37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
digital overkill is not abstract, August 11, 2005
This review is from: Digital Abstract & Macro Photography (Paperback)
While it would be correct to say that most of the photographs in this book are abstract, it would be more accurate to describe them as poor and overprocessed in photoshop, with instantly recognizable digital effects such as edge detect, posterize, charcoal, glowing edges, wild tinting and colorization, etc. Gratuitous applications of various fringe filters, ilke Photo Wiz Focal Blade or Xaos Segmation, abound.
In the "Salsa" photograph, you can clearly see the accidental click with a photoshop brush (it happens on Windows when you try to bring a window to the front and accidentally plant a blotch of foreground color).
What the author has done, for the most part, is taken the most average-looking, uninspired photographs, like that of the bottom of his sneaker, and tried to make them work by applying "interesting" effects. The problem is that abstract or not, a picture needs an idea to give it a reason to exist.
To be fair to the author, the very first few photographs look very reasonable and are done in taste. But once the author exhausts the repertoire of contrast, sharpen, and curves, it seems that he begins to grow increasingly desperate trying to fill the rest of the book with content.
The macro section is particularly disappointing: featuring just nine photographs out of the total of over a hundred, with almost non-existent depth of field, and instances of dirt, hair, cigarette butts, magnified slime, sprinkled generously with magnified digital noise, it's underwhelming considering that Macro is in the title of the book.
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31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
False Advertising, May 28, 2005
This review is from: Digital Abstract & Macro Photography (Paperback)
I based my purchase of this book on the Editorial and Customer Reviews. What they failed to note is that despite the title, little of this is true macro photography - some of it is done with a closeup filter, but not much. Further, and in my opinion worse, is the lack of mention of the fact that most of the digital alteration in Photoshop is done with third party (read commercial and expensive) plug-ins. Sure, the author prefaces this by saying that you can try to get the same effect without them, but just try it - can't be done with most of the photos, therefore making this book worthless in terms of a tutorial unless you spend hundreds of dollars on Nik, KPT, etc plug-ins. I am returning the book. It's my most disappointing Amazon purchase ever!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspires a photographer's creativity, June 14, 2005
This review is from: Digital Abstract & Macro Photography (Paperback)
The reviewer who said this book is false advertising is missing the point. Ken Milburn's book covers ground that cannot be found in any of the Photoshop how-to books. This lavishly illustrated coffee table book has inspired my creativity, enabling me to take my photographs to the next level. By following Ken's techniques, I'm able transform good photographs into eye-catching digital art. The book is logically laid out showing a before and after example of each photograph, plus the steps needed to transform the original image. I can highly recommend this book to digital photographers who want to tranform their work into eye-catching digital art for themselves or their clients. I would give this book more than 5 stars if possible.
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