Sheppard, Rob

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SHEPPARD, Rob

PERSONAL: Married; wife's name, Vicky; children: Adam, Sammi.

ADDRESSES: Home—Los Angeles, CA. Offıce— Werner Publishing Corp., 12121 Wilshire Blvd., 12th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90025-1176; fax: 310-826-5008.

CAREER: Author, photographer, and photography expert. Werner Publishing Corp., Los Angeles, CA, editor and cofounder of PCPhoto and editor of Outdoor Photographer. Has worked as a naturalist, photojournalist, commercial photographer, and video director and producer.

WRITINGS:

Telephoto Lens Photography, Amherst Media (Buffalo, NY), 1997.

Computer Photography Handbook, Amherst Media (Buffalo, NY), 1998.

Basic Scanning Guide: For Photographers and OtherCreative Types, Amherst Media (Buffalo, NY), 2001.

Beginner's Guide to Digital Imaging for Photographers and Other Creative Types, Amherst Media (Buffalo, NY), 2002.

Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing, Lark Books (New York, NY), 2003.

(And photographer) National Geographic PhotographyField Guide—Digital: Secrets to Making Great Pictures, National Geographic (Washington, DC), 2003.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel, Canon EOS 300D Digital, Lark Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Canon EOS 20D, Lark Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Digital Photography 1, 2, 3: Taking and PrintingGreat Pictures, Lark Books (New York, NY), 2005.

PCPhoto Digital SRL Handbook, Lark Books (New York, NY), 2005.

PCPhoto Digital Zoom Camera Handbook, Lark Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals, including Peterson's Photographic.

SIDELIGHTS: Author, editor, and photography expert Rob Sheppard is the author of several books on photography, image manipulation techniques, digital imaging, and specific pieces of photographic equipment. He is the editor of PCPhoto, a magazine centering on creating, manipulating, and using photographic images, and Outdoor Photographer, a magazine geared toward photographers interested in outdoors subjects, such as landscapes, wildlife, travel, and sports. He has been a photojournalist, a commercial photographer, and the producer and director of several video productions. Among his works are National Geographic Photography Field Guide—Digital:Secrets to Making Great Pictures, PCPhoto Digital SRL Handbook, Beginner's Guide to Digital Imaging for Photographers and Other Creative Types, and guides to particular cameras, such as the Canon EOS Digital Rebel. Sheppard travels the country, conducting workshops on photography and digital image technology.

Sheppard's interest in photography and the power of images blossomed in his early teen years. "My interest in communicating through photography began when I built a darkroom at age thirteen," he commented on his home page. "I am a strong believer in the power of photography and the potential of new technologies" to revitalize visual imaging, he added.

Sheppard's first book, Telephoto Lens Photography, offers advice and technical tips for making the best use of telephoto lenses. National Geographic Photography Field Guide—Digital: Secrets to Making Great Pictures provides an overview and "a lot of information about the whole range of digital photography," Sheppard noted. Computer and Photography Handbook contains introductory material for photographers processing and manipulating images with computers.

In Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing, Sheppard offers advice for photographers who need information on making effective prints of digital photographs. Although meant for those who use Epson printers, the guide includes general material on choosing a photo printer, making digital prints, and fixing image problems and common printer malfunctions. Sheppard covers the use of image processing programs and their multifaceted image enhancing tools. The book includes information and suggestions on converting images to black and white, printer maintenance, selecting the proper paper for making prints, dealing with inconsistencies between image resolution and printer resolution, and more. Bruce Clifton, writing in PSA Journal, called the book "well organized" and described it as "a good first book for someone just starting the journey into digital printing."

Basic Scanning Guide: For Photographers and Other Creative Types offers hope for those who already own hundreds of dollars worth of photographic equipment and who are not ready to abandon their existing investment or to sink hundreds of dollars into new digital equipment. Sheppard provides detailed instructions for converting existing hardcopy photographs to viable digital images through scanning. He discusses topics such as scanning hardware and software, effective scanning techniques, the variety of file formats that scanned images can take, and the practicalities of storing electronic images. Sheppard presents practical advice for advanced and professional photographers, but also tempers the book with useful suggestions for "amateur shutterbugs who are new to computers," commented Chris Ziener in Library Journal.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, February 1, 3001, Chris Ziener, review of Basic Scanning Guide for Photographers and Other Creative Types, p. 121; June 1, 2003, Rachel Singer, Gordon, review of Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing, p. 161; May 1, 2004, Rachel Singer Gordon, review of Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing, p. 136.

PSA Journal, December, 2003, Bruce Clifton, review of Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing, p. 38.