Book |
Cover |
Author |
Review |
Photoshop CS: Art of
Photographing Women
|
 |
Kevin Ames |
- Excellent guide to using Photoshop for retouching. Only
book I have seen that has a section on non-destructive Photoshop
editing workflow.
- Book is in full-color, which is a necessity for a book of
this type.
- One of the few books with a complete set of high-resolution
downloads (from the web) so that you can work along with the
chapter tutorials. Most books either don't provide the images
or only give low-resolution samples, so this is a huge plus.
- Designed for intermediate Photoshop users.
- I didn't like the section on the "Barbie" transformation
as much, and would have prefered a more realistic full-body
adjustment workflow instead.
- Does not go into detail on how or why steps are done, so
it is not a good book to learn how Photoshop tools work. Instead,
it is focused more on the workflow and techniques one might
use to accomplish certain retouching tasks and issues. Some
steps are fairly high-level, meaning that you will have to
rely on your experience to fill in the occasional gap.
- Overall, I would have to highly recommend this book for
Photoshop retouching, but only to those who are already comfortable
with Photoshop's feature set.
|
 |
Photoshop
Color Correction
|
 |
Michael Kieran |
- Full color. Includes a CD with low-res versions of the photos in the
book, which wasn't particularly useful.
- Significant background text.
- The only book I have seen which thoroughly discusses the theory behind
color correction and how to treat it. Correction concepts are
given in LAB, CMYK and RGB.
- Extensive coverage of the use of the Levels and Curves features of Photoshop.
Moderate discussion on sharpening and how to select the USM variables.
Also good description of contrast and channel mixing.
- I found some of the correction examples difficult to follow because
values and decisions were made without enough explanation.
- Unfortunately, the choice of font and non-justified text made it more
difficult to read than other books I've seen.
- The book is very technical and is not suitable for a beginner
user. A good number of intermediate users will also probably
find a lot of the material to be overwhelming, too.
|
 |
Photoshop CS Book
For
Digital Photographers
|
 |
Scott Kelby |
- Another cookbook-style tutorial book, much like Scott
Kelby's other "Down & Dirty Tricks" guides. These are great for those
who learn by doing, rather than listening to the theory
behind each tool first.
- Focuses primarily on topics that would be of use for digital photographers,
including: retouching, masking, body-sculpting, black & white,
sharpening, workflow, typical photo troubles, noise and presentation
effects.
- Good for learning how to solve photo quick-fixes without getting caught
up in how everything works, but it also means that you won't
really learn why you are doing certain steps.
- Full color gloss.
|
 |
Photoshop CS
Classroom in a Book
|
 |
Adobe Creative Team |
- Black & white, with no color images (except for a few useless color
plates).
- CD contains the files from each lesson.
- Only useful for a beginner to Photoshop, one who needs to see where
all the tools are and roughly what they do, and not get caught
up in how they work.
- Progresses through 20 lessons, sampling many of Photoshop's features.
Five of these lessons are directed towards using ImageReady CS
for generating web page graphics.
- Although this book is intended to help you "learn by doing", I didn't
find it particularly interesting. I found it very dry and uninspiring,
unlike many other Photoshop books. For a book on Photoshop, I
think having a good assortment of color images is essential.
- While it certainly isn't written as a reference manual, it does a better
job at instructing the basics than the Kelby recipe-style of
book, in that it gradually builds up on the toolset and concepts.
|
 |
Photoshop CS
Down & Dirty Tricks
|
 |
Scott Kelby |
- Perhaps the best known of the Photoshop publications, these
Down and Dirty Tricks guides have been the recipe
book of choice for Photoshop users for years
- Each guide is released with each successive release of Photoshop,
and most of the material is completely new for each version
- Full color contents full of screenshots from every step
of each tip
- Downloads from the web are available only for the most recent
versions of the book, and are only low-resolution. They can
be found here.
- This book (and all others in the Down & Dirty Tricks
series) do very little in the way to teaching how the tricks
work, or how to use Photoshop (for example, no explanation
is given as to why certain layer blending modes are chosen).
It should be regarded as a "recipe" book. For a
recipe book, this one is very thorough in dictating every
step.
- A lot of interesting ideas, and starting points for your
own explorations. Tips and tricks cover areas from photo editing,
stylistic text, studio effects, etc.
- For beginner to intermediate Photoshop users, this book
provides a wide collection of inspirational ideas, and the
step-by-step paths to achieve them. However, from the perspective
of learning why you are performing particular steps, this
book does very little.
|
 |
Photoshop CS /
ImageReady CS
Hands on Training
|
 |
Tanya Staples |
- Black & white. CD contains exercises and demo movies.
- Probably the best book on ImageReady (using Photoshop for the web)
- Good background on how to optimize your images for the web, and how
to improve one's productivity through the use of layers
and automation.
- Great section on how to interface Photoshop with other programs (such
as Macromedia Dreamweaver MX), which is often done but rarely
explained.
- Although ImageReady CS is not a particulary good web design tool, it
is still useful for designing the graphics and slices used by
other tools. Thus, this book will be very useful for those who
which to explore this multi-tool approach.
|
 |
Photoshop CS
Studio Techniques
|
 |
Ben Willmore |
- Full color, includes CD-ROM
- Excellent book that provides extensive coverage of Photoshop CS's toolset
and how to use it.
- Starts from the very basics of the Photoshop window and palettes and
then moves on to the essential techniques.
- Decent section on the Curves tool (35 pages).
- Reasonable coverage of the Adobe Camera Raw import tool.
- Explores some advanced techniques (eg. complex masking) and always offers
shortcuts to expedite one's workflow.
|
Reader's Comments:
Please leave your comments or suggestions below!This is a richly illustrated book about the art of photography that emphasizes developing one's ability to see. It offers a practical system of instruction that has been developed and refined through twenty-five years of courses and workshops. The system skillfully applies the wisdom of Buddhist teachings on perception and creativity to the contemporary art of digital photography.
This book includes: an introduction to basic ideas about the role of mind in photography and ways of accessing natural creativity; a step-by-step guide to contemplative photography practice, including experiential exercises and shooting assignments; a three-part method for shooting fresh, uncontrived images; and a deep appreciation for the joy of seeing. It is a book that will transform the way people see, and the way they take photographs.
The Art of Photoshopping Women, hmmm I want to get that book. Can't say no to extra help.