Most chapters begin with clear explanations of concepts; the logic being that you can't get far as a manipulator of images if you don't know what terms mean, or what effects various pieces of the imaging chain have on the end product. The style is concise and readable (although, for clarity, mathematical equations should have been set out from the body text), and illustrations ("good" and "bad" sample photos, plus screen shots) enhance the text. Easy-to-follow how-to passages appear throughout, most of which have to do with aspects of Adobe Photoshop. The book challenges you to scan practice images that have problematic visual characteristics and fix some intentionally bad originals. --David Wall
Topics covered: Scanning for professionals, with an emphasis on getting the highest possible printed product from the originals at hand; in-depth coverage of evaluating an image to be scanned, performing the scanning process, and performing filtering and other manipulations on newly digitized images; also, the specifics of transparency and negative scanning, as well as of digital image theory.