Photo Retouching with Photoshop: A Designer's Notebook [Paperback]

Marie Laure CLEC'H (Author)

Book Description

Series: Designer's Notebook | Publication Date: December 17, 2004

Photo Retouching with Photoshop: A Designer's Notebook is at once eye candy, artistic inspiration, and incomparable technical guidance for intermediate-to-advanced digital imaging professionals, graphic artists, photographers, and just about anyone involved in creating digital images or animations. A visual splendor, this full-color book showcases a one-of-a-kind collection of superb and innovative photo-retouching solutions by well-known French artists.

The new English translation of a cutting-edge French work, Photo Retouching with Photoshop: A Designer's Notebook presents high-quality photo retouching from the unique cultural perspective of the French. Reflecting the very best of French creation in graphic design and digital imaging, this book offers an enlightening and stunning glimpse into a vibrant culture known for pushing the limits of imagination with photography, graphics, and art.

Filled with beauty, energy, and creative risks, the images inside will forever change the way you see and perform your own photo manipulation and graphic design. You'll see what other top-notch imaging professionals are able to do to and create with their photographs with Photoshop, and you'll be guided, step-by-step, through the editing process of each project--from original shot to polished print.

But most importantly, you'll gain both insight and experience into how each visionary artist imagined, conceptualized, and ultimately created his or her final exquisite image. With the book's inspiration and education, you'll be able to exert precise control over every aspect of your own photo restorations and retouching challenges so you can consistently achieve expert, dramatic results while always preserving the integrity of the photographs.

Part coffee-table book, part art inspiration, and part design guide, the lavishly illustrated Photo Retouching with Photoshop: A Designer's Notebook will redefine what it means to retouch a photograph--taking the procedure from simple, mindless manipulation to elaborate, intentional, highly rewarding art form.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Now based in Brittany, Western France, Marie-Laure Clec'h began her career as a translator in 1984 with the creation of her own company in Washington D.C. She has translated extensively for U.S. Government agencies as well as for private industry in the US and France.

She translates both from French to English and English to French and also offers interpretation services for local business people. (contact: [e-mail] )

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; First Edition edition (December 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596008600
• ISBN-13: 978-0596008604
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,875,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Stay Away From This Book - From a Professional, April 26, 2005

By 

New-York City Historian "Chris Belena" (Brooklyn, NYC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Photo Retouching with Photoshop: A Designer's Notebook (Paperback)

Being a professional (10+ Years Experience) I am constantly looking at new Photoshop books. The software is so extensive that one may never really master it completely.
This very thin book, translated from French, presents eight (8) projects from start to finish. Unfortunately, there's a lot of overlap among them, primarily compositing images and retouching. Only a couple of the projects are interesting. Even more unfortunately, not all of the projects even make sense. (One project corrects intentional mistakes so severe that "a professional photographer would never get away with such grave errors." Why learn how to correct garbage that you'd re-shoot?) One project manually creates a panorama and includes an editor's note saying that you could more easily use the Photomerge option within Photoshop. Also, since this is a French translation it isn't very accurate and the American and European versions of PS aren't necessarily the same. The only positive note is that the design and layouts are nice to look at.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watching the Best of the Best, March 22, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Photo Retouching with Photoshop: A Designer's Notebook (Paperback)

I've always been impressed to see what competent professionals can do with the same tools that are available to everyone else. Reading this short book, only about 90 pages of text is like looking over the shoulder of the best of the best photoshop jockies. They did things that I wouldn't have imagined possible if I didn't see the before and afters.

The most striking to me is the image of a girl jumping in the air. They didn't like the angle formed between her legs and torso so they cut the image through her tummy and then gave her a new tummy.

Then too ws the rather stock photograph of a church, green lawn, flower beds. The result was an image for a horror film: dark ominous clouds, rain, decayed crypts, damaged roof.

This is no beginners book, unless it's to show the level to which you can aspire.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars understandable to existing users, January 16, 2005

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Photo Retouching with Photoshop: A Designer's Notebook (Paperback)

Photography as artwork. That is one message from this book. It shows a French perspective on Photoshop usage. The books for which are dominated by American authors, whose examples are typically of photos of recent vintage. Taken from cameraphones, for example. Certainly nothing wrong with that.

But in this book, many examples are of much older photos. So much older that they often cry out for retouching; maybe extensively. The authors guide you through painstakingly detailed methods of doing so. Some examples, however, are much newer. Like enhancing a commercial photo shot of perfume bottles. Students of product design should appreciate that chapter.

All the chapters should be easily understandable if you are already facile in Photoshop. The book dives right into usage that assumes this experience.