The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers
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Description
Some people make their living with a camera, and for these people the maturation of digital photo technology means a significant shift in their trade. The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers is for people who are already adept with a camera, and pretty much up to speed on the peculiarities of digital photography, too. The book teaches these people how to use Adobe Photoshop, the standard photo-editing software package. More accurately, the book explains how to use Photoshop for the kinds of work professional photographers do. Case in point: The removal from photographs of what are politely called skin blemishes. Author Scott Kelby (the editor of Photoshop User offers two strategies: One you can use to remove all traces of a mark but which requires a fair amount of time, and another procedure that delivers "pretty good" results and which can be done on many pictures (such as a set of class portraits) rapidly. Kelby teaches by means of heavily illustrated procedures, each between five and 20 steps long and spanning several pages. A good way to use this book is by scanning the table of contents for a procedure that interests you (say, "Fixing Underexposed Photos," or "Pro Wrinkle Removal"). This will enable you to spot Photoshop techniques you hadn't considered. --David Wall Topics covered: How to use Adobe Photoshop if, for you, the program is one tool out of many in a photographic kit. Tricks teach you how to recolor hair, whiten teeth and eyes, modify unflattering body contours, dodge and burn, apply filters for effect, assemble panoramas, and do a score of other slick photo jobs.
Book Description
Finally, a Photoshop book that is written expressly for professional photographers and hi-end serious amateurs that doesn't talk about F-stops, exposures, and how to frame a shot (you know all that stuff already--if you don't¿I hate to say it, but this isn't for you). This new book, from Photoshop User magazine editor and bestselling author Scott Kelby, starts at the moment your digital camera photos come into Photoshop, and he shows you the Photoshop pros techniques for managing, correcting, retouching and outputting your photos to knock your client's socks off, and turn you into a Photoshop production wizard. This book is absolutely ideal for traditional photographers who are making the jump to digital photography, and Scott's casual, step-by-step, plain-English style makes even the most complex Photoshop techniques seem so easy and accessible. It's the type of book that makes you smile and think "Ahhhh, so that's how they do it" and then immediately you realize "Hey, I can do this!" The entire book is graphically rich, in full color cover-to-cover, and best of all it's packed with real-world project-based tutorials that will take you through the process of sizing your images with the proper resolution (and the secret to doing so without losing image quality), how to deal with High ISO noise, blue channel noise, and other common plagues introduced by digital cameras; you'll learn how the pros color correct their photos for output on everything from inkjet printers to printing presses, and the secrets to getting perfect fleshtones no matter where it¿s output. You'll learn the sharpening techniques today's top digital photographers use, and how the leading retoucher's perform "digital plastic surgery" in Photoshop, plus professional facial retouching techniques using Photoshop 7.0's amazing new tools. Plus, you'll also learn how to manage your photos, "digital dodging and burning" tricks, dealing with common problems, making client presentations within Photoshop and on the Web, and the inside tips on how to work faster and more efficiently than you ever thought possible. If you're serious about digital photography and Photoshop, this is book you've been waiting for.
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LOVE this useful tome!Friday, May 06, 2005
I am SO pleased with this book. Scott Kelby shows you step-by-step methods for really improving your digital photos using Photoshop. I'm very experienced with Photoshop, yet being self-taught, I probably missed out on a few things. This book really helps fill in the holes. I refer to it all the time for little hints and tricks.
It's especially useful for portrait photographers. It goes through lots of different adjustments and tweaks that really make your photos pop.
I also like that it goes from soup to nuts. Everything from file management to displaying your shots on the web or to your clients. I do think you need a basic understanding of Photoshop, but this really does help expand your knowledge of the software as well as your overall photographic look.
This is a keeper!
5 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:
A good supplement to my handle-book's collectionWednesday, January 05, 2005
I don't believe in a kinda perfect book no matter what the last is about. When I hear from anybody that I have to buy some edition, just the only one and forget all the questions I had ever asked... well, thanks a lot there is outta my insight. It's too naive to take such a bait.
I can define myself like an advanced Photoshop user and have a strong confidence that if someone going to be familiar with PS, there is no way but to look for different methods to improve your skills. The "Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers" by Scott Kelby is kind the method I have found really usefull for myself. Of course, content of some chapters was well known for me, but that hadn't grieved me because I had bought that book just for the rest chapters with all these tips I didn't know before. And it was worthwhile.
If you still hesitate between pros and cons just read the preface (in a form of conversation between author and Editor) and you'll figure out what you can obtain from this book and what is unidentified after you'll turn over the last page.
3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Solid introduction to basic, bad panorama coverageSaturday, November 20, 2004
This is a very solid and well written introduction to the basics, from managing photos to doing simple color correction and touchups. The book is in full color and the examples are of regular people and average pictures that present the problems we have all come to know, and wish to fix, underexposure, overexposure, too much shadow, too little contrast, etc.
Overall I like the book but there are some rough spots. In particular, the coverage of panoramas could be better. The author admonishes you not to pay for panorama software, which he overshoots on the price, and then lays out a complex set of steps that will result in an average panorama that will likely have perspective problems if you take the shots too close. In addition there was more that could have been said about the RAW format, which is critical to getting the most out of your camera.
Still, even with the downsides, this is a good book for digital photographers.
11 out of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Top Notch Book, Well Written and Laid Out!Tuesday, September 21, 2004
This is a very good book. In fact it is by far the best I have found to guide me in taking images from camera to use! Comprehensive, but easy to follow and read.
I am not a professional photographer, but I do take a lot of photographs. Some for fun, but many find their way into our company's website, PowerPoint slides, and promotional material (engineering and industrial projects). I also use a lot of photographs for my wife's travel business website and brochures. Mostly slides for years, but am now going "all digital." They all need adjusting, cropping, sharpening, fixing so I find myself using Photoshop more and more.
I started using Photoshop 5.0 almost 6 years ago, about the time I purchased a scanner and started trying to master inserting images in documents for my work. I was no computer amateur, but what a struggle. I fumbled through at least two of the obscure "list everything and every option" manuals Kelby describes-with time consuming, mediocre results. Finally admitted defeat and enrolled in a Photoshop night course at university. Three years, Photoshop 7.1, Win2000, and many thousands of photographs later, I am still learning. I read through parts of this book at a local bookstore three weeks ago and quickly concluded that this was a book I had to have. Just got it today, and have actually read a third already!
Good, solid advice on using Photoshop's browser was the first thing that caught my attention. I was using the limited "Zoom Browser" software that came with my new Canon digital camera and wasn't even aware of the browser capabilities of Photoshop. Also appreciated the advice on sharpening settings, some of which I had already noted from the class I took on Photoshop. I had been investigating sharpening plug-ins for Photoshop, and Kelby's examples are a good introduction to the different sharpening effects. Next will be colour curves and adjustments-which, despite appearances of my photos, I am still making a mess of!
The book is very well laid out. Use of colour and white space is nicely done. Easy to read and follow, and generously illustrated with colour photographs for every step. In fact, this is one of my criteria for an instructional book-if it's not "easy on the eye" it will probably just sit on the shelf. Of course, eye candy can grow old quickly without content. Kelby covers the subject well in an informal and humorous style. His advice is right on, and to the point: I have photos, now I need to use them-even if it's only to e-mail friends and family. He lays out how to do this.
14 out of 14 people found the following review helpful:
BEST HOW TO BOOK I'VE EVER READTuesday, August 31, 2004
MY QUALIFICATIONS: (ADVANCED NOVICE) I am a professional photographer and videographer. IMAGEWERX is my company. I am a video and photo editor, I photo and video weddings, and design and author custom DVDs. I have used Adobe Photoshop since 1997 and the only training I have had has been hands-on and tips from friends.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP VERSION I USE: Photoshop CS (MAC)
MY OPINION OF THE BOOK: The best how-to book I ever bought. I have learned a lot about Photoshop from this book. It's Easy to read. Easy to follow. Takes me step-by-step through the process. The attempts at humor didn't annoy me. That didn't distract me from the content of the book. I liked it because it made me feel closer to the author and that he was writing to me and not at me.
HOW I USE THIS BOOK: Usually, I don't read this type of book cover to cover. If I need to know how to do something I look it up. However, I have found myself actually reading this book section by section. I have never done that before (I have adult ADD so keeping me focused and interested for more then 10 seconds is a challenge). But this book has so many valuable lessons that take you step-by-step through the process I can't help but read it. I used to do a lot of things the hard way. Now I am saving a lot of time (which means money) by doing them the right way. I now consider my self a Photoshop expert. My photographs are better quality and my processing time has been more than cut in half because of this book.
WILL THIS BOOK WORK FOR YOU? That's up to you. One review I saw here was worthless because it talked about the information being available on the Web. So what does that have to do with the book? Every book I have ever bought has information I could find in other sources. It is how well it is written that matters to me. I have bought several books on the same subject and they all had the same information, but what was important to me was the one that I could follow and understand the best. This book is that to me.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE ADDED TO THE NEXT ADDITION: More Web site creation information including ImageReady how to steps.