Customer Reviews

Creative Photoshop Portrait Techniques: Fully Updated for CS4 (A Lark Photography Book)

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I strongly recommend NOT buying this book. First, not all of the associated project files with the book are available online. What is the failed reasoning behind that? Second, files that are available online don't always match up with what's described in the book. Did anybody proofread this book? Or was it tagged "Fully Updated for CS4" just to get more sales? I wish this is one purchase I hadn't made and I would like to get a refund.

Here is a book of tips that contains instructions for adjusting portraits in Photoshop by creating a number of special effects. The chapters are devoted to color correction and enhancement, creative lighting, personal improvements, lens and backgrounds effects, monochrome, copying older portrait styles, artistic effects like making a portrait look like a charcoal drawing, and adding special frames. The tips range from how to selectively color a portion of a portrait, to creating an Andy Warhol-like portrait, to replacing a closed-eyed head with an open-eyed head.

I dislike tip books because they usually provide specific steps to follow to achieve an effect without explaining just what any step is accomplishing in the overall process in a way that will allow the reader to modify the steps for a different situation. This book was typical of this approach. The authors show before and after portraits and then provide a list of steps to take, together with specific settings to achieve the after effect. On the other hand, many of the steps will introduce users to tools which they might not ordinarily use, which might be helpful to the reader. In my own case, I found that the lack of detailed explanation often left me stranded when something didn't seem to work right. I felt I would rather have had fewer tips with more explanation. Perhaps I also would have benefited if I had had the authors' images to use to follow the tutorials rather than having to select one of my own images that looked to me like it would benefit from applying the tip tutorial.

I also confess that the special effects in the book were not the kind for which I usually have a use. My own portrait work concentrates on trying to create an image that will show the subject in the best possible way. I have little use for a portrait that looks like it was cross processed, or changed the color of the subject's hair, or reproduced the look of a 1930's Hollywood studio portrait. The Photoshop skills I require include such techniques as making a more mature woman's wrinkles look a little less significant and there were few of this kind of tip.

And yet there are photographers who need to create these kinds of effects, such as those creating images for advertisements, and I suspect that those photographers, who may have already explored the more arcane aspects of Photoshop, might find the tips in this book useful in pointing them in the right direction. Photographers who are interested in creating a more unusual portrait for artistic purposes might also benefit from the tips contained in this volume.

I've done photography most of my life but never much interest in portraits until recently. I realize that post-processing portraits takes a different skills than I was using in Photoshop so in searching for a good reference on post-processing portraits I ordered this book.

Pretty much a waste of my money, most of the book is devoted to using Photoshop to alter photos into amatuer artwork using various filters. For example, making a portrait into stained glass using the stained glass filter. What I thought the book would have would be more of how to touch up skin blemishs and brightening eyes, which it only has a few examples. To touch up a skin blemish they use the "spot healing brush" even though there are a lot of better techniques. I've actually learned more looking through online tutorials in a few minutes than I did by reading the whole book.

I imagine my copy will be given away as soon as I get a chance. If you want to make an Andy Worhol poster from your favorite portrait then this may be a book for you, if you want a good reference on touching up digital protraits you need to keep looking.

I purchased this book just the other day, and I will be returning it tomorrow. I'm not yet half-way flipping through the book, and I've been horrified and revolted by what I have seen. Having edited photos for more than a decade, I can tell you that there are some horrible practices being used, and your clients will not be satisfied with the results.

The very first technique makes an old man look like a mummy. Charming!

The methods to make someone look younger are way over the top. Use a light touch, not a sledge hammer. Those to make someone look younger aren't realistic and really make the woman look the victim of a beating.

In "Mirror Image," the writers tell you to take care of the weird V in the woman's hair and then don't do it themselves for the final image.

The hair masks are sloppy at best.

And just the way this book is laid out is enough to make your eyes cross. Screen shots are practically on top of text. Columns actually run into each other.

I'm sure the authors put a lot of work into this book, but it's really just a mess.

Portrait Techniques has alot of creative and artistic ways to edit photographs. I would recommend this to a friend.

It is not one of the better books on ps techniques but there is a lot of potential here.

If you are very new to photoshop, or a person like me who simply likes to look at books on it, I would recommend the book - but, it is not one of my favs on the topic. I would probably send you off to Caplins books before this one BUT having said that I am quite interested in going through this one more time to see what little tricks I can pick up. I guess for me that is what ps is, little tips, and we move on with these as our tools.

It is a tool that will help newbies and the curious develop. Its what you do with what you pick up from such sources (I feel).