GIMP for absolute beginners

By Jan Smith and Roman Joost  (Find this book)

The only true beginner's book for GIMP graphics and photography hobbyists on the market Introduces the world of open source graphics and image processing  Apress is the market leader for GIMP guides

GIMP for Absolute Beginners gives us an easy way to use the power of GIMP, and enjoy digital photography and graphics without worrying about application features.

GIMP is a powerful open source graphics and digital imaging application with almost all the features of its proprietary counterpart, Photoshop. But many of us are photographers and artists first, and we like to use our tools without having to think about them too much. GIMP for Absolute Beginners gets us to this stage without patronising users who haven't used GIMP before.

But what can we actually do with photos and graphical images? These questions are answered in a photo projects chapter as well as a chapter on digital painting: Starting with making small changes to photos and adding information to them to creating paintings and drawings without photographic input.

GIMP for Absolute Beginners covers the newest version of GIMP, version 2.8, so you can be sure the book covers the latest GIMP features. ---  Springer Publishers

Food blogging for dummies

By  Kelly Senyei  (Find this book)

The only thing better than cooking and eating is talking about it! Combine your two loves—food and blogging—with this ultimate guide for food bloggers everywhere. Food Blogging For Dummies shows you how to join the blogosphere with your own food blog. This unique guide covers everything: how to identify your niche, design your site, find your voice, and create mouthwatering visuals of your best recipes and menus using dazzling lighting and effects. You'll learn how to optimize your blog for search, connect with social media, take your blog mobile, add widgets, and much more.

• Walks you through the technicalities of starting your own food blog
• Explores what you need to consider before your first post ever goes public
• Shows you how to create lip-smacking food visuals using special lighting and clever effects
• Explains SEO and how to make sure your site and recipes are searchable
• Goes into social media and how to use it effectively with your blog

Here's everything you need to know about food blogging. -- Wiley Publishing

SQL all-in-one for dummies

By Allen G. Taylor  (Find this book)

The soup-to-nuts guide on all things SQL! SQL, or structured query language, is the international standard language for creating and maintaining relational databases. It is the basis of all major databases in use today and is essential for the storage and retrieval of database information. This fun and friendly guide takes SQL and all its related topics and breaks it down into easily digestible pieces for you to understand. You’ll get the goods on relational database design, development, and maintenance, enabling you to start working with SQL right away!

• Provides an overview of the SQL language and examines how it is integral for the storage and retrieval of database information
• Includes updates to SQL standards as well as any new features
• Explores SQL concepts, relational database development, SQL queries, data security, database tuning, and more
• Addresses the relationship between SQL and programming as well as SQL and XML

If you’re looking for an up-to-date sequel to the bestelling first edition of SQL All-in-One For Dummies, then this is the book for you! -- Wiley Publishing

High performance MySQL : optimization, backups, replication, and more

by Baron Schwartz   (Find this book)

How can you bring out MySQL’s full power? With High Performance MySQL, you’ll learn advanced techniques for everything from designing schemas, indexes, and queries to tuning your MySQL server, operating system, and hardware to their fullest potential. This guide also teaches you safe and practical ways to scale applications through replication, load balancing, high availability, and failover.
Updated to reflect recent advances in MySQL and InnoDB performance, features, and tools, this third edition not only offers specific examples of how MySQL works, it also teaches you why this system works as it does, with illustrative stories and case studies that demonstrate MySQL’s principles in action. With this book, you’ll learn how to think in MySQL.

• Learn the effects of new features in MySQL 5.5, including stored procedures, partitioned databases, triggers, and views
• Implement improvements in replication, high availability, and clustering
• Achieve high performance when running MySQL in the cloud
• Optimize advanced querying features, such as full-text searches
• Take advantage of modern multi-core CPUs and solid-state disks
• Explore backup and recovery strategies—including new tools for hot online backup   --- O'Reilly