exposures

Fundamentals of Enterprise Risk Management: How Top Companies Assess Risk, Manage Exposure, and Seize Opportunity
$79.95
This book is a systematic description of contemporary Enterprise Risk Management with new methodology. It is so visual and practical showing readers the qualities that managers all over the world need to get a clear idea of ERM and its benefits. Many real cases are included, even from Russia. But the most interesting part is "ERM Technology," a new approach to diagnose and visually present the family of core risks of any business. Supported by the ERM implementing instructions, this methodology makes the book a really practical guide for anyone interested in corporate risks. More than that, ERM realities are analyzed in the clear context of the modern challenges of making decent profits in an honest and ethical framework. Written in a clear language and supported by many illustrations (pictures and stories), I am sure that the book of Professor J. Hampton will be highly valuable to risk managers, general managers, and students of business globally.

Valery N. Vyatkin,
2003-2005 First Vice President
Russian Risk Management Society (RusRisk)

Digital Exposure Handbook
$19.95
Exposure is both a very important and a very challenging part of learning photography, a topic that can be approached from many perspectives. This probably explains why so many books about exposure are available. Having read quite a few of them, Ross Hoddinott's "Digital Exposure Handbook" was a very pleasant surprise. I recommend it to anyone looking for a solid introduction to the fundamentals of exposure plus a little bit more. It also makes a good "refresher book," which is why I picked it up.

Hoddinott is a straightforward, engaging, and effective writer. No compulsive attempts to be funny or with it, no wandering around the landscape trying to cover everything. He just gets down to business and in a little under 200 pages delivers all the content you need, in fact more than you get from many much longer books.

There are six chapters: The basics of exposure, Exposure in practice, Ambient light, Flash light, Filters, and Exposure in the digital darkroom. A glossary and list of websites are provided. Chapters are divided into self-contained discussions of specific topics, usually about two to three pages long. You can read these in sequence or search out something of particular interest. Hoddinott provides page references to related discussions elsewhere in the book, so if you encounter something unfamiliar, it's easy to find the background information you need. Though organizing the book this way leads to some repetition, I didn't find it at all bothersome and credit Hoddinott for his thoroughness and clarity.

The book is extraordinarily well illustrated, mostly with Hoddinott's own work, which not only enriches the discussion but shows that he knows very well what he's talking about. The intent of each photo is identified and equipment/exposure information provided -- very helpful. The book also includes discussions of technical points, set inside "boxes" so the flow of the text is not disrupted. I found the supporting illustrations and "boxed" discussions some of the most useful material in the book -- there was no stinting here.

The book's small format is deceiving, by the way. The pages are double-columned and the type fairly small, something I did find annoying. There is a lot more content between the stiff covers than you'd first expect.

All in all, this is one of the few exposure books that will stay on my bookshelf, alongside Michael Freeman's "Perfect Exposure." Two very different approaches to a fascinating subject.

For the record, I'm a semi-professional photographer (which means I make a little money at it but not enough to quit my day job) and shoot mostly landscapes with some street/urban work.

Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD: Emotional Processing of Traumatic Experiences Therapist Guide (Treatments That Work)
$37.95
This therapy definitely works for PTSD. I strongly encourage therapists to train and/or use not only with Rape victims but also with returning vets and vets from previous conflicts.

Michael Freeman's Perfect Exposure: The Professional's Guide to Capturing Perfect Digital Photographs
$29.95
I have told many people that Michael Freeman's "The Photographer's Eye" is the photography book I've been waiting for all my life. Since "Perfect Exposure" is in the same series and was published afterward, I was presuming it would target the same audience and have a similar style. I was very wrong.

Photographer's Eye is concise, yet written with very realistic expectations of the audience's technical background in art composition. It does not assume too much background and does not attempt to move the reader too far along the curve from where they are. It has a flow - I'm not sure if the flow is purposeful or if the topic just lends itself to "bite sized pieces loosely linked together."

I found "Perfect Exposure" to be the opposite. It reads like a science journal targeted at molecular biologists when you are NOT one - where you can pick up some details, but there is a lot of presumed prior knowledge, no connective tissue between topics and an attempt to cram way too much depth in to each subtopic. Encyclopedia entries do this because they aren't meant to lead the reader through a step by step understanding - but it does not match the style of the previous book by the same author in the same series.

I kept reading these subtopics thinking they were necessary background that simply weren't stitched together - but I finally realized we weren't going to get to a place where it all starts to tie together.

Quite Disappointed.

"The Photographer's Eye" is still my all time favorite photography book!