The Best of Adobe Photoshop: Techniques and Images from Professional Photographers (Masters (Amherst Media)) [Paperback]

Bill Hurter (Author)

Book Description

Series: Masters (Amherst Media) | Publication Date: April 1, 2006

Everything that could be done in the traditional darkroom can now be done with Adobe Photoshop, making special effects that were formerly achieved exclusively by expert darkroom technicians available to all photographers. This technological revolution has created new challenges as well as opportunities for increased creativity, allowing photographers to become digital artists as well. With illustrative photos throughout, this book details new, unexpected, and successful techniques used by artists, illustrators, commercial photographers, album designers, wedding photographers, portrait photographers, and teachers. Professional and advanced amateurs will benefit from the instructions for efficiently using the software, minimizing the computer time spent on each photo.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Learn from several masters by reading this book and studying the many examples of great photographs modified in Photoshop."  —Rangefinder

About the Author

Bill Hurter is the editor of Rangefinder magazine, the former editor of Petersen's PhotoGraphic, and the author of The Best of Wedding Photography, Group Portrait Photography Handbook, The Portrait Photographer's Guide to Posing, and Portrait Photographer's Handbook. He lives in Santa Monica, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Amherst Media, Inc. (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584281812
• ISBN-13: 978-1584281818
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,819,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bill Hurter has been involved in the photographic industry for the past 30 years. He is the former editor of Petersen's PhotoGraphic magazine and currently the editor of both AfterCapture and Rangefinder magazines. He has authored over 30 books on photography and hundreds of articles on photography and photographic technique. He is a graduate of American University and Brooks Institute of Photography, from which he holds a BFA and Honorary Masters of Science and Masters of Fine Art degrees. He is currently a member of the Brooks Board of Governors. Early in his career he covered Capital Hill during the Watergate Hearings and worked for three seasons as a stringer for the L.A. Dodgers. He is married and lives in West Covina, CA.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A nice coffee table book, but not very instructive, June 9, 2006

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best of Adobe Photoshop: Techniques and Images from Professional Photographers (Masters (Amherst Media)) (Paperback)

The author of this book is a wedding photographer, and he certainly includes some stunning photographs that he has processed with Photoshop. Those photos and the contents of this book would be enough for me to hire him as a wedding photographer, but not to recommend this book to photographers who need to learn various Photoshop techniques. The prose is too conversational to be very instructive. When you are writing a book that is teaching you how to use a software package, you need to take a more instructional approach and include clear numbered steps and frequent screenshots of the application, even if it is about an artistic subject such as Photoshop and photography. A good alternative to this book is "Complete Photoshop CS2 For Digital Photographers" by Colin Smith. That book breaks down areas of Photoshop into individual lessons that you can work through like a workbook. The author walks you through each step of the process and also provides clear alternatives. He also has more variety in the photographs with which he is working than this author does.
Thus if you want a very attractive and colorful book full of nice wedding photos that have been processed with Photoshop, this book will do the trick, but I would not recommend it for the budding digital photographer looking for clear instruction.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pure Fluff, July 18, 2006

By 

R. Madia - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best of Adobe Photoshop: Techniques and Images from Professional Photographers (Masters (Amherst Media)) (Paperback)

I have to step in and beg them to stop ...all of the authors that just republish the same material over and over.
This is another example of big billing and no filling. Great images, to be sure....but they can be seen anywhere here on the internet. And in many of the previous "Best Of.." books. This is NOT...I repeat NOT a "how did they do that"...it is geared to the saps like me that thought perhaps this time ...wrong again. Pass on this...unless you want another ... "don't forget the basics book".

3.0 out of 5 stars pretty good techniques, December 8, 2008

By 

Robert Gonzalez "RR Maverick" (Austin, Tx USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best of Adobe Photoshop: Techniques and Images from Professional Photographers (Masters (Amherst Media)) (Paperback)

This book is reasonably useful to a novice, but doesn't offer much beyond that. It just seems to lack depth in its description of the techniques used.

I read it pretty much from cover to cover and learned just a little bit. I dont refer to it very often, unlike some other photoshop books that are torn and tattered from constant use.