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45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In Ansel's Footsteps, April 27, 2006
This review is from: Outdoor Photographer Landscape and Nature Photography with Photoshop CS2 (Outdoor Photographers) (Paperback)
Most photographers will acknowledge that Ansel Adams was one of the greatest outdoor photographers ever. Many familiar with his theories and Photoshop will see a link between the Zone System and Levels and Curves. Now Rob Sheppard shows that Ansel's method of making adjustments to his photographs in the dark room was a forerunner of Photoshop Layers. Not only did Sheppard convince me of this, but he also convinced me that I ought to be using techniques that will adjust my pictures in the same way that Adams did, and Sheppard showed me how.
This book is a step beyond most Photoshop books. Very little time is spent teaching basic Photoshop tools and techniques. For that a photographer can go to many excellent books like "Photoshop for Nature Photographers" by Ellen Anon and Tim Grey. Instead, Sheppard concentrates on showing the user how to make subtle adjustments to good pictures to make them better. For example, he talks about adjusting the tones in a picture so that a background will be distract less from a main subject, or brightening a color to draw attention to it. He uses the modern equivalents of Adams' burning and dodging by using layers and layer masks. Moreover he places these techniques within a workflow that will be familiar to most Photoshop users.
Many of these adjustments are very subtle, but they will help to improve a good picture. Sometimes when you look at before and after reproductions of photographs in the book you may wonder if the printer made a mistake and printed the same picture for before and after. But close examination will show that subtle adjustments have been made that make the picture stronger. Moreover, while showing you the techniques, Sheppard also provides you with examples of the aesthetics of these adjustments that can serve as an inspiration for the reader's work.
Sheppard is no doctrinaire photographer. For example, he doesn't believe in setting levels in accordance with some rigid rule. Instead, he believes that the photographer should use levels to create a picture that will help to realize the photographer's vision. Or, as another example, he doesn't believe that once you've saved a master image that you've adjusted on a monitor, you can just send it to print for a good hard copy. Instead he believes that the image will probably require further adjustment when it gets on paper. And Sheppard is quick to say that there are many tools in Photoshop for which the photographer will have no use, and which may safely be ignored.
I can't emphasize enough that this is not a book for a Photoshop beginner. Instead it's aimed at photographers who know how to use Photoshop and want to go beyond a picture that is technically correct. And even though it's entitled "Landscape and Nature Photography" and draws its examples from those fields, photographers of other subjects will also find it useful.
If you are one of those photographers who believe there is only one true picture then this book is probably not for you. But if you realize that there is no such thing as a "true" picture; that the very act of transferring three dimensions into two makes the word "true" an anomaly; that as Picasso said "Art is lies that tell us the truth" than you will benefit from this book.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A different perspective on CS2 and nature photography, May 20, 2006
This review is from: Outdoor Photographer Landscape and Nature Photography with Photoshop CS2 (Outdoor Photographers) (Paperback)
I have been using photoshop for several years, mostly to improve landscape and nature photographs. I have read and learned from numerous photoshop books. But applying the "techniques" of photoshop to the art of landscape and nature photography has been a process of trial and error. It has required using my eyes and artistic sense to figure out when different adjustments were appropriate and when they were not. But I have felt that a bit of guidance, a blueprint, would be useful. Not as a substitute for the artistic process, but to help facilitate it. This book provides that direction.
No book that I have read has spelled out the workflow, typical adjustments, and cautions-as they apply to nature and landscape photography- as well as this book does. No book that I have read about photoshop relates it to the roots of landscape photography and photography as an art form as well as this book did. This book tells you what typically needs to be adjusted in nature and landscape photographs and tells you how to do it. The approach was refreshing and useful.
Yes other photoshop books go into some photoshop techniques in more depth, but not as they apply to nature and landscape photography specifically. This book may not be a substitute for what other books can provide, but it provides many things that no other book I have read has. Now I know what areas to study further, and to experiment with more, because this book provides a map. It also describes clearly exactly how to do things that need to be done to bring out the best in a nature or landscape photograph. It tells you what to do early in the process and what to do later. Many of the changes made to an image can be subtle, but each contributes to the final product. Rob Sheppard appreciates this.
For the nature and landscape photographer who uses photoshop I found this to be an excellent book. I found Rob Sheppard's approach and philosophy relevant to the photographer in me and even inspiring. It puts photography first, then describes what a wonderful tool photoshop can be in maximizing an image's potential. This is a very different approach from many books that describe everything photoshop can do without addressing the context for it's use.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Photoshop book for any type of photographer, July 14, 2006
This review is from: Outdoor Photographer Landscape and Nature Photography with Photoshop CS2 (Outdoor Photographers) (Paperback)
Sheppard works through a series of photographs showing when, why and how to use the various Photoshop tools. Unlike most other Photoshop books, this one focuses on establishing a workflow.
The best explanations I have ever seen regarding adjustment layers and layer masks.
I would have given this book five stars but the printing is pretty poor and often it is hard to discern differences from one photo to the next in the sequence. Also, the illustrations are too small and are generally on a following page.
Editorially, this book is a five star gem -- kudos to Rob. As far as production goes, if there is a next edition, it should be printed at 8.5 x 11 inches, with larger illustrations and much better pagination. Yes, it will cost more. But it would be worth it.
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