Customer Reviews

Photoshop CS2 Workflow: The Digital Photographer's Guide

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

PhotoShop has become the gold standard for the processing of digital photographs. And that means not just as a method of creating montages of things that never were, but more importantly, as a tool to make the final photograph, be it print or electronic transmission, reflect the vision of the photographer. But this capability comes at a cost in complexity. Moreover, many of the tools are of little concern to the photographer.

Tim Grey is a leading guru in the PhotoShop educational field. He has written several top-notch books about specialized aspects of the software, as well as articles, and he teaches around the country. Now he's come up with a book that's a step by step approach to processing digital photographs from the second they are transferred into a computer until they are saved ready for printing. At first that sounds like something that should be simple and shouldn't require any great knowledge once the picture is taken.

For people who are satisfied with a quick snapshot for their memory book, that will be true. But an underlying assumption of the great photographers like Ansel Adams, and the creators of PhotoShop, is that media, whether film or digital, just doesn't have the range of the human eye. Serious photographers have been trying to extend the range of the capturing media for many years. That's what PhotoShop is capable of and that's what Tim Grey is teaching.

Grey's approach is simple, methodical and almost boring. He leads you step by step along the way with practical instructions and suggestions. He starts out by explaining how to use the PhotoShop Raw converter, a part of the program that takes those information loaded files that are an optional format for many cameras, to recover all of the data that a camera can capture. (The JPG format, while easy to use, losses a lot of this information.) Grey even tells you what controls not to use because there will be better opportunities later in the process.

Grey then gets progressively more complex. He tells you about basic adjustments like cropping, tone and color controls and cleanup. Many users will find that his suggestions in this area will help them to utilize the software far more effectively then they've been doing. But then he goes on to discuss more advanced adjustments, including the targeting of adjustments to specific areas of the picture. He finishes up with help on file saving and the automation features of PhotoShop that make repetitive tasks easy.

The book will appeal to beginners in PhotoShop because of the simplicity and directness of its approach. But even experienced users will glean something of use. I've been a user of PhotoShop for several years, and I picked up a few techniques that I didn't know that have already led to an improvement in my photography.

Grey also tailors his instruction to the users of PhotoShop Elements, the slimmed down version of the software that some photographers use.

This book should be in the library of every PhotoShop user. But it is not the only book one needs. Grey's writing is instructive, and there are loads of examples, but I've found that a person needs practical exercises to master the program. I've found the tutorials in the "PhotoShop Artistry" series by Barry Haynes to be extremely helpful in mastering PhotoShop. Haynes doesn't provide the clear explanations for his procedures that Grey does, but his hands-on tutorials are amongst the best around.

I do have one bone to pick. The screen shots of selections were so small that I couldn't see the "marching ants" without a magnifying glass. Have some pity on us old guys and let the graphic artists enhance these pictures.

When you first start working with digital photographs, that is beyond the shoot and store on hard disk, you wind up working with Photoshop. And when you start working with Photoshop, you are faced with a bewildering assortment of things that you can do. You're going to spend lots of time with your computer. If you're like most of us, you will try this and that, and eventually find that you can spend an enormous amount of time manipulating an image. Some of the things produce dramatic impact, many do not.

Most people want to go shoot pictures and not spend too much time staring at a computer. This book is about applying some organization to using Photoshop. If you follow a procedure to first look at your pictures, then decide what to do and in what order, you can get better pictures faster, leaving more time to go shoot more.

This book is about all of these steps. It is a mixture of what to do to an image (it is not a how to do it, that's a Photoshop book), in what order, and how to wind up with a spectacular picture quickly.

This is a different concept from any of the Photoshop books I've read.

When I recently upgraded to CS2, I wanted a book that would help me learn the software quickly. I did not want one of those massive intimating books.

I found Mr. Greys's book to be very helpful. The book is well written and walks you thought many of the CS2 functions.

I have been reading the book page for page and have found it clear and simple to follow. I actually enjoy reading the book.

If you are looking for a book to get a good overview of CS2, I would highly recommend Photoshop CS2 Workflow: The Digital Photographer's Guide.

This is one of, if not the best book I have in my library of Photoshop books. Tim Grey does an incredible job of not only taking you through the sequences of capture to output, but he makes it easy to understand what it is you are doing. He should have titled this book "Understanding Photoshop CS2". With this book and Scott Kelby's "Photoshop CS2 For Photographers" you have just about all the info you need for basic to advanced work.

I am teaching a beginning Photoshop class to adults, and bought this book to help me with my lesson plans. I have been mightily impressed. I have used Photoshop daily in my work since Photoshop 5, and am learning MANY new basic techniques that somehow have escaped my attention until now. I will not only save time, but improve my output with what I have learned from this book! His writing is very clear, and is also interesting to read. I have recommended it to my students, and am incredibly glad I found it before my teaching began!

Photoshop CS2 Workflow: The Digital Photographer's Guide is the best Photoshop primer I've ever read. The author works through image adjustments in a very logical progression. He begins with very simple edits and works his up to more complex fine tuning. The instructions are both step-by-step and very clear. He also does an excellent job of explaining the "big picture" of why you want to make these adjustments and does not just turn you into a mouse clicker following steps by rote.

If the book has a weakness, it is that it doesn't really live up to its title. The book is not about workflow per se, but about all the steps that are part of a workflow. Only the first and the last chapters really focus on the aspect of trying to plan the workflow itself. This is no crime, I don't know if it's even possible to fill an entire book with workflow planning discussions without becoming ridiculously redundant and useless. But Tim Grey and his publishers chose to identify this as a workflow text and on that basis I think they have failed. If they had named the book "Photoshop CS2 for Beginners: The Digital Photographer's Guide" I would give it 5 stars and my highest recommendation. As it is, I'll still give it my highest recommendation for Photoshop novices as long as they realize that this book is really to help them with image editing skills much more than planning the workflow process itself.

This wasn't exactly what I expected: There's no discussion of VersionCue, versioning and naming in general, or color managment.

But that said, it's a pretty good book - I'd recommend it for anyone who hasn't yet thought about what they do as a "workflow".

It offers great tips on most of the common tasks that you'll encounter with Photoshop - as well as talking about working extensively with Layers, which is essential to any intelligent workflow.

I just wish it had addressed the more complex topics I list above. But I'm still glad I bought this book.

This has been the most helpful Photoshop book I have ever read. Rather than just breezing through hazy step-by-step instructions on his personal favorite techniques, the author takes care to explain not only the function of each adjustment, but also how it works. This approach spurs the reader to invent his own understanding of the various adjustment methods instead of bombarding him with mysterious Filter and Tool references.

If you aren't Tim Grey himself, this book WILL increase your Photoshop knowledge. ;)

Highly recommended.

Does no one else have a problem with the many "Notes" pointing out features that are not available in Photoshop Elements?

My main complaint of the book is that the figures are so small that most are unuseable. Photographs as well are generally small, fuzzy, and hard to figure out what they are supposed to be illustrating. I find it difficult to understand how this book has gotten such glowing reviews, upon which I based my purchase.

I had been looking for a Photoshop instruction book for a while. I am extremely pleased with this one. It offers a very straightforward approach to learning CS2. If you are relatively new to Photoshop this book is perfect. It will teach you a basic workflow in a structured and easy to follow manner. Highly recommended !!