"Photoshop Retouching Cookbook for Digital Photographers" by
Barry Huggins (O'Reilly, ISBN 0596100302) Barry Huggin’s book covers Photoshop CS2 and it is an excellent book in many ways. I especially recommend it for photomanipulators who wonder what CS2 can do for them that Photoshop Elements 3 or 4 can’t do. I’m
not talking about all the things that happen when a professional
ships his photo-file to a publisher, I am only concerned about
getting some photos fixed, upgraded, or created and delivered to
your kids, friends, and neighbors. This book changed the way I
think about Photoshop and the way I work with photos.
I started
working with photoshop 13 Years ago when I bought my first 600-pixels/inch
scanner. It scanned each photograph 3 times, one for each color,
and it came with Photoshop version 2.5 Limited Edition. Soon thereafter
I upgraded to Photoshop 3.0, the full version and I have been upgrading
about every other version that Adobe ships out. I enjoy using Photoshop
Elements 4 now, using it for about 85% of the work that I do and
I use CS2 for the other 15%. My use of CS2 was pretty limited in
nature, for example when I needed 16 – bit scans. I often wondered
what all those new CS-2 features were and whether they were worth
learning. The easy answer was to do as much as I could with Elements
and avoid the frustration of learning something new until I absolutely
had to. For example, the “Warp” tool! Now, is that anything I
want to learn about? What am I missing here; do I want to warp
my photos? On page 64 Huggins gives a wonderful example of how
the warp tool can change a portrait and better yet, on the next
page, he shows how to use the Liquify Pucker tool to improve the
same portrait even more! Yes, this is a great book for someone
that already has some Photoshop experience.
The author has picked
a number photographs to demonstrate his art and they are available
for downloading from the Web. All his examples are represented
in the downloaded files except “Depth of Field”, “Creating Film
Grain” , and “Removing Moire Patterns”. Of course the first file
I wanted to work on was Moire Patterns and I was a little disappointed
that photo was not there. The Moire Pattern shown on page 148 was
sort of faint compared to the problem that the librarian at the
local library was having with her scanner. I completed both exercises
(the author often shows two or more ways to accomplish some repair
or enhancement) and then I was able to solve the problem using
real-life scans.
Do you know what the problem is with Adobe’s Photoshop books (User
guide – 0.8 inches thick – and Classroom – 0.9 inches thick)?
They are very good books, most people agree, but they are boooring!
I can’t find something in the middle of either of those books without
first going back a step, or two steps, or more, to find the place
that I can start reading so that I can understand the part that
I need to know about. That must have been what Huggins was trying
to avoid. After you have looked through the first three pages,
which explain the selection tools, layer masks and clipping masks,
the reader is off and running! What a pleasure to use his book.
The excellent publishing job (good paper, good color) added to
my enjoyment of this learning process.
There were a few places that I think I could have done a better
job at fixing a picture than the author did. However, the author
probably did it in half the time it would have taken me to do it
with Elements. I noted that Huggins was specially creative with
Photoshop. When the programmers at Adobe saw his book I expect
they were saying “Look at this, he used the ____ tool to do _____!
On page 23 he talks about setting the Burn Tool range to midtones
rather than highlights to fix the highlights. That is a creative
choice, not a logical choice. On page 61 he uses the Dust and Scratches
filter to remove blemishes from a model’s face. That was another
creative choice made by this artist with extensive experience in
Photoshop. He taught me to apply tools/processes in unconventional
ways to solve problems that I am already familiar with and have
solved with a lot more work in the past.
Huggins also taught me to be bold when it comes to fixing pictures
of people. I always worried that I was “cheating” if I made someone
look a lot better than “reality”. But now I will be trying things
like changing the lighting, compositing (especially changing the
background of pictures), tinting old photographs, and routine whitening
of subject’s teeth and eyes rather than rarely. My camera makes
RAW files if I tell it to but I wasn’t very interested in that
approach because I already had my hands full. Now, with Huggins’ help
and encouragement, I will at least try manipulating a few RAW images
(pgs. 140 – 143).
This book changed the way I think and work with Photoshop. (Reviewed
by James Hodges June 2007) More...
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"The
DAM Book - Digital Asset Management for Photographers by Peter
Krogh (O'Reilly, ISBN 0596100183)This
is not a book for beginners. Readers should be familiar with
the techniques of digital photography AND familiar with Adobe
Photoshop. Although "jargon" terms are explained well,
there are many of them, and it is easy to get lost. To really
understand this book, and get the most out of it, you should
read each chapter while running Adobe Bridge, learning the steps
of both data management and program operation. It is not a manual
for Bridge - instead it is like a do-it-yourself class for learning
Bridge. For photography professionals this can be a VERY valuable
book. The explanation of the new Adobe DNG ("Digital Negative")
graphics file format is especially well done and interesting.
DAM is still a new field - both the software, and participation
in standards by camera companies, are evolving. Still, in this
field, as in photo processing with PhotoShop, Adobe promises
to become the standard and the leader in this important and very
necessary area of cataloging digital images. The worst thing
about DAM is the amount of detail that a user has to absorb in
order to comprehend, and use, the software tools; the best thing
about DAM is that it promises to be, in many ways, the "wave
of the future". At any rate, DAM systems are inevitable,
and Adobe will probably win the DAM fight. Overall, I found this
book to be very well written, very informative, and very useful.
The author goes into a lot of detail for almost every aspect
of DAM; my only complaint is that I wish the author had included
more summaries. (Reviewed
by Karen McCann Sep 21, 2006) More...
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"Photoshop
Elements 3 for Digital Photographers DVD by Scott Kelby
(New Riders, ISBN 0321321340)If
you have ever read one of Scott Kelby’s books, you know
that they
aren’t a dissertation of all the possible menu items and
tools from the
tool and shortcut bar. They instead are practical tips and techniques
to
enhance or correct typical digital photos that you might take.
This
training DVD is no different! This DVD starts out with the basic
workflow
that one might use when using Photoshop Elements of loading pictures
to
the organizer, Backing them up, and Printing them on a Contact
Sheet.
It continues with a short description of how to get the
Editor Interface
to be like Elements 2.0 and a rather complete description of the
File
Browser which was removed in Elements 4.0. With these basics out
of the
way the DVD continues with photo demonstrations of how to fix and
enhance
photos using Levels, Unsharp Mask filter, Crop tool, Shadows/Highlights,
Blending Modes (for under and over exposed images), and Photo
Filters (for color
casts).
The next section was titled Advanced Editing and starts with
a demonstration of processing camera raw images and even bracketing
for
multiple images. Unfortunately I don’t have a camera that
records in
raw. But the DVD did show bracketing and making corrections without
raw.
There is also a section on retouching to whiten teeth, add sparkle
to
eyes, fixing blemishes, removing hot spots, smoothing skin, adding
a
smile, and slimming.
One thing that I found by accident is that
all the photos are available
so you can edit them and follow along with the DVD. It is a great
product
to learn Elements. (Reviewed
by Scott Maiden Jul 1, 2006) More...
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"How
to do Everything with Photoshop® Elements 3.0", David Plotkin
(Osborne/McGraw Hill, ISBN 0072258055)Covering
Adobe’s lack of a decent manual, David Plotkin has put together
a bible for the newcomer to Photoshop Elements 3.0 including all
the features available in Elements to enhance, retouch and repair
digital images. In addition, Plotkin has included sections on preparing
panoramas, web galleries and image printing.
Photoshop Elements
consists of two major sections; the Organizer (used to manage the
huge volume of images you hope to have) and the Editor (used to
make improvements in your images). Many Elements how-to books open
with the Organizer, which tends to bore people who bought the program
for its editing functions. Plotkin, however, jumps right into the
Editor with a discussion of the Workspace and the Tools available. After
sections on global editing (changes of the entire image), he moves
easily into Selections (working only with a portion of the image)
and Layers (segregating change steps or inserts in a recoverable
work pattern).
Directions for effective use of the Organizer functions
follow, as well as the Panorama and Web Page development.
This
book is a good choice for the image editing newcomer. (Reviewed
by Milt Kostner Apr 11, 2006) More...
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"Photoshop® Elements
3, The Missing Manual",
Barbara Brundage (Pogue Press/O'Reilly
ISBN 0596004532)
The
Missing Manual. It really is! Since Adobe abandoned providing a written manual
following Version 2, Brundage's book not only fills the missing manual need but
also, provides an expanded guide with a wealth of helpful hints not found in
most manuals. Adobe should use Brundage's style for any future manual they might
provide, if they change their mind. Elements is too extensive and complicated
an application to learn how to use it from the 'How-To' palette or Help button.
Brundage begins by showing the reader around Elements, and then covers the setup,
use and features of the Organizer. Recognizing that some Elements users don't
like to use the Organizer or its associated Photo Downloader, she provides details
of how to eliminate these features of the application.
Moving on, the next sections cover the Tool Box, the art of Quick Fix, Selections,
and Layers (the jack of the many trades in Elements). Other sections cover Retouching,
RAW image adjustments, Filters and Artistic touches. The final segment of the
book exposes the best procedures of Printing, Web authoring and Web Galleries
and Slideshows. In addition, three appendices provide menu guides for the Organizer
and the Editor menus and installation/troubleshooting this application.
The author provides an insight in to how to stretch Elements towards the capabilities
of its much more expensive parent, Photoshop.
I consider my self a knowledgeable Elements and Photoshop editing user but have
to admit I picked up some interesting tricks going through this book. It should
be a must for any serious user of Elements. (Reviewed by
Milt Kostner, May 19, 2006) More... |
"The Photoshop®
Elements 3 Book for Digital Photographers", Scott Kelby
(Voices That Matter/New Riders ISBN 0321269055)
First
a confession! Scott Kelby is my favorite Photoshop author/DVD presenter. (Eat
your heart out Deke McClelland, my second choice!)
Now that that's out of the way, this is not just another Elements replacement
manual, making up for Adobe's lack of one. What is different about this book
is that Kelby writes in a thoroughly enjoyable and easy to understand style as
he opens each chapter with a small farce and then in real time proceeds to take
you step by step through one or another of those work flows needed to correct
or enhance an image into something worth keeping. As Kelby says in the "Read
This First" chapter (Introduction, by another name), "... I tried not to put
things in this book that are already in every other Photoshop book out there."
The book covers work flow from Organizer to Editor, fixes for all the usual image
defects or enhancements and output procedures for print, slideshow, e-mail and
website. There is no CD with the book, but in a practice that appears to be gaining
acceptance in this type of book, the images used in the book are available at the author's
website.
I enjoyed using this book to improve my own limited Elements (and Photoshop)
skills. There are just enough basics within his procedures in the book for Newbies
to learn their basic skills and enough advanced editing for experienced editors
to enjoy. I recommend this book. (Reviewed by Milt Kostner, May 21, 2006) More... |
