Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users [Paperback]

Andrew Rodney (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240806492 | ISBN-13: 978-0240806495 | Publication Date: August 10, 2005

Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users, by Andrew Rodney, addresses the difficult subject of color management in a way that can help you get real work accomplished. This is the first book that moves beyond esoteric color management theory and detailed explanations of how things work to explain how to achieve a desired effect with step-by-step instructions so you can get on with creating and printing successful images. Complete with what-button-to-push-when explanations, this guide will help you navigate color management and further solidify comprehension of techniques with self-paced tutorials that enable you to practice what Rodney preaches. This practical, learn by doing approach is enhanced by the accompanying CD-Rom which includes sample files for practice as well as tutorials and software.

Written with the photographer in mind, this book is also a great hands-on guide for graphic designers, those in prepress/print and, more generally, the majority of people who feel color management is too difficult. This book will help to explain this difficult concept in terms you can understand so that you may control and enhance your photographic vision.

* Covers CS2!
* Distills theory and concentrates on the tools at hand to get the job done
* CD ROM with tutorials and software help you better understand the concepts and teach you how to use Photoshop and its CMS features correctly
* Provides the working professional with a resource in the critically important area of printing and prepress

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Colour management is a difficult subject to explain, and even harder to implement, but this book is one of the best I've seen on the subject...if you're determined to operate a fully managed workflow, this tome is essential." - What Digital Camera

"Color Management for Photographers includes all the information you will need to make sure your colour profiles are accurate...(it) will be perfect for professional imageers who want precise, technical information. This book shows you how to create desired results, with easy step-by-steps guaranteed to help you produce successful print material." - Advanced Photoshop, April 2006

"If you want to know more about the sometimes-complex world of managing color in digital imaging, this book is a good place to turn." - Photo Techniques

"This is an ideal book for those working in virtually all areas of photography and prepress and publishing who have to deal with color management on a daily basis. There is a lot of color theory in this book but there is more practical hands on knowledge of color management in Photoshop . It is complete reference of color management." - DigitalMediaDesigner.com

"Rodney de-mystifies colour management in an interesting, entertaining and encouraging way...more in-depth, complicated subjects are dealt with as painlessly as possible, and distilled with a bit of humour to help users of every level tackle colour management." - Digital Photographer

"Author Andrew Rodney has done an excellent job in tackling this slippery subject, and although text heavy, effort has been made to ensure everything is explained as clearly as possible...All in all, a very helpful title." - Photoshop Creative

"Rodney starts out explaining the basics of colour management and colour theory, but very quickly moves on to Photoshop workflows and ChromiX profile checking...The last chapters in the book contain tutorials on what has been covered before. This makes the book valuable in two "directions": you could use it as a tutorial, but it is also a reference work that should be kept within reach." - IT-Enquirer

"If you're really serious about color management, require presice color reproduction, and are willing to spend money to do things right, here's your starting point...If you've already committed to one suite or another, you'll still find this an incredibly valuable book as you work toward perfect color. This book should be reserved for color perfectionists." - Photoshop User, June 2006

Book Description

Rodney dishes out practical advice for photographers struggling with this complex subject.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (August 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240806492
• ISBN-13: 978-0240806495
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Color

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Charming, lightweight banter, September 15, 2005

By 

D. Johnson (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users (Paperback)

There are entirely too many books like this. 100 pages of information hidden in clouds of personal chatter, name dropping and cliches. Too bad because this is an important area that is almost completely misunderstood. This material should be presented to experienced photographers at an engineering level. It isn't an "all you have to do is..." subject.

If you don't know anything about color, the first 30 pages of this book might help. If you know a lot about photography this book will irritate you, especially when the author runs aground on the subject of Gamma, as so many others have. There is excellent information on the Web that covers this subject so well, nobody needs to misunderstand it.

If you already us Photoshop CS2 and Camera RAW you don't need this book. If you don't use them, you should. Then go to the Adobe website and pick up the white papers by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe. They are free, very well written and focussed on how Photoshop works and what you need to know.

I would recommend anything written by Blatner & Fraser, or Schewe. Add your own experience and just do it. You'll be better off.

30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Meh... Next., May 23, 2006

By 

orangekay (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users (Paperback)

Nobody can deny that Mr. Rodney knows how color management works in Photoshop better than most people, but unfortunately, knowledge of a subject doesn't make you a good writer. I find the bulk of Mr. Rodney's ramblings (both those published on his website-that-time-forgot and posted to various discussion groups and mailing lists) to teeter on the verge of complete unreadability most of the time, and while my hopes were high that a good editor might tame his curious linguistic proclivities here, they were quickly dashed upon skimming through the text. What's worse, the illustrations and photos in every single copy of this book I've ever seen have suffered from severe magenta color casts, leading one to wonder why the author and his publishing company failed to practice what they preached in bringing this title to the public. If you didn't know who Andrew Rodney was to begin with, you'd likely think him full of beans based on the appearance of the plates in this volume. After all, why should readers believe consistent, predictable color in print to be a realistically attainable goal when even the guy who wrote the book on the subject can't seem to achieve it?

There's certainly some good information in between these covers, but none of it is groundbreaking in any way. You might learn something interesting about WWII by asking your grandfather to tell you some old war stories, but you'll have to suffer through a lot of pointless rambling to get to it, and that's pretty much what reading this book feels like. About the only thing this book really has going for it that its competitors lack is the nostalgia longtime Photoshop users will likely feel at the sight of the dog image gracing the cover. Since you can see that image right here for free, there's not a lot of point in paying for yet another rehashing of this subject matter, even at amazon's substantially discounted price. I have no doubt that Mr. Rodney is a very technically proficient color management consultant who can deliver $10,000 worth of results to all who can afford his services, but his efforts in the creative fields of writing, illustration and design just ain't worth a plugged nickel.

It may also be worth noting that more than one of the glowing 5-star reviews that have been posted here were planted by friends and associates of Mr. Rodney. How's that for class?

26 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When the Digital Dog barks, listen., August 18, 2005

By 

Steve Upton "Hueman" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users (Paperback)

Andrew Rodney (known to many as the Digital Dog) has been dealing with color management for long enough that it was about time he put his experience and perspective into a book. Color Management for Photographers is a good mix of color theory, functional color management tasks and practical application in Photoshop. I always say you can't learn color from dialog boxes so the theory, utilities, case studies and tutorials are an essential but often overlooked part of getting color under control. Rodney is one of the few people who really "get" color management and has been tirelessly posting answers and admonitions to online mailing lists and forums for years. I'm glad to see he's compiled the many pearls of wisdom into a reference for photographers and other color users. This book gets added to our must-read list.
Steve Upton, CHROMiX.com