Mikkel Aaland comes up with an exciting new guide to digital photography

Over the past five years, the price of digital cameras has fallen to the point where most families can now afford to buy one.

Mikkel Aaland's latest title is packed with tips from professionals that will help readers at all levels to make the most of their digital cameras. All in all, the book brings together a wealth of knowledge from more than 30 contributors, many of them professional photographers who "shoot digital" every day.

The book, published by Wiley International, is printed in full colour and provides examples of photos taken by the pros.

"Shooting Digital" does not comment on specific camera models. Instead, the explainations of features and concepts can be applied to most digital cameras.

The author presupposes that readers already have a grasp of the basic photographic lexicon and know something about things like f-stops, shutter speeds and focal length.

Aaland, an award-winning photographer and author whose photography has been published in magazines and exhibited worldwide, says he started working on the book in August 1981, when Sony issued a press release announcing their new "video still" camera.

"Shooting Digital" is divided into 12 chapters covering a wide variety of subjects, including "Shooting Great Portraits", "Photographing Children, Pets, and Social Events", "Shooting Black and White", and "Organising and Sharing Digital Photos".

While the sections may be read independently according to specific area of interest, it is worth noting that Aaland often refers to tips and explanations mentioned in earlier chapters, so it's a good idea to read the book in sequential order.

For example, the first chapter, "Before You Shoot", helps readers get to know their digital cameras so that they can get the best shots, while Chapter 2 explains the benefits of shooting raw - or with unprocessed digital output.

A lot of useful tips are provided in the book. Many users may not know, for instance, that to maximise depth of field for a landscape shot, it's best to use to a tripod to hold the camera still, while keeping the aperture as small as possible.