Customer Reviews

The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book could be very useful for beginner amateur digital photographers not having enough experience with Photoshop. It is mainly focused on relatively simple photo corrections (cropping, color adjustments, removing blemishes, etc.), but doesn't address higher level artistic techniques. If you are using a digital camera for vacation or family pictures, this manual will let you make your photos look more natural, but if you are into serious digital photography and would like to learn those neat techniques that always aspired you, look elsewhere. For example, try the "The Photoshop 7 Wow! Book", or similar publications, which will give you in-depth coverage of those techniques.

This book uses "step-by-step" approach, which is helpful for the beginners, but can get very irritating for those who have some experience already.

Nevertheless, for what it is intended for, the book is quite good.

The Editorial Review begins: "Finally, a Photoshop book that is written expressly for professional photographers and hi-end serious amateurs that doesn't talk about F-stops, exposures, and how to frame a shot (you know all that stuff already-if you don't-I hate to say it, but this isn't for you). "

I don't know any of that stuff about F-stops, exposures, etc., but this book absolutely IS for me. I'm not a professional photographer, but I am on my third digital camera.

I've worked my way up, over the last 4 years, from beginner photo manipulation software, through Photoshop Elements to Photoshop itself. I use Photoshop because it does the things I need to do. What Scott Kelby's book did was show me some of the less obvious ways to get things done. Some of the easier ones were amazing.

This is an excellent book that is intended for anyone who has a copy of Photoshop and needs to get digital photos fixed. It is very accessable. You can open it anywhere and follow the steps in any chapter and successfully adjust your own photos using Scott Kelby's instructions. He designed the book so each chapter is independent and none of them require that you read the chapters before it to understand what he is trying to accomplish. If you can follow along with the pictures, you can do what he is teaching. He believes in lots of screen shots and even though his screen shots show Macs and I'm using a PC, Photoshop is Photoshop and I can follow along. He gives both the PC and the Mac commands for every Keyboard shortcut he uses. This is great for me because I generally need to learn something that is buried in the middle of the book, and I don't have the time or patience to read four or five chapters to understand how to get it done.

I own several Photoshop books, and I've never seen some of the techniques he teaches in those other books. He also teaches some advanced general Photoshop techniques and he makes those easy to understand too.

Worth every penny...

This is a very good book. In fact it is by far the best I have found to guide me in taking images from camera to use! Comprehensive, but easy to follow and read.

I am not a professional photographer, but I do take a lot of photographs. Some for fun, but many find their way into our company's website, PowerPoint slides, and promotional material (engineering and industrial projects). I also use a lot of photographs for my wife's travel business website and brochures. Mostly slides for years, but am now going "all digital." They all need adjusting, cropping, sharpening, fixing so I find myself using Photoshop more and more.

I started using Photoshop 5.0 almost 6 years ago, about the time I purchased a scanner and started trying to master inserting images in documents for my work. I was no computer amateur, but what a struggle. I fumbled through at least two of the obscure "list everything and every option" manuals Kelby describes-with time consuming, mediocre results. Finally admitted defeat and enrolled in a Photoshop night course at university. Three years, Photoshop 7.1, Win2000, and many thousands of photographs later, I am still learning. I read through parts of this book at a local bookstore three weeks ago and quickly concluded that this was a book I had to have. Just got it today, and have actually read a third already!

Good, solid advice on using Photoshop's browser was the first thing that caught my attention. I was using the limited "Zoom Browser" software that came with my new Canon digital camera and wasn't even aware of the browser capabilities of Photoshop. Also appreciated the advice on sharpening settings, some of which I had already noted from the class I took on Photoshop. I had been investigating sharpening plug-ins for Photoshop, and Kelby's examples are a good introduction to the different sharpening effects. Next will be colour curves and adjustments-which, despite appearances of my photos, I am still making a mess of!

The book is very well laid out. Use of colour and white space is nicely done. Easy to read and follow, and generously illustrated with colour photographs for every step. In fact, this is one of my criteria for an instructional book-if it's not "easy on the eye" it will probably just sit on the shelf. Of course, eye candy can grow old quickly without content. Kelby covers the subject well in an informal and humorous style. His advice is right on, and to the point: I have photos, now I need to use them-even if it's only to e-mail friends and family. He lays out how to do this.

I've been using PhotoShop since about 1993 when the publisher I used dumped his darkroom to go digital.

Since then, I've owned many Photoshop books. My favorites have been the WOW! Book series, because of the free styles and other goodies on the CD-ROM, and Real World Photoshop by Blatner and Fraser.

Recently, I bought a new Canon EOS 10D, and I was looking for books to aid in color correcting and retouching photos shot with a digital SLR. I couldn't believe how easy "the Photoshop Book for Digitial Photographers" is to use.

If you think the WOW! books are great, you'll really enjoy Kelby's book; his instructions are so simple and they produce such dramatic results.

The book is also a good bargain for the money. The list price is ... which is much better than a ... book that's loaded with useless tutorials on effects that have no practical applications.

Now, I only wish I could get a subscription to Photoshop User magazine, which Kelby edits, without having to join the NAPP. I think ... is too steep for 12 issues of a magazine. Guess I'll just have to wait for Kelby's next book!

MY QUALIFICATIONS: (ADVANCED NOVICE) I am a professional photographer and videographer. IMAGEWERX is my company. I am a video and photo editor, I photo and video weddings, and design and author custom DVDs. I have used Adobe Photoshop since 1997 and the only training I have had has been hands-on and tips from friends.

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP VERSION I USE: Photoshop CS (MAC)

MY OPINION OF THE BOOK: The best how-to book I ever bought. I have learned a lot about Photoshop from this book. It's Easy to read. Easy to follow. Takes me step-by-step through the process. The attempts at humor didn't annoy me. That didn't distract me from the content of the book. I liked it because it made me feel closer to the author and that he was writing to me and not at me.

HOW I USE THIS BOOK: Usually, I don't read this type of book cover to cover. If I need to know how to do something I look it up. However, I have found myself actually reading this book section by section. I have never done that before (I have adult ADD so keeping me focused and interested for more then 10 seconds is a challenge). But this book has so many valuable lessons that take you step-by-step through the process I can't help but read it. I used to do a lot of things the hard way. Now I am saving a lot of time (which means money) by doing them the right way. I now consider my self a Photoshop expert. My photographs are better quality and my processing time has been more than cut in half because of this book.

WILL THIS BOOK WORK FOR YOU? That's up to you. One review I saw here was worthless because it talked about the information being available on the Web. So what does that have to do with the book? Every book I have ever bought has information I could find in other sources. It is how well it is written that matters to me. I have bought several books on the same subject and they all had the same information, but what was important to me was the one that I could follow and understand the best. This book is that to me.

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE ADDED TO THE NEXT ADDITION: More Web site creation information including ImageReady how to steps.

If you own a digital camera you NEED this book. I don't care what level you are at. But I have to make something clear. Make no mistake, this is first and foremost a PHOTOSHOP book. If you have a digital camera but you do not have PhotoShop, this book is not for you. But if you do have PhotoShop, especially PS 7, this book is INDISPENSABLE. Look, I can go on and on here about how great this book is, but why bother? If you own Photoshop you MUST know who Scott Kelby is. There really is nothing more to say. Either you get up every day and thank god for him every time you use PhotoShop or you don't. IF you do, this is his BEST book, enough said. Order it, and get very excited when it arrives. If he is not for you, you probably haven't even read this far. And I did put this book to the test. I took three of what I consider to be my best 8x10 digital pics (taken with my Minolta DImage 7) and re-worked them according to Scott's instructions. Although I was on the ledge as to if the re-worked images were better than my original images (I'm sure there was some ego on my part involved) I put the three images side by side with the reworked ones and showed them to 4 of my clients. And although the differences were mainly in the working of the midrange areas only, all 4 of my clients picked the re-worked images. Thanks, Scott. Everytime I pick up one of your books, you make me better at what I do. You gotta love this guy.

Scott Kelby's book is a recipe book for certain discrete problems that the Photoshop user may encounter, as well as some little known information about some aspects of Photoshop that you might not otherwise learn. If you find a recipe that fills a need that you have, the book will be a good investment. But if you are looking for an overall approach to using Photoshop this is not the book for you.

Right from the first chapter, with his discussion of ways to use the Photoshop browser, you make pick up another way of dealing with a Photoshop function that you didn't know about. On the other hand, some of the material will be old hat to an experienced Photoshop user.

Some of the techniques, like color correction of digital images, will appeal to almost any Photoshop user. Those who have philosophical questions about what I call montage may not be interested in chapters on removing the wrinkles in an elderly person's portrait or removing the love handles from a slightly overgrown physique. On the other hand, these certainly are bread and butter issues to some photographers.

Kelby's method of holding your attention is by making a number of breezy wise cracks as you go through the book. For example he says in the chapter on masking techniques "If I were elected President, one of my first priorities would be to sign an executive order requiring all registered voters to carry with them a white seamless role at all times" He then goes on to speculate how easy this would make Photoshop selection. That stylistic gadget may make you laugh the first time you encounter it, but after the 50th encounter you want to tell the author to take a break.

The title of this book might lead you to believe that this book would start at the beginning of the photographic process, when an image is being captured in a digital camera. If the book didn't intend to cover this, why say it's for "digital photographers"? After all, every picture manipulated in Photoshop is digital - it has to be to get into Photoshop - but it could have come from a photo-cd or a scanner. But this book starts when the photo is already in the camera.

I got very interested when I saw that there was a section of the book on Photoshop's Camera RAW plug-in. But all Kelby gives you is a rehash of the information that Adobe provides you with the RAW software with a lower level of detail. You get no help on how to use that software to make a better picture.

I occasionally think Kelby takes a more complex approach to a problem than one needs. His section on "Color Correcting Digital Images" advises setting the tonal highlight, shadow and midpoint with the curves function, but most users would probably find it easier to do this with the levels function

There is no magic bullet that will help someone learn the fundamentals of Photoshop. The new user is best served by sitting down with a book of tutorials, either like those provided by Adobe or like Photoshop 7 Artistry by Barry Haynes, and working through the exercises. After that you can come back to this book and get a few tips in using the Photoshop functions that you know.

If you have [$$] that's just burning a hole in your pocket, spend it on this Photoshop book.
I think I have about 20 Photoshop book in my collection, but this is by far the best one I have ever bought.
Very easy to understand ( very little of that technical junk) just step by step examples for digital camera junkies.
I always have struggled understanding how to use "curves" in Photoshop, but this book explained it perfect.
The curve tutorial was worth the price of the book to me......

I read a review that said this book is written for professional photographers and hi-end serious amateurs. While that may be true, I found all of the explanations in the book to be very simple and step-by-step, so that advanced beginners or intermediate users should be able to follow along easily.

Author Scott Kelby, Photoshop User magazine editor, shows you the Photoshop pros' techniques for managing, correcting, retouching and outputting your photos to produce brilliant results. This book is great for traditional photographers who are making the jump to digital photography. Reading it should empower you to experiment with your photos.

The full color book is packed with graphics and tutorials that will show you how to re-size your images with the proper resolution without losing image quality, deal with High ISO noise, blue channel noise, and other common digital camera problems. There's good info on color correcting photos for output on everything from inkjet printers to printing presses, and how to get perfect fleshtones. I love the "digital plastic surgery" and facial retouching techniques using Photoshop 7.0's new tools.

Plus, some great exercises in masking, digital dodging and burning tricks, colorizing hair and replacing a portion of a pic (such as a sky).

I have recently begun using Photoshop and at first just tried "feeling" my way through it. That didn't work. Then I tried using articles I found in magazines and off the internet. That was a little better but still didn't get me where I wanted to be. Then I decided to get a book to help me. On more than one photography forum this book was recommended. Now that I have it I see why.

Apart from the excellent information, Scott Kelby is a very humorous, easy-to-read author. This book is so informative and easy to follow that my wife (who knows knothing about computers or digital processing software) has even begun reading it and using Photoshop.

If you are thinking about getting this book...GET IT! I definitely wound recommend this book to anybody.