Photo Book
Reviews
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All Reviews are by Paul W Faust unless otherwise noted as Michael Fulks (MF)
and Elizabeth Powis (EP).
To purchase any book or to find out pricing
information, click on any of the book images.
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Photoshop Blending Modes Cookbook
for Digital Photographers:
49 Easy-to-Follow Recipes to Fix Problem Photos and Create Amazing
Effects
by John Beardsworth
This is a great, easy to follow how-to book for fixing problem
photos and/or creating special effects. Every step is illustrated,
including EVERY tool and setting used to do each step, (which is
what I think EVERY how-to Photoshop book should have, but usually
doesn’t.) The ideas and how-to info in this one will keep you busy
for months, (or years if you want to stop to eat and sleep.)
This soft cover book is about 9x10 inches, with 176 pages, retails
for US$29.95 - and is published by O’Reilly Media and can be checked
out at
www.oreilly.com
I Rate it: A++
(Reviewed March 2006) |
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The Photoshop Channels Book
by Scott Kelby
Describing this new book will be easy: “Channels and layers are the
two major tools you need to use to get the most control and quality
out of your images, and this book will give you everything you will
ever need to know to master the channels part of that.” The fact
that every technique shown in it also includes before and after
illustrations, and the tool settings used to acquire them, is just
icing on the cake. This is one more book that will always be within
arms reach for me.
This soft cover book is about 8x9 inches, with 275 pages, retails
for US$39.99 – and is distributed by Peach Pit Press at:
www.peachpit.com.
I Rate it: A++
(Reviewed July 2006) |
Click on the above image to find out current pricing
or to purchase this book from Amazon.com |
PhotoShop CS Artistry, Mastering the Digital Image,
by Barry Haynes and Wendy Crumpler
This is one of the great new Photoshop CS books that are now
available. This in-depth how-to book from New Riders Publishing has everything
you will need to know to create the very best photo images from digital files,
whether they come right from a digital camera or scanned from film. The 478
pages, plus a resource CD, contain everything you need to do the seven work
sessions in the book. With before and after images, masks, and even the tool
settings for each lesson, this is a must have for any reference library that is
more than worth its US$55 retail price, and it is for both Mac and Windows users.
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Click on the above image to find out current pricing
or to purchase this book from Amazon.com |
The Photoshop CS book for
Digital Photographers
by Scott Kelby
The Photoshop CS book for
Digital Photographers, by Scott Kelby is for sure one of those. If you are
going to buy any new Photoshop book, make it this one, and you don’t have to be
a digital photographer either. This book covers everything you will need to make
yourself a top Photoshop Guru, and you will be turning out images to match any
digital pro. As with all of Mr.
Kelby’s books, this one also shows you not only what tools to use for each
effect, but it includes all of the settings for those tools. It couldn’t be any
easier to learn from unless the book somehow actually "did the work" for you.
This 375 page soft cover book is for intermediate to advanced users and retails
for US$39.99 and is published by New Riders. (Reviewed June 2004)
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PhotoShop
CS Classroom in a Book
With the recent release of
Photoshop CS, there is a host of new features for old-time users, and tons of
them for new users to learn. Unlike the old days when software came with
printed manuals to show you how a program works, now those manuals come on the
program disk and unless you print out every page you have no hard copy to refer
to. Fortunately Adobe does publish books for their software that they call,
Classroom In A Book., and they contain everything you’ll ever need to learn a
program. In fact, they are an even better reference than the regular manuals
they used to put in with the software. The PhotoShop CS Classroom In A
Book is now out and a "must have" for anyone getting this program. These
books also come with a tutorial CD with all of the material you will need to use
all of the features in Photoshop. (Photoshop itself is not included) But any
images and other files you will need are on the CD, so you won’t even have to
have a single image of your own to start learning. This book is also for Mac or
Windows users, and the instructions don’t just tell you what to do, but shows
you every step, with full illustrations. PhotoShop CS Classroom In A Book
is 690 pages, softcover, and retails for USD$45.00
Published by PeachPit Press.
(Reviewed March 2004) |
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PhotoShop
CS2 Before & After Makeovers
by Taz Tally
The easiest way to describe this new book is just to say that if you
have images that suffer from the “Blahs,” then here is the book to
show you how to turn them into great looking “after” shots, and it
does it in very easy to understand, step-by-step instructions. Not
only is every step given for each tool used, but also all of the
tool settings. This is by far the easiest to use and learn Photoshop
book I have seen so far, and the only way the work could get any
easier is if someone did it all for you. It is one of those few
books that will pay for itself as soon as you work on your first
image. It will always be right at my work station so that I never
have to go looking for it.
This soft cover book is about 8x10 inches, with 374 pages, retails
for US$29.99 - and is published by Sybex, an imprint of Wiley at
www.sybex.com. I Rate
it: A+ (PF)
(Reviewed April 2007) |
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The Photoshop CS2 book for digital
photographers,
by Scott Kelby
Here is one book you will want to have for
the newest version of Photoshop CS2. Kelby is the editor of the
Photoshop User magazine, among other credits, and about the best
teacher of Photoshop that you will find. You will see that real fast
as soon as you start checking out all of the new things you can do
with this program. This soft cover, 8x10 book has 459 pages packed
with lessons, and each has what I like best about his books: they
include all of the tool settings needed in step-by-step
instructions. You will soon know just how the pros do it. It retails
for US$39.99 and is published by New Riders. Order at
www.peachpit.com
I Rate it: A++ (Reviewed June 2005)
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Click on the above image to find out current pricing or
to purchase this book from Amazon.com
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Photoshop CS Creative Studio
by Luanne Seymour Cohen
PhotoShop CS Creative Studio, by Luanne Seymour Cohen is another great book for
digital artists who are past the beginner stage with Photoshop.
When you are ready to create top quality studio images this 339 page soft cover
book will get you started on the right track. With chapters on painting,
drawing, type effects, as well as the other standard PhotoShop work you can do,
you will not only learn the pro tricks, but get tons of new ideas as well.
Published by PeachPit Press it retails for US$40.00.
(Reviewed June 2004)
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Photoshop CS/CS2 Breakthroughs,
by David Blatner & Conrad Chavez
Here is another new Photoshop book that
shows you that the most obvious things about Photoshop are not
always all that obvious. This “how-to solve problems” book addresses
this problem. The most common questions about Photoshop do not
always come from beginners either, so even the advanced Photoshop
user will find what they need in its fairly easy to follow,
step-by-step instructions. This will be another one of those books
that will usually be found near your work area for easy access when
needed.
This soft cover book is about 7x10 inches, with 254 pages, retails
for US$24.99 – and is distributed by Peach Pit Press at
www.peachpit.com
I Rate it: A (Reviewed Feb. 2006)
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Photoshop®
CS2: Essential Skills
by Mark Galer and Philip Andrews
If
you are looking for a Photoshop book that will give a good foundation in
the basics of the program, offer you some more advanced techniques and
give you a variety of projects to try out your new skills, then this is
the book for you. This book is a gem. It is written in an easy to
read style, and is chock full of useful information.
Have you ever noticed how some books spread
their text out and use huge margins, as if they are trying to s t r e
t c h o u t what they are giving you to justify the 200
or so pages their publisher gave them? Sometimes these books have more
white space than they have text and photos on a page. Not so with
this book! You really get your money's worth when you buy this one. You
are going to be amazed at how much information they have fit into its
384 pages. Yet it is easily accessible and readily understandable.
This is also the first book I have seen that
goes into detail about how blending modes work and ways to use them.
Most books spend a couple of pages, but Galer and Andrews give you a
whole chapter on layer blends with real life practical applications!
Essential Skills
is crammed full of quality images and helpful instructions. The
authors make sure that this text is for the beginner, amateur, and
advanced. The basic concepts are discussed along with the creative
extensions.
This book is accompanied by a companion CD and
website, giving you even more than could fit into the book. Almost every
Photoshop student I have shown this to has rushed out to buy their own
copy. Yes, it is that good!
384 pages,
10 x 7.5 inches, Focal Press
(June 2005),
Paperback,
US$32.95
I rate it: A+++ (Reviewed Dec. 2005)
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PhotoShop CS2 Killer Tips,
by Scott Kelby & Felix Nelson
Here is yet another book in the collection
from whom you could call “The guru of Photoshop.” If Photoshop can
do it, Kelby can tell you how, and all of his books are written to
do just that. There are 261 pages, and a lot more tips than that,
since many pages have two tips on each, and all are fully
illustrated. To give you an idea of what you will learn that other
books never even heard of, did you know that you can make just a
part of a layer have a different opacity than the rest of it, or
that you can add a drop shadow to make the page appear curled? Get
the idea of how this book will pay for itself the first day you just
look through it?
This soft cover book is about 7x9 inch, with
161 pages and retails for US$29.99. Distributed by Peach Pit Press
at
www.peachpit.com
I Rate it: A++ (Reviewed Nov. 2005)
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Photoshop CS2 RAW
by Mikkel Aaland
Every serious digital photographer who wants to get the most out of
each and every digital image they take, using the RAW file format to
do that, will want to check out this info-packed new book. It will
teach you how to decide just when to use RAW, how to manage your RAW
files after you have them, automate RAW processing, sharpen the
smart way, do B&W conversions, and much more. Each how-to
instruction is covered with as-you-go illustrations, including the
Photoshop tool and settings used for it. If you can’t learn how to
use RAW with this book, you never will.
This soft cover book is about 8x10 inches, with 206 pages, retails
for US$34.99 - and is published by O’Reilly Media and can be checked
out at
www.oreilly.com.
I
Rate it: A+ (Reviewed July 2006)
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Photoshop CS2 Workflow –
The Digital Photographer’s Guide,
by Tim Grey
Photoshop CS2 Workflow
is a great new book that goes beyond
the usual digital how-to books, and includes information on
organizing your work to achieve the best results in the fastest way.
It will help you understand the principles of a good work foundation
and how to use it. It has 14 chapters on 280 pages, and is very well
illustrated with screen shots of the tools and their settings used.
This is a soft cover book and retails for US$39.99. Published by
SYBEX and can be ordered at
www.sybex.com
I Rate it: A (Reviewed Aug. 2005)
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Click on the above image to find out current pricing
or to purchase this book from Amazon.com
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PhotoShop CS Studio Techniques,
by Ben Willmore
PhotoShop CS Studio Techniques
is another great addition to
every PhotoShop users reference library, but this book goes far beyond the
standard "how-to" versions, and tells you "why" to use each of this programs
powerful features to achieve your best work. With
19 chapters on 697 pages, plus a resource CD, this book covers everything every
Mac and Windows users will need to get the best results. That is probably also
because this book is written by the guy other Photoshop professionals contact
when they need answers. This award winning best seller retails for US$50 and is
published by PeachPit Press.
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Photoshop CS3 Channels
and Masks Bible
by Stephen Romamiello
Most people using Photoshop have always found that the curves tool
and masking techniques have been the hardest to learn and master,
but no more. With the new Photoshop CS3 and this book, you
will find that those two things have gotten a whole lot easier. It
wasn’t long ago that selecting and masking around hair was a
nightmare, and including shadow areas were impossible, but no more.
This new book will even have you masking “transparent” shadow areas
as if there never was a background in the original shot, and that’s
just the beginning. Its 21 chapters cover everything you will need
to know to work on even the most detailed subjects, and even
subjects inside subjects. To really get your money's worth out of
Photoshop you need to know how to use all of it, and this new book
will show you how to use the most difficult techniques.
This soft cover book is about 7x9 inches, with 510 pages, retails
for US$49.99 - and is published by Sybex, an imprint of Wiley at
www.sybex.com
I Rate it: A+(PF) (Reviewed June 2007) |
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Photoshop CS3 Photographer’s
Handbook
by Brad Hinkel & Steve Laskevitch
This new Photoshop book covers most, if not all, of
the great features you will want to learn with this program. The
step-by-step lessons are richly illustrated and include the tool
settings with before and after shots. I do have several problems
with this book though. First of all, the text is smaller than what I
find in most other books, and there is a lot of wasted space on
nearly all of the pages. Space that SHOULD HAVE been used to have a
larger, and more readable text. The illustrations are also on the
small end of the scale, which makes it difficult to see exactly what
is trying to be shown to the reader.
Therefore, I find it's higher price less appealing.
This soft cover book is about 8x10 inches, with 205 pages, retails
for US-$35.95 - and is published by RockyNook and distributed by
O’Reilly Media and can be checked out at: www.oreilly.com
I Rate it: B+
(Reviewed Sept. 2007) |
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