If you're like me, when you sit down to process photos you don't really have the time to explore options and try out new techniques. You just have time to do the work. Though my byline above IDs me as a book author, I also do color correction for the photos in my books, and have done commercial photo retouching since those dark days in darkrooms. I learned Photoshop on version 1.0 (we upgraded from Digital Darkroom, anyone else remember that?), and since that time haven't kept up much with all the new improvements. I just get photos in and need to get them out. Quickly.
Anyway, I haven't bought a Photoshop book in years. I saw the other good reviews this book is getting and thought I'd give it a try.
And boy am I glad I did!
There are four chapters here I'm going to use a lot:
CHAPTER 6 is filled with shortcuts, tips and tricks. Many other books are too, yes, but this one has a straightforward presentation filled with doses of humor. (Whereas many software guides are about as interesting as a dead fish, this one is filled with a lively, witty writing style that nevertheless gets its points across cleanly.)
CHAPTER 7 is all about color correction, which is my main concern. A section called "The trick pros use to make color correction simple" is nice to know. It suggests using black, gray and white cards in your photo, and the Curves adjustment in Photoshop to almost automatically correct the color.
CHAPTER 10 focuses (sorry, bad pun) on problematic photos. Included are:
a. Fixing color in indoor shots
b. When your subject is in the shadows
c. 15-second fix for under- or overexposed photos
d. Dodging and burning in CS4
e. Instant red-eye removal
f. Fixing reflections in glasses
g. The CS4 secret to fixing group shots
h. Having Photoshop extend your depth of field
i. The fastest way to resize brushes ever (plus you can change their hardness, too)
CHAPTER 13 finally explained the configuration of color space to me in a way I, after all these years, now understand. There is also both the lame way and the correct way to calibrate your monitor.
Also covered thoroughly: Bridge, Camera Raw, black and white photography, HDR, special effects and sharpening.
With crisp text, clear descriptions, a pleasing layout and great organization, this is a book I'll be using every day. What a resource!
The author has written two other books, both of which our company uses often:
The Digital Photography Book
The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers
Scott Kelby has never tried to make his guide the biggest or most comprehensive book on Photoshop. His focus is to identify those tasks most useful to digital photographers and give step-by-step explanations to get them done. Most of the information is presented in a very task-oriented approach. The emphasis is squarely placed on giving you the tools to get things done quickly and efficiently. As such, I consistently find it a useful reference book as I edit photos.
The topics covered are varied and generally right in the sweet spot of what will be most useful. There is quite a lot of material on how to use the Raw File conversion utility because in many ways this is the foundation of everything that you will do with an image (assuming you shoot in Raw). Other topics that every photographer should be interested in that are well covered include color management and sharpening. Of course, there are many other chapters covering material almost as essential as what I've already mentioned.
For those who own the prior version for CS3, this is no mere reprint of old material with a few new pages to cover the CS4 features. Mr. Kelby is diligent enough to make each guide better than the last and offers new photos and examples with each new edition. I applaud this effort, because it certainly isn't duplicated by all of his competitors in the field.
In the past, my biggest criticism of Scott Kelby's books has always been his use of humor that takes over certain segments of the book. But I finally realized that he limits the would-be stand up comedy act to his chapter introductions and explicitly tells readers in the introduction to skip this material if they want to, because it has no relevance to the process of learning Photoshop. While I would prefer chapter introductions that give a quick context and introduction for the material, it's probably not the end of the world for those of us who don't find him funny to just skip these sections and let him have his fun.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. Mr. Kelby has done an excellent job organizing and presenting a useful guide to Photoshop CS4 and I commend him for that. While I'd still prefer he soften the comedic approach, this is an excellent text that will prove its value again and again to CS4 users. - Scott Kelby - Digital Image Processing - Kelby - Photography'
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