The popularity of digital photography has made it accessible to all. But the relentless advance of technology means many people don’t know how to approach buying a new digital camera, or how to get the most from its features once the purchase has been made.

Digital Camera Know-How covers this and other aspects of digital photography. It runs directly from the CD, which means no hard disk space is needed, but the program won’t run without the disc.

Traditional photographic concepts such as shutter and aperture priority are covered, as well as digital-specific topics such as connecting a camera to a PC and editing images to improve quality.

Using the program was very simple. The menu screen contains a list of categories ­ including one on how to use the program; clicking on each in turn brings up a sub-menu of topics under the main heading.

Clicking on a topic brings up a brief explanation, backed up by a demo clip and information on how to practice the concept covered.

The nature of this clip varies from topic to topic; for more theoretical camera-based concepts, it may simply be a slideshow of key points; for PC-based concepts, it may be a visual display of how the function concerned works. In both cases, an audio explanation accompanies the visual material.

The PC-based topics have been dealt with using specific image-editing programs, like Paint Shop Pro X and ACDSee Pro Photo Manager, but should still be relevant for users of other software.

Our initial thoughts were that this was a slightly dated and clunky piece of software, but the broad practicality of the content made up for its slightly rough and ready appearance.

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Paint Shop Pro X
Overall: Much improved ease of use makes this a very attractive upgrade, but it's still more expensive than many of its rivals.
Rating: 4
Price: £99