I have read many of Matthew Bamberg's books, and requested to read and review his latest. When I requested this book I was using a Blackberry and had an iPhone 4 on order. Being an avid photo-hobbyist thought this would be a great introduction for my new secondary camera. Fortunately my iPhone arrived before the book did.



Unfortunately, the untimely release of this book was a week prior to the iPhone 4. The world was abuzz about the iPhone 4, and the lack of mention in this book was glaringly obvious. The details of the iPhone 3G and 3GS, such as a lack of flash, were accurately represented for the previous models, although the iPhone 4 I owned obviously had one. As I was reading, I felt this book was outdated on release, and wished they waited a month or so to update the pages with the iPhone 4 stats.



However, the real details of this book aren't about the specific iPhone version. This is not a typical composition, or camera settings book, it's all about using the iPhone, the App Store, iTunes, and creating images using various applications and tools within the phone. Eleven chapters include iPhone Overview, Using the iPhone Camera, Better Photos on an iPhone, Portraits, Photographing Places and Things, Working with Different Types of Light, All About Applications, Resizing, Cropping, Framing, and Printing Photos, Post-Processing Apps: Tweaking Photos after the Fact in PhotoForge, ColorSplash, FX Photo Studio, and Photo fx, and Sharing Your Killer Photos. By the end of the book, one should have plenty of creative ideas and inspiration.



As I read through the pages, I downloaded the interesting free apps to play with, bought a couple, and added others to my wish list. I know how to get great images from my DSLR, but now I can get them from my iPhone too.



Many of the details regarding the app store and iTunes are too basic for the average iPhone user, but no matter how many times you notice the iPhone 4 is missing, the apps and techniques described are sure to inspire. New users or technically challenged person will get more out of this book, but so will experienced users looking to improve their iPhone photography.



PROS:

Details creative apps

Includes some outstanding free apps

Many inspirational images



CONS:

Excludes the iPhone 4 details