50 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple, straight forward, lucid instructions to do magic with photos, October 15, 2009
This review is from: The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing (Paperback)
Hello. I am primarily an (amateur) landscape photographer as you may discern if you look at my Flickr gallery: [...]
I am also interested in night photography - particularly of the night sky. So it is not a surprise that the cover of the book would have been enough to capture my attention.
I pre-ordered my copy of The Photoshop Darkroom in June, 2009. It was a long wait and worth it.
I have several other books on Photoshop and this one beats them all in clarity and usefulness by a wide margin. Thankfully this book is NOT an exhaustive description of all of the features and nuances of Photoshop. A book that attempted to cover "all things Photoshop" would be thousands of pages long and filled with lots of really useless and boring information.
No, the authors: Harold and Phyllis Davis have instead taken a laser-like focus on about a dozen very useful techniques that are effective in producing pleasing results. The techniques are illustrated with full color, step by step images from Harold's own photographs. The quality of the illustrations is crucial to understanding the processes and the images in this book score very high on clarity [unlike several other books I have].
The steps for each process are clearly numbered, illustrated and labeled. And though the examples are from a Mac, I have no trouble following along with my older Photoshop version on a PC.
Is this book for you? Well, let me ask you these questions:
Would you like to make your photographs more appealing? More like the way you saw them? More like art? Something altogether different? The techniques and processes described allow all of these approaches.
* Do you use burn and dodge to darken and lighten? The Davis's will show you a far better way!
* Do you shoot JPG because you're afraid of RAW? Find out why RAW is superior and what you're missing?
* Ever thought about scanning or lighting small items at home? A clever, cheap and effective method is described in the beginning of the book.
* Would you like to manipulate or correct the color in your images cleanly? LAB mode may be your panacea and it's explained in this book.
* Do you use software for High Dynamic Range photos (or the built in HDR in Photoshop?) Learn why you may get far more delectable results by using a *SINGLE* RAW image. If you must use multiple images you'll learn how to blend them by hand to get more pleasing and natural looking results.
* Ever thought about capturing the night sky - as illustrated by the cover on the book? In The Photoshop Darkroom are copious tips both for shooting and then for processing night sky images. If you decide to pursue this passion further I understand that there is a Night Photography book in the works.
* Want to produce "Ansel Adams" quality black and white? This book explains how to get the most out of an image - and why standard "black and white conversion" options are not your friend.
Want to try to do the steps in the book using the actual images - thoughtfully the authors have provided a website for that, too!
In addition to all the great tips and illustrations this book has three important components that make it useful as a reference volume: A good table of contents, a Glossary and a complete and effective Index.
Is there anything wrong with the book? Well, not really, but I suppose there is one minor nit.
There are no page numbers on the many full page illustrations. Sometimes there is a run of 7 or 8 pages without numbers on them and most of the major sections start on un-numbered pages. I told you it was a nit!
The plethora of eye popping photos tend to make me pay more attention to the images than the text... but I really can't blame the authors for that, can I? ;-)
I should disclose that I have been a student in two of Harold's Night Photography Workshop classes and I like the guy for his talent, wit and wisdom which come through marvelously in the book.
This is a MUST BUY book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing, October 18, 2009
This review is from: The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing (Paperback)
I received this book approximately 2 weeks ago and it has provided me a very clear path on how to do so many changes and improvements using Photoshop, I will only take a few lines to describe the book. It is clear, concise, illustrative, easy to read and most of all written by someone who has used the product daily. Harold's description of techniques and the illustrations are superb. My wife purchased the 3-set from Amazon as an early Christmas present and boy am I glad she did. I have purchased other books on Photoshop and the authors talk so far above my head, I have to use oxygen after trying to read them. Harold's projects are down to earth. Buy it and enjoy reading and learning from a new experience with a professional.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A big step forward for most of us...., October 19, 2009
This review is from: The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing (Paperback)
Harold's book is MUCH more than a 'how to' book, though it does that very well. His approach to book layout, with handwritten notes and guidance, is fresh, easy to follow and to dip into.
But much more than that, in following Harold's techniques you are learning how one of the best exponents of using the digital (rather than simply doing what we did with film, but using digital techniques) medium thinks, and approaches image making from a new perspective. Even though I primarily use Adobe Lightroom for my photo workflow, there is much to learn from Harold's book. His style is informative and he has a light touch when guiding the reader that works very well.
If you are fortunate enough to be where Harold gives a workshop - make sure you get to it.
Take the techniques used in the book and apply them to your image making. You'll be amazed how your work can improve.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
Dear Amazon Readers, If you are thinking of buying The Photoshop Darkroom: We believe we can promise you a Photoshop experience unlike any other. Our ideas--and many years of relevant experience--came together when we created The Photoshop Darkroom. We can promise you a very practical learning experience. Unlike the authors of many other Photoshop books, we are first and foremost photographers, creators, and experimenters. We do not care about the software bells and whistles that Photoshop provides unless these features are useful in the day-by-day tasks of image creation and photo enhancement. Speaking of day-by-day, we've created The Photoshop Darkroom using our experience working professionally with photography and Photoshop. That's working everyday, day in and day out, many hours a day--to create award-winning published imagery. We are eager to share the techniques we've developed over the years, and have designed our book to be your guide in your own creative journey with Photoshop. And your own creative journey it is! We didn't create The Photoshop Darkroom as a statement about how cool or great we are. This book is about you, the learner, and about what you can do next. Why should a Photoshop book be visually boring? We've designed our book to be as exciting and rich as the images you can create in the Photoshop environment itself. With the step-by-step directions in The Photoshop Darkroom, you can extend the dynamic range of your photos, selectively sharpen, paint with LAB colors, and much more. Digital photography is one part photography and one part digital software. So take the plunge and start on your journey towards becoming the best digital image maker you can be. It's our sincere hope that The Photoshop Darkroom is your springboard to creating great images! 
