focused on individual topics. Nonetheless it is a useful introduction for those just starting out in photography.

I was originally attracted to this book because of the stark black and white photo on the cover.

I liked the author's conversational style of writing - it made this book a fun read. It's organized such that a general overview is given, then a detailed overview, and then sometimes even more detail, helping you learn by repetition.

It is a little out of date now, as tends to happen with anything written about digital technology, but the principles are sound. Light hasn't changed since 2005 so the information about lighting and metering, and setting up the model to catch said lighting are still relevant.

I was reminded about settings on my digital camera I could use to take better pictures based on available lighting, like the fluorescent/indoor/cloudy settings. And the order of steps to follow for image editing is what I've been looking for and haven't found in other books.

The marketing section has good ideas of places to contact you may not have thought about.

The things I could have used more details on are how you actually translate your metering settings to what settings on you camera. I don't know if it was in there and I missed that sentence. Also, for the lighting setups described, I understand diagrams better than prose.

As far as duplicating the cover photo, I think I have an idea of where I would start, but it's not specifically outlined in the book.