Customer Reviews

Adobe Photoshop CS for Photographers: Professional Image Editor's Guide to the Creative Use of Photoshop for the Mac and PC

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is not *intended* for inexperienced users, therefore it's not surprise it might also be confusing to the same group. The last reviewer answered his own complaint: if you don't know Photoshop at all, buy a cookie cutter / how-to book like those from Deke McLelland or even Scott Kelby. If you're looking for a comprehensive view of the application from a professional photography perspective, buy this book. You're not likely to be disappointed.

Among all the Photoshop books which attempt to detail all aspects of the digital photography workflow (from hardware to color management to editing techniques), Martin Evening's books are among the very best.

He also does make a habit of updating content wherever practical from edition to edition. Obviously it's silly for an author to change every screenshot and example for every edition. When you find one that works well for illustrating a particular technique, you keep it until the tool in question changes. If it isn't broken....

And to say this is poorly written reflects more on the commentator's reading comprehension ability, than the author's writing ability. Evening's work is very accessible, assuming you already know the basics of Photoshop. The only complain I have about this book is that I would like him to focus a little more on facial retouching aspects, as it's obviously a big part of his business. I'm sure he has more to share on that topic. Hopefully next edition....

Photoshop for Photographers is highly inspiring for me. During the four weeks I posess a copy of it I hardly did other things then discovering more and more on Photoshop... It is like discovering the world (which is my second job as a tourleader and travel journalist/photographer, next to my daily work as a photographer and editor/desktoppublisher).

Although I am working with Adobe Photoshop for over ten years as a photographer and desktoppublisher Martin Evening showed me a number of new methods which I could not find in other books on this program. Especially the extensive chapters on Color Correction, Color Management and Output for Print were very interesting to me; but every chapter contains interesting stuff. I am convinced that there is no better book on this subject, with the things together that belong together (for example colorcorrection) and not a full technical description of menu-item by menu-item which in daily practice are used mixed up.

I am sure that Photoshop for Photographers is very close to the way photographers (amateur and pro) think and work. This is not such a dull computerbook, from which there are already too much. Even for a non-native English-speaker as I this book is written in a very clear and understandable language. The fullcolor examples and how to's that are mixed througout the book are very instructive and inviting to try it yourself.
Martin Evening tried to keep a highly complex program simple for his readers. Meanwhile his texts stimulated me to try to understand how Photoshop really works (those technical backgrounds are not inside, to keep the book understandable for starters. And that is how it should be).
I wish you a lot of photo-editing fun!

I was a very early adopter of Photoshop and used it extensivly for 10 years until I decided to try something a little different (farming) a couple of years ago. Now I have decided to get back into the game and in preperation I read four of the most current books on Photoshop.

Martin Evenings book is truly incredible for both the level of detail and the breadth of the material presented. I read this book cover to cover and then picked it up a week later and read sections of interest again.

This is not a book for those who want to gloss over the subject, it is a book for serious imagers who want to play at the top of their profession.

Honestly this book put to shame the other books that I read which tended towards little nuggets of information and specific techniques rather then presenting a solid understanding of how Photoshop works and the implication of not only technique but fundamentals like workflow, color management, planning for re-purposing files and so on.

It is a little humbling to know that there are wizards like Martin Evening out in the marketplace. This book is incredible.

I have a stack of the latest Phtooshop CS books by the best in the industry and have updataded myself over the last five years with such books. All have their strenghts and weaknesses.

However if I had to recommend only one book it would be Martin Evening's Photoshop for photographers. Some other more vocal authors might like to think their books are Bibles for Photoshop but simply are no match overall for this book.

No other book I own is better presented or reproduced. A most usefull bonus is the enclosed CD with several Quick Time movies which cover subjects in great detail which are areso easy to absorb.

Four stars is an insult to the best Photoshop book on the market to date period. The price of this book IMHO is incredible value for money.

I purchased this book immediately after seeing Martin at a Digital Design conference. As an "old school" (mind you, I graduated art school in 1998) photographer, I admit hesitation when dealing with digital cameras. However, Martin's techniques combine the genius of Photoshop with the "old school" craft of traditional photography.

For instance, the use of the MacBeth Color Checker Chart blew me away. This is ordinarily used with film cameras. To see traditional items and techniques used in digital media is both amazing and ground breaking. He has mastered the art of fine color correction and digital imaging and this book has changed the way I use Photoshop forever.

This is a book for knowledgeable photographers, not for persons with their first camera. You won't learn about f/stops, shutter speeds, shooting modes, or anything else about how to use a camera. What you will earn is how to use Photoshop for digital images, either from a digital camera or from a scan. On top of that, Martin Evening is a highly respected fashion photographer from London, so you will be getting instruction for a working pro. This is the stuff that works!

It has been surprising to me to find so many Photoshop books that are written by people who may know the software, but can't take a decent picture. For some reason, they feel compelled to use their own pictures to illustrate the concepts. Not pretty. (If you get a chance, just browse the books on Photoshop and check out the pictures.)

But here you will find exquisite images from Martin's own work, or work of comparable quality. Really compelling images. Good, good stuff!

In addition, I have to say this book well put together. Full color through out, except for images destined for B&W of course. In addition, all the pages are on coated stock, and the book lies flat for using alongside your computer. The included CD has several excellent lessons. Some of these are available on Martin's web site, so you can check out the quality.

Many photoshop books have limited use of color images, or have a small section of color pictures on coated stock bound in the middle; yes it 'works', but it's not convenient for the reader.

So if you are comfortable with your camera, and want to move to digital, or are upgrading your image editing softweare to the full version of Photoshop, get this book!

This is a wonderful book for the photographer who is delving into Photoshop CS for the first time. However, there are many editing errors. Some of the places where Mr. Evening refers to other sections in the book obviously refer to previous editions rather than to the current edition. There are quite a few typos which were not picked up by the editing process as well. The indexing is not up to par either. For instance when you search for "montage" in the index it doesn't exist, yet there is an entire chapter on the topic. Overall, I am very glad that I bought the book and find it extremely useful in getting up to speed in my digital darkroom use of PS CS.

As a teacher of graphic design at an art college, a graphic designer and consultant, I know it is terrifically difficult to explain a program as vast and nonlinear as Photoshop. This book's color coding between the contents and tops of pages, the clear separation of topics, the progression of those topics, and the wealth of examples (both in the book and on the included CD) make this ideal for the motivated learner and for the classroom.

One tip for the reader (or instructor) and perhaps the author: the chapters on capture and resolution perhaps should be tackled earlier, and the configuration chapter, though filled with vital information, feels more like it should be an appendix.

This is the merest quibble, though, and from a control freak to boot. I recommend this book, as do students to whom I've suggested it. The feedback has been unanimously positive from them, even the most inexperienced (motivated) users.

Just to start this, I'm one of the "near-expert" users that uses Photoshop all the time, and has been doing so for years, and no, it's not at all geared for beginners, but you should of figured that out by the part where it says "Professional Image Editor's Guide". That said, this book is incredible, there are many very interesting and solid techniques that you will have a hard time finding in any other source. Aside from that, not much more is to be said, but as the owner of at least 6 or 7 photoshop books, I would have to say this is by far the best! Highly recommended, as long as your not a beginner.

I found it very disconcerting that the author gives details of how to use techniques with photos and doesn't include them all on the CD ROM that comes with the book. One learns by doing, but not if the examples are omitted from the tutorial disk. The disk probably contains about 1/3 of the pictures detailed in the book. That's inexcusable since it would have been ever so easy to add more pictures to a CD ROM that can hold hundreds if not thousands of examples.