                           Photography Made Easy
                          Reviewed by Bob Garsson

        Photography Made Easy is billed as a CD-ROM guide to taking better
pictures. While it obviously will be of most benefit to the amateur or
occasional photographer, those who shoot professionally also can benefit
from this guide, particularly if, as in my case, their professional picture
taking is done only on an occasional basis. It serves as a good reminder of
what to do as well as what not to do.
        Teaching the course, so to speak, is Brian D. Ratty, a graduate of
Brooks Institute of Photography, who holds an honorary master's degree from
the same institution. His experience has enabled him to come up with an
innovative CD-ROM that could easily set the standard for other instructional
applications.
        In addition to the CD-ROM, there is a VCR cassette that provides
considerable introductory material.
        The CD-ROM installed effortlessly and without a hitch and I was up
and running within a few minutes. It also contains new 256-color drivers
that can be used with most video cards.
        The application is set up to allow the user to proceed in what ever
manner he or she finds best for learning. Freeform is the default mode and
allows the user to view any segment with all controls available. There also
is a classroom mode, which allows for one or more users (only one is
required) in a classroom setting. In classroom mode, segments are played
sequentially and students may review any segment already studied. At the end
of each segment there is a quiz with one or more questions based on the
contents of the segment. If a question is answered incorrectly, the
appropriate portion of the segment may be repeated if the student desires.
The student is always allowed to move to the next lesson if desired.
        There is a student history, which tells what classes have been taken
and how well the student has performed on the quizzes.
        The CD-ROM also contains a number of reference charts which include
information on such things as camera settings, film types and the like.
        The CD-ROM is quite complete when it comes to the subject of
photography, going into such topics as which is the best camera, basic
camera concepts, automatic (point and shoot) cameras, the SLR, focusing,
composition, film and a host of others. Drop-down menus are complete and
allow the user to go quickly to a topic. There also is a glossary, which
lists all topics and allows the user to go to any one directly.
        One nice feature is an equipment note interface, which allows the
user to maintain an inventory of cameras and other equipment. The interface
also includes a free-form text area for entering additional information to
keep track of such things as maintenance and repairs. Equipment information
also can be printed out if desired.
        One innovative feature allows the user to record any section of a
lesson, which then can be edited or played back as desired.
        There are a number of adjustments that can be made to improve the
quality of the video, such as switching between 16 colors and 256 colors, a
zoom mode which sets the size of the video screen and a parameter entitled
"skip video frames if behind" to force the video to keep up with the audio.
Frame counters also can be disabled to help the video run more smoothly.
        Sound can be on or muted, but there is no provision for adjusting
volume while running. This must be done through the sound card or speakers.
        Overall, the producers have done a credible job of putting this
course together and I wouldn't hesitate to purchase any other "how-to"
produced by the same company.

The CD-ROM requires Windows 3.1, a 386 or higher microprocessor (486
recommended) with approximately three megabytes of space available on the
hard drive, a CD-ROM drive with sound card and MPC Level 1 or higher (MPC 2
recommended), a 256-color 640x480 VGA display (16.7 million colors, 24 bit
recommended). The application uses Microsoft Video 1.1 for Windows and a
runtime version is included.

                        Villa Crespo Software, Inc.
                             1725 McGovern St.
                          Highland Park, IL 60035
                    (708) 433-0500  Fax: (708) 433-1485
 
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