Customer Reviews

Photoshop CS for Nonlinear Editors, Second Edition (DV Expert Series)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

So, you've been given a print file from your client and you need to get it into your video software (regardless if it's an Avid, FCP, Premiere, or anythine else for that matter).

It's really simple. This book covers how to do this, and a hundred other things too.

Want your photoshop/video work to look good? Buy Richard's Book.

The book ranges from novice to VERY advanced (good if you're just learning to if you know the basics and you want to do some very cool things) and you want someone who is an expert showing you step by step how to do all those things.

It's a rare mix that someone has both Video and Photoshop skills. Rich has them and in Spades. And happens to be an excellent professional in the field as well.

There's nothing even close on the market that helps along these lines.

What an awesome book! There's plenty of practical solutions to real-world problems -- enough to inspire seasoned editors. The focus is on setting up and using Photoshop to create an efficient workflow for getting images out to video, and getting great results. It's not just another collection of razzle-dazzle tricks and effects.

Exercises cover techniques on important concepts: alpha channels, pixel aspect ratios, color correction, importing graphics, testing and exporting to video. The companion DVD contains sample files for step-by-step tutorials, demo/free copies of programs/plug-ins, and 22 additional video tutorials with a wide range of useful projects. Both the book and disc are jam-packed with solid information.

The author assumes you have the basics down with editing, Photoshop, and compositing, and some techniques jump into After Effects or Illustrator. Doesn't matter what you edit with, as one appendix addresses specific programs (FCP, Avid, Boris etc.) and how to integrate Photoshop with them. This book is a must-have in any editor's reference library! It's worth every dime!

Photoshop for Nonlinear Editors is a good idea, well done. I am refering to this book as much as I am refering to Trish Meyer's books. The problem with editing and graphics is that you are expected to be fluent in your main program ,but unless you also know Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, et all you are stopped dead. Add to this that Photoshop has grown piecemeal and with an eye to print, graphics, retouching, commercial photography so that the workflow is not aimed at the videoguy.
What impressed me the most was that Harrington really dug deep to lay out a work flow that works for video,even including sections on each major program and how to import to them. It's not just a set of tips but a real workflow to turn Photoshop into a plugin to your main program not a hinderance.

I had occassion to discover this fine collection of wisdom during my stint as a lecturer at the Avid Master Editor's workshop in Miami, where Mr. Harrington also lectured. I aquired a copy of this book and I think it would have been a bargain at twice what I paid! This book is so chock full of good tips and brilliant strategies for setting up your Photoshop interface that I have already worn it to shreads as it gets borrowed back and forth between three edit suites. The profiles of other expert editors and graphic artists are inspiring and their full color examples offer interesting leads on how to create better titles and backgrounds.
Harrington's writing style is clear and easy to understand. I only wish the publisher would insert perforated cheater cards to paste to my keyboard, the book won't last the month. Buy one - maybe two!

There have been a few attacks on this book, which seems weird. This book was written for video editors and motion graphic artists by an editor. It just addresses how to use Photoshop as a broadcast tool and how to do so quickly. The book has a wealth of content, a DVD with lots of great stuff including training videos. It's a solid book that has helped many people. Be sure to read several reviews when making up your mind.

Photoshop for DV is a book that ANY NLE user should own. I loved it because it is the first book that covers the issues of Pixel Aspect for various situations, covers color space, correction, and covers both Apple and PC users. The sections at the back that address specific issues with specific NLE systems was wonderful.
I rarely recommend a book as a "must have" for any application or workflow, because individuality makes that a tough suggestion. However, images are images, processing is processing, and being aware of the rocks in the road, and having the answers that allow editors to jump over, go around, or avoid them altogether via a different workflow as suggested in the book is a terrific opportunity that shouldn't be missed. I consider myself fairly adept in the DV world, and in the Photoshop world. I learned more in 2 hours of reading this book than I'd learned through error and re-edits in the previous 2 years.
Thanks, Richard!

I already had a great deal of Photoshop experience when I picked this book up, but I was curious to see how the video angle was approached by the author. The book is definately good, and the DVD that includes video instruction and extra tutorials is great. Having read a great many other Photoshop books, I'd say this book did a decent job of covering the standard tools, but not a great job. That would be my only negative comment, and don't get me wrong, the book is very worthwhile. It's great to have a book focussed on preparing material for video. Methods of importing graphics into an NLE are covered quite well, and there's an appendix section that covers the best method for each NLE application.

This is the book I've been waiting for since Photoshop 3.0! If you do anything with video and anything with Photoshop...it's the very best guide I've ever seen for merging the two. This has tips and tricks that I've never been able to figure out on my own before, and it will help you -- no matter how good you are (or think you are).

As an editor and 3D artist, I found this book to be an invaluable resource. The tutorials are straightforward enough for a novice to understand, yet useful enough even for an experienced Photoshop user. No matter how you make use of it, you _will_ use it.

Many of us longtime Avid/FCP editors have always incorporated other peoples' PS output into our work. That just doesn't cut it anymore; the times they are a changin' and if you want to make it today, old dog or not, you need to master Photoshop. PS has become THE standard graphics creation tool... and all the other compositing apps build off it too.

OK, fine, but how to choose a resource to guide you through what is a VERY deep application? Look no further. This book is EXACTLY what I needed, well-written, well thought out, with all the tasks I need to do to make great-looking video projects, but without a lot of other stuff I DON'T need and will never use. I'm still working my way through it slowly, but I'm finding it the perfect resource to make me truly conversant in Photoshop. The DVD is great too and full of free stuff.

I would have to say that I've already saved myself close to 100X the money I spent on the book simply by not having to sub out basic graphic fixes and design work. I recommend it without reservation and thank Richard for all his hard work.