SEBASTOPOL, Calif. -- No wonder we snap up 15 million digital cameras a year -- they save us money, provide instant creative feedback and allow instantaneous distribution of our pictures. But now there is twice as much to learn: the art of photography plus the science of working with photos on the computer. Fortunately in O'Reilly Media's new, highly anticipated David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual ($24.99), the New York Times tech columnist and camera critic takes all the "negatives" out of digital photography.

Instead, in a concise, easy-to-understand, jargon-free and beautifully illustrated four-color book, author David Pogue demystifies the art of shooting pictures, editing them organizing them and distributing them to your audience.

"These days, digital photography is photography. But even the cheapest pocket camera has over 100 features, half of which are never decently explained anywhere. I mean, come on, read the photo magazines: 'Boost the ISO to 1600, dial up the aperture or change the exposure compensation by 1/3EV.' Huh?" notes David.

David adds: "I'm so happy to have this chance to break through both the marketing jargon and the techno jargon -- to write an entertaining little book that covers both pocket cameras and the big black SLR models. Over the years, I've reviewed hundreds of cameras for The Times and loved every minute of it; I think this was a book I was born to write."

And here, from the introduction of his new publication, David Pogue explains the information he covers in the book:

"Part 1, The Camera, is a distillation of everything that I, your cheerful author, have learned in eight years of testing and reviewing digital cameras for the New York Times. It's the ultimate buying guide. It tells you which features are worth looking for and which are just marketing blather.

"Part 2, The Shoot, is a course in photography and digital cameras. These chapters cover composition, lighting, shutter speed, aperture, when to use the flash, eliminating blur -- and how your digital camera controls all of these parameters. Chapter 6, in particular, is a gold mine: It features all the classic professional photo types (frozen action, silky-smooth waterfall, car-headlight trails at night and so on) and tells you precisely how to achieve those effects yourself. This section of the book creates a bridge between everyday snapshots and the kinds of emotionally powerful shots you see in magazines and newspapers.

"Part 3, The Lab, covers the fundamentals of getting your photos into iPhoto or Picasa organizing and filing them, searching them and editing them to compensate for weak lighting (or weak photography).

"Part 4, The Audience, is all about the payoff. This is the moment you've presumably been waiting for ever since you snapped the shots: showing them off. It covers the many ways you can present those photos to other people: as a slide show, as prints you order from the Internet or make yourself, as a published custom book, as a Web page, as an email attachment, as a slide show movie that you post on the Web, as a photo gift and so on."

Indeed, David Pogue's witty, authoritative voice has demystified the Mac, Windows, iPods and iPhones for millions of readers. And with his new book, he offers plenty of friendly advice to help you join in the fun and get real satisfaction from digital photography.

About the Author

David Pogue, Yale '85, is the weekly personal-technology columnist for the New York Times and an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News. His funny tech videos appear weekly on CNBC. And with three million books in print, he is also one of the world's bestselling how- to authors. He wrote or co-wrote seven books in the "For Dummies" series (including Macs, Magic, Opera and Classical Music). In 1999, he launched his own series of amusing, practical and user-friendly computer books called Missing Manuals, which now includes 100 titles.

David Pogue's Digital Photography: The Missing Manual is available via the Imaging Resource Amazon affiliate program at a 34 percent discount.