Customer Reviews

The Art of Photoshop

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Intended user: Intermediate - Advanced

Although Daniel Giordan has written some of the clearest and best-organized books on "How to Use Photoshop", he has really outdone himself with his latest, The Art of Photoshop. It showcases Daniel Giordan's own work with clear step-by-step explanations. It is published in large format -10 x 10 inches- with color illustrations, keyboard shortcuts for both Macintosh and Windows users and screen captures, of the tools in Photoshop that all artists could master.

I must admit, that although I have learned tons from his "how to use" books, this book was a bit over my head. It is definitely aimed at the creative artist crowd! After picking this book up several times just to sit it back down. Several pots of coffee, brought me more than I ever thought I wanted to know about: PhotoShop - The following is a list ... from the book that I found ... explained and illustrated throughout the book.

Image Editing:

Optimizing - Tools for Optimizing the Tonal Range - The Histogram Window and The Info Palette are explained in detail ...

Enhancing Focus - Image focusing tools - The Unsharp Mask Dialog Box - ...- The Gaussian Blur Dialog Box ... - The Add Noise Dialog Box

Curves - Tools For Working with Curves - Curves Dialog Box ... Curves Tonal Grid ...

Color Correction with Curves ...

Adjusting Hue and Saturation ..."

Adjusting Layers ... Montage:

Silhouetting with the Extract Filter - The Extract Dialog Box ... The Painting Tools ...

Layer Masks - Layers Mask Controls in the Layers Menu - ... Layer Mask Controls in the Layers Palette ...

Clone / Stamp Tool - The Stamp Tools ... The Clone Stamp Options Bar ... The Pattern Stamp Options Bar - ...

Blending Modes - The Blending Modes Menu ...

Special Effects:

Custom Brushes - Brush Options Bar ... Brushes Palette ...

Distort Filters - The Distort Filters Submenu ...

Making Patterns - The Pattern Dialog Box ... The Tile History Options ...

Gradients and Gradient Maps ...

Liquify Filter - Liquify Dialog Box - View Options Control ...

Lighting Effects - The Lighting Effects Dialog Box...

I confess, I didn't create anything close to the illustrations showcased in this book. I did find new skills and inspiration, and I also managed the line scribble technique used on several of the illustrations in the book. Only my scribbles were not created with the same creative intention. I feel the book was a little overwhelming, and should have included a little more basic-basic Photoshop "how to" -Daniel Giordan is famous for bringing it down to the Intermediate level, but if you are looking for a book packed with advanced level options to create your own artistic statements -this is your book

Wow..what a beautiful book. The author has created some very artistic images, which he uses to teach advanced technique. He also documents exactly how each image was created, giving a glimpse into the creative process. He has posted all of the source images at his website so that readers can follow along with each step. Most Photoshop instruction books use sample images that are functional or utilitarian at best. This one stands apart.

In addition, the book itself is beautifully designed..it takes more advantage of its 4 color printing process than any book i've seen. It's a feast for the eyes, informative, and it makes me want to jump into my own work with recklss abandon. Who could ask for more?

This book is not only beautiful in presentation and print, but very helpful as well. But do make sure you are familiar with Photoshop before purchasing, as it is geared towards those with some knowledge of the program. Have fun, I am. ;-)

Beautiful digital imagery with great tips and instructions for the intermediate photoshop user. The work is "classy" and doesn't have that cheesy pasted-together, obviously- filtered look that a lot of digital 'art' has. I love this book.

Too many Photoshop books feature images that start out ugly and are uglier by the time the author is finished with them. This book is inspiring in the beauty of the images and broad utility of the techniques offered. Anyone who wants to approach Photoshop from an artistic angle will like this book.

Not for the beginner. The book does not come with a CD-ROM so you're expected to bring your own raw material to the table. The overall presentation is so nice though - oversized, nicely printed and great separations - that you can leave it out as a coffee table book. Inspirational.

Adobe Photoshop is the world's leading image manipulation software. Used by both professional and amateur graphic designers, it is the de facto standard for print Web publishing. The Art Of Photoshop centers on a suite of 20 digital images created by Daniel Giordan and his staff at DigiRAMA design studios. Visually complex, and rich in layered tonality, these images are designed to inspire readers to push their understanding of Photoshop and its capabilities, while offering a glimpse over the designer's shoulder into how the images were made. The reader will not only learn the techniques used by the author, but also how to apply them to their own images. They will learn how to use curves to correct color, sihouette images, use gradient maps, build custom brushes, use blending modes, and draw and paint into an image. Approx. Page Count: 328, User Level: Intermediate-to-Advanced

I was looking for a book to complement a university level digital media class I was taking, and this was it!!! Not only did the beautiful imagery and artful presentation inspire me, but the description and image gallery showed me EXACTLY how to construct these works of art. This is by far my favorite book, and I treasure it as a piece of art!

This is a beautiful book and I highly recommend it for any Photoshop user beginner, advanced or anywhere in between. I consider myself pretty advanced in Photoshop and I learned a lot from this book. Just overall a great book and you won't be disappointed.

This is excellent book, especially for those interested in the artistic photographic image. It is helpful, and wholly inclusive of wonderful techniques to spur the imagination for the serious professional or avocational photographer. It has moved my images from ordinary to extraordinary. I highly recommend this book.