Sunday, June 29, 2008

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers


Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers,The (Voices That Matter)Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers,The (Voices That Matter) by Scott Kelby


Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers

This book is excellent!!!
I purchased this book from Amazon and not only got a nice discount but I also got a perfect readable book for Adobe lightroom. This book is a must have if you are using lightroom. It is very understandable reading and covers everything you will need to know.
What a wonderful application for photographers who shoot large batches of images. You can organize and edit your images quickly, easily, intuitively with Lightroom. Scott Kelby's famous step-by-steps break it down section by section for you.

Product Description

This book takes you beyond showing you which sliders do what to reveal the secrets of the new digital photography workflow using Adobe Lightroom, and he does it using three simple techniques that make this just a great learning tool: 1) Throughout the book Scott shares his own personal settings and studio tested techniques he s developed using Lightroom for his own photography workflow since well before Adobe released even the first Beta version. He knows what really works, what doesn t, and he tells you flat out which tools to use, which to avoid, and why. 2) The entire book is laid out in a real workflow order with everything step-by-step, so you can jump right in using Lightroom like a pro from the very start and sidestep a lot of productivity killing road blocks and time-wasting frustrations that might have tripped you up along the way. 3) In the last two bonus chapters Scott visually answers his No.1 most-asked Lightroom question, which is: Exactly what order am I supposed to do things in, and where does Photoshop fit in? Scott teaches this by showing every step of the entire process, from the initial shoot to the final prints. Both chapters start with an on-location photo shoot, including full details on the equipment, camera settings, and even the lighting techniques. You ll see it all as he takes the photos from each shoot all the way through the entire workflow process, to the final output of the 16x20 prints for the client.


Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Photoshop Finishing Touches


Photoshop Finishing TouchesPhotoshop Finishing Touches by Dave Cross



Photoshop Finishing Touches

Excellent Photoshop instruction
This was my first exposure to Dave Cross - he is a consumate educator! I found PHOTOSHOP Finishing Touches to be chocked full of great tips, techniques and approaches to image manipulation. Dave's Finishing Touches goes far beyond the mechanical keystrokes to produce results - even though he does this exceedingly well. Gently nestled between the lines of names of Layer styles and menu bars Dave delivers critical information of great value to even the most advanced Photoshop users.

Finishing Touches has become my constant desktop companion.
Add that special touch to your images with custom presentations, borders, and the like. Create templates so you can use the effects over and over again. Dave Cross shows dozens of great ideas, plus variations on them. Visual table of contents makes it easy to find the look you are searching for.

If you're primarily interested in finishing touches--the million creative ways you can use your favorite software to improve, polish, and add pizzazz to your images--this is the book for you! The first book devoted exclusively to the topic, Finishing Touches for Photoshop CS2 offers a treasure chest of creative finishing techniques. With chapters on frames and border effects, color and artistic effects, presentation, sharpening, and printing, this full-color guide covers everything from creative cropping to dramatic lighting, stock photos, collage ideas, combining black-and-white and color, selective blurring, storybook layouts, PDF presentation, and more. Each technique is a stand-alone tutorial, so you can jump in at any point without weeding through a lot of info that's not relevant to the task at hand. Even better, author Dave Cross' two-column format--with simple instructions in one column and lavish, full-color photos and artwork running alongside--makes the techniques instantly accessible. You'll also find several variations for most techniques as well as instructions for creating reusable templates.


Saturday, June 21, 2008

The Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic: Automating Photoshop to Get Twice the Work Done in Half the Time


The Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic: Automating Photoshop to Get Twice the Work Done in Half the TimeThe Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic: Automating Photoshop to Get Twice the Work Done in Half the Time by Matt Kloskowski


The Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic: Automating Photoshop to Get Twice the Work Done in Half the Time

Take Photoshop to a new level
The Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic is a must-have book for seasoned Photoshop users. The author presents a series of powerful tips and techniques that will work wonders when integrated into your production workflow. The book delves into harnessing the power of Adobe's Bridge software, writing repeatable Actions to automate your workflow, and fine-tuning Photoshop's settings to work well with your hardware setup (Mac or PC). The tips and techniques are easy to follow, with plenty of images to support the text. This is a book that you can easily read through in one sitting, but I guarantee you'll keep coming back to it for reference.

This book is more for intermediate to advanced Photoshop users - focusing on maximizing your productivity with the tool. It's NOT a book for learning how to use Photoshop.
Wow, as much as I have designed in Photoshop, I never realized how much time could be saved with actions, scripts, etc. Matt really breaks it down and makes it easy to learn.

Product Description

If you're looking for an easy way to work fast in Photoshop CS2, congratulations, you've found it! Matt Kloskowski, Education and Curriculum Developer for the NAPP, shows you how to use the power of automation to instantly save time, money, and frustration. Once you master these powerful tools, you'll wonder how you ever got along without them.

You'll learn how to:

• Effectively use Adobe Bridge to manage your images
• Add automation using actions
• Create smarter actions
• Use batch processing
• Speed up the Camera Raw workflow
• Customize scripts
• Fine tune filters and preferences
• And much more!

This guide is not only packed with info, it will also show you hidden actions and automation gems that are already loaded when you install Photoshop CS2! If you want to increase your speed, and get twice the work done with half the headaches--this is the book for you!


Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Photoshop Channels Book


The Photoshop Channels BookThe Photoshop Channels Book by Scott Kelby


The Photoshop Channels Book

A great introduction
I like the way Scott designs his information, it makes it easier to absorb, and skim through if I already am familiar with it. Full of to-the-point tutorials, I learned a lot from this book. Also, he freely plugs other authors who give more in-depth teaching, which I appreciate since his books are not ultimate "Bible" type works. His goofy humor is featured in the intro to each chapter, barely worth a chuckle most of the time, but at least he's not an unbearable ego maniac schooling the unwashed masses like Dan Margulis.
I was afraid to go in the channels palette before I worked on this book. Scott makes you whack your forehead and go "Ohhhhh!". Buy this with Matt's Layers book for anyone new to Photoshop or who really wishes they knew the "real" way to do something.

One big advantage Photoshop professionals have always had was the understanding of channels. It was their secret weapon, and it enabled them to do things, and work in an entirely different way than their competitors, and maybe that's why the secret power of Photoshop's channels has been such a closely guarded secret. Until now.

Award-winning, bestselling author Scott Kelby (Editor of Photoshop User magazine) shows you how to unlock the power of Photoshop's Channels and really start using Photoshop like a pro. But this isn't a book of theory and technical explanations, this is a step-by-step project-based book that will teach you exactly how to the pros use channels in their everyday work (Using channels is one of the secrets they use to get twice the work done in half the time).

You'll learn how today's top photographers and graphic designers employ channels to make impossible selections, to speed their production workflow, to color correct images, to mask images, to create stunning color to black and white conversions, and to do dozens of inside tricks that set them apart from the field. There's a reason there's always been a mystique to using channels, and why Photoshop users who understand and use them stay on the cutting edge. Now, their secrets are revealed using the same plain-English style that has made Scott one of the leading Photoshop authors and instructors in the world today.

You'll be amazed at not only what you're able with channels, but you'll love the competitive advantage that using channels will give you. If you're ready to take your Photoshop skills to the next level, you're holding the book that will take you there, and you're gonna love it!



Thursday, June 12, 2008

Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3


Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3 (Voices)Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3 (Voices) by Scott Kelby



Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3

Best Training I've had so far
In the past two days since I got this book, I've read it straight through and did every exercise. I'm so much more confident in my use of Photoshop that I'm going back and retouching all of my favorite photos. This book is fun to read, and Kelby treats the reader with respect, not dumbing it down. It's very repetetive and that's fine with me. This book made me enjoy using photoshop more than ever.

Can't believe the results I am getting!!!
This book is different than any other "how-to" book I have ever seen. You download lesson pictures off Scott's website and you do what he does with each picture. It is like you are sitting in the same room. You follow his plain English directions-with pictures--and you do the exact things he is doing in the book and you end up with amazing pictures...I never knew learning Photoshop could be easy!!!
For photographers, graphic designers, and retouchers. Every image needs some "love"... Scott tells you what to do & what order to do it in to take an image from "flat to fabulous". Won't turn trash to treasure, of course, but will teach you to do what Photoshop does so well: take a gem and cut it, shine it, buff it and set it in a sparkly setting so you get the most out of it.

Product Description

Scott Kelby, the world's #1 bestselling Photoshop author, and the man who changed the Photoshop and digital photography world with his ground-breaking, award-winning "Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers" unveils a exciting, brand new way of thinking, and working in Adobe Photoshop that will not only change the industry again, but it will change the way we all work in Photoshop forever, so we can finally spend less time fixing our images, and more time finishing them.

You're about to become a Photoshop Shark!
Scott has focused in and really narrowed things down to just exactly which Photoshop tools and techniques we absolutely, positively have to know, and he found that there are just seven major tools, seven major features that we have to master to enhance our images like a pro. But then he took it a step further. Out of those seven major tools, he looked at which parts or sections of those tools do we really need to master, and which parts can we pretty much ignore (in other words, he whittled it down so you're not learning parts of the tools that you're probably never going to need). Then, and perhaps most importantly, he determined exactly when and in which order to apply these seven techniques that make up Scott's amazing "Photoshop Seven Point System."

But the magic of this book, is not just listing the seven tools and showing how they work. It's how they're used together, and how Scott teaches them (and makes it stick), that makes this book so unique. You're not going to just learn one technique for fixing shadows, and another technique for adjusting color (every Photoshop book pretty much does that, right?). Instead, you're going start off at square one, from scratch, as each chapter is just one photo—one project—one challenging lifeless image (you'll follow along using his the same images), and you're going to unleash these seven tools, in a very specific way, and you're going to do it again, and again, and again, in order on different photos, in different situations, until they are absolutely second nature. You're finally going to do the FULL fix—from beginning to end—with nothing left out, and once you learn these seven very specific techniques, and apply them in order, there won't be a an image that appears on your screen that you won't be able to enhance, fix, edit, and finish yourself!

Plus, Scott's techniques work across a wide range of photos, and that's exactly what you'll be working on in the book, from landscapes to portraits, to architectural, to nature, from event photography to everything in between—there isn't a photo you won't be able to beat!

This is the book you've been waiting for, the industry's been waiting for, and Scott's "Adobe Photoshop Seven Point System" is so revolutionary that he's officially applied for a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and this new system is only found in this amazing, ground breaking new book. Once you learn these techniques, and start applying them yourself, you'll be the next one to say—"You can't beat 'The System!'


Sunday, June 8, 2008

The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters


The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters (Voices That Matter)The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters (Voices That Matter) by Joe McNally




Excellent Photography Book
Beautifully illustrated photography book. Excellent "how to get the shot" tutorial. A must for photographers.
Get it.
If you already know a bit of lighting and photography basics, you'll love this book. If you don't have a clue but you'd like to learn, this book has a lot to teach, but not specifics, its more about the broader vision that's behind all those little things. Great and entertaining, full of stories, tips, etc.
Photographers will glean tips on lighting, shooting, working in the business... non-photographers like ME will love this collection of Joe's work for its wonderful lighting, composition, and the story it tells, and love the text for the author's wit and humor. Put this on your shopping list for serious photographers and photography admirers alike.

Product Description

THE FIRST BOOK WITH ONE FOOT ON THE COFFEE TABLE, AND ONE FOOT IN THE
CLASSROOM
Joe McNally, one of the world’s top pro digital photographers, whose celebrated work has graced the pages of Sports Illustrated, Time, and National Geographic (to name a few), breaks new ground by doing something no photography book has ever done—blending the rich, stunning images and elegant layout of a coffee-table book with the invaluable training, no-nonsense insights, and photography secrets usually found only in those rare, best-of-breed educational books.

When Joe’s not on assignment for the biggest-name magazines and Fortune 500 clients, he’s in the classroom teaching location lighting, environmental portraiture, and how to “get the shot” at workshops around the world. These on-location workshops are usually reserved for a handful of photographers each year, but now you can learn the same techniques that Joe shares in his seminars and lectures in a book that brings Joe’s sessions to life.

What makes the book so unique is the “triangle of learning” where (1) Joe distills the concept down to one brief sentence. It usually starts with something like, “An editor at National Geographic once told me…” and then he shares one of those hard-earned tricks of the trade that you only get from spending a lifetime behind the lens. Then, (2) on the facing page is one of Joe’s brilliant images that perfectly illustrates the technique (you’ll recognize many of his photos from magazine covers). And (3) you get the inside story of how that shot was taken, including which equipment he used (lens, f/stop, lighting, accessories, etc.), along with the challenges that type of project brings, and how to set up a shot like that of your own.

This book also gives you something more. It inspires. It challenges. It informs. But perhaps most importantly, it will help you understand photography and the art of making great photos at a level you never thought possible. This book is packed with those “Ah ha!” moments—those clever insights that make it all come together for you. It brings you that wonderful moment when it suddenly all makes sense—that “moment it clicks.”


Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers


The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) by Scott Kelby


The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photographers

This book is a marvelous addition to your reference library.
Beginning with the Table of Contents, find what you want to do and go to the page number listed. There you will find step by step instructions with illustrations on exactly how to accomplish your task.
Some of the topics include, but not limited to, Organizing, Resizing & Cropping, Color Correction, Digital Image Problems, Retouching, Removing Unwanted Objects, etc.

This is an excellent book, one for my library. One I highly recommended.
An in depth but easy to follow collection of step-by-step tutorials for Photographers who want to use Elements to refine and display their work at its best.

Product Description

Best-selling author Scott Kelby pairs up with Matt Kloskowski to deliver the definitive book on using Photoshop Elements 6 to create the best possible images. With this newest release of Photoshop Elements, Scott and Matt show readers how to work with their images like a pro, from importing to organization to correction to output. Readers will learn all they need to know about the digital photography workflow, as well as the latest secrets of the pros to help them create the best special effects, apply the most useful sharpening techniques, and avoid many of the hassles and problems that are encountered in digital photography (such as digital noise and color halos).



Monday, June 2, 2008

The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers


The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) by Scott Kelby



The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers

Useful text
I am a fan of Scott Kelby's work, and this text is very useful to those who want to "hit the ground running" with PS CS3. The layout of the book itself could use some tweaking (there's no step 1... step 2... step 3..., just conversational dialogue and pictures), and Scott's priorities may not be yours, so break free from the need to go "front to back" and just skip to the sections you need, especially if you're already familiar with Photoshop. He does provide some useful tricks and tips and his sense of humor is, as ever, firmly intact. It's a little jarring at first when you're expecting your standard dry textbook, but once you get used to it, Scott's humor helps you actually remember what he's teaching you.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Digital Photographers
This is a very interesting and useful book. Good value as there are so many easy tips that are shown with easy to follow descriptions. I'd recomend this book to anyone who uses digital photography. Actually I have recomended this book to others, just as Matt did to me. Thanks mate, and thank you Scott Kelby (author) and Amazon. Oh, and delivery was a fortnight earlier than promised too!
The go-to guide for photographers who want to learn how to use Photoshop to correct, sharpen, retouch, and present their work in its best light.

Product Description

Scott Kelby was honored with Professional Photographer magazine’s highly coveted 2008 Hot One Award for The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers. Here’s what Jeff Kent, the Hot One Editor at Professional Photographer, has to say about the book: “In a how-to published by Peachpit Press, Scott Kelby, best-selling author on Adobe Photoshop, delves into CS3 to uncover the most important and useful techniques for digital photographers. Our judges liked Kelby’s direct approach with step-by-step instructions. In this new edition, Kelby shares even more secrets from the top pros.”

Shutterbug magazine chose The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers as a Top Digital Book of 2007. Here’s what Joe Farace of Shutterbug has to say about the book: “Scott Kelby’s name on a Photoshop book is like the Dodge brand on the front of a pickup truck. You know it’s built RAM—or pixel—tough. Combining his famous twisted wit with unwaveringly straight tutorials, Kelby takes you through a detailed tour of Photoshop CS3 by showing how to use the new features. No fluff; just page after page of well-illustrated tutorials showing photographers how to get the most out of the new features, commands, and effects found in the latest version of Adobe’s flagship. It will get you up to speed on CS3’s new features faster than you can all by yourself.”

Scott Kelby, the #1 best-selling Photoshop author in the world today, once again takes this book to a whole new level as he uncovers the latest, most important, and most exciting new Adobe Photoshop CS3 techniques for digital photographers. This major update to his award-winning, record-breaking book does something for digital photographers that’s never been done before–it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly “how to do it.” It’s not a bunch of theory; it doesn’t challenge you to come up with your own settings or figure it out on your own. Instead, Scott shows you step-by-step the exact techniques used by today’s cutting-edge digital photographers, and best of all, he shows you flat-out exactly which settings to use, when to use them, and why.

That’s why the previous editions of this book are widely used as the official course study guide in photography courses at college and universities around the world, and this new edition for Photoshop CS3 exposes even more of the top pros’ most closely-guarded secrets.

Learn How The Pros Do It
Each year Scott trains thousands of professional photographers on how to use Photoshop, and almost without exception they have the same questions, the same problems, and the same challenges–and that’s exactly what he covers in this book. You’ll learn:

• The sharpening techniques the pros really use.
• The pros’ tricks for fixing the most common digital photo problems fast!
• How to get great looking prints (that actually match your screen!)
• A whole chapter on the latest, most requested Photoshop special effects!
• How to color correct any photo without breaking a sweat.
• How to process Raw images, plus how to take advantage of all the new Camera Raw features in CS3!
• The portrait retouching secrets only the pros know about!
• How to add real automation to your work.
• How to show your work like a pro!

Plus a host of shortcuts, workarounds, and slick “insider” tricks to send your productivity through the roof! If you’re a digital photographer, and you’re ready to learn the “tricks of the trade”–the same ones that today’s leading pros use to correct, edit, sharpen, retouch, and present their work–then you’re holding the book that will do just that.


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Sunday, June 1, 2008

Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature


Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful FeatureLayers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature by Matt Kloskowski


Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature

Boy do I wish I had this book way back when. Matt tells you how to use layers in Photoshop without boring you with technical mumbo jumbo. Great projects, and online content that allows you to "play along."

There is no shortage of how to Photoshop books out there but this one definitely stands out. So easy to read, so easy to follow. I love how Matt Kloskowski writes. The information that he puts down on paper has personality making a hands on learner like myself be able to get into what he is writing making it easier for me to learn...makes me want to read his book. I am not going to give the book justice as I am no writer; but I would buy any book written by Matt Kloskowski as well as Scott Kelby in reference to photoshop and the like! I have been overwhelmed with other photoshop books with too many words, boring writing, not enough photos to go along with all those words, etc that is was refreshing to fall upon this book. I have incorporated many of his techniques into my own photography and it has really made them pop!

Adobe's PhotoShop is one of those products that changes an industry. It is so powerful and useful that it has taken over much of the post production space between the camera's shutter and the observer's eye. But some of its features can be arcane and intimidating. This is where books like this come in useful.

Matt's focus on the Layers subset of features is appropriate inasmuch as a great deal of PhotoShop's power can be unleashed through judicious use of Layers. It is great to have Matt's guidance through this maze which is a lot friendly with the benefit of his instruction.

Using techniques promoted by this book can save serious photographers and graphic designers hours and hours and is well-worth its price.

Product Description

When Photoshop guru Matt Kloskowski was asked why he wrote this book, he replied, “It’s simple: I wanted to write the Photoshop book that I wished was around when I was learning Photoshop”. You’ve always known that layers were the key to understanding Photoshop, and now you have a resource to show you exactly how. With Matt’s clear, easy-to-follow, and concise writing style you’ll learn about:

* Working with and managing multiple layers
* Building multiple layered images
* Blending layers together
* Exactly which of the 25+ Blend Modes you need to worry about (there’s just a few)
* Layer Masking and just how easy it is.
* Using layers to enhance and retouch your photos
* All of the tips and tricks that make using layers a breeze.

If you want to finally understand layers in Photoshop, this book is the one you’ve been waiting for.