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55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth every dime spent, quite possibly the best retouch book, July 23, 2001
This review is from: Photoshop Restoration and Retouching (Macintosh Library) (Paperback)
As I ventured into further and further depths into the wonderfully deep world of Photoshop, there came a need to improve my retouching technique. So I purchased both this book and also Scott Kelbys "Photo Retouching Secrets" at the same time. I gotta say, while I have gotten a few useful and neat tricks out of Kelbys book, I feel that Eismanns book is the far better piece of work for what I was looking for. My view on this comes down to the fact that I prefer to have a book that teaches me some ideas, and makes me think, versus just a book that presents a laundry list of quick tricks and tips. Same thing for the "wow" books.. while they are "fun", they aren't on my required reading list for Photoshop books... they really don't get you involved in problem solving or technical kind of learning experience that I feel is necessary to master this (Photoshop) program. So, you, the reader, have to decide what you are looking for. If you want just a quick and dirty set of tips to retouch photos and you consider yourself a beginner to light intermediate, then Kelbys book might be better. (Kelbys book is far from bad, I'm just stating a strong preference for this one instead) However, if you seriously want to get inside the head of a great retoucher, and learn more powerful techniques, definitely check out this (Eismanns) book. Another plus to this book is Katrin never tosses you an attitude about her views. She credits other people when she has learned from them. In this regard she is about as far away from someone like the incredibly brilliant but occasionally arrogant Dan Margulis of "Photoshop 6/Classic Guide to Color Correction" fame. The only weaknesses in the book (and the reason I deduct a star) are a less than stellar coverage of density, contrast and color correction. (however, this topic is covered quite well in the aforementioned Margulis book or the Photoshop Artistry book by Haynes/Crumpler) This shortcoming, however, is balanced out with incredibly good portrait and glamour retouching sections as well as good discussions on restoration techniques. Seriously recommended.
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best Photoshop book around, January 28, 2002
This review is from: Photoshop Restoration and Retouching (Macintosh Library) (Paperback)
I've used Photoshop for a number of years, but until now have never purchased a Photoshop how-to book. The reason was simple -- most of the Photoshop "Bibles" or "Definitive Guides" you see are filled with, let's be truthful about this, junk. They'll teach you how to create gleaming, 3-D text with marbelized textures and silly gee-whiz visual effects, but barely scratch the surface teaching what Photoshop was invented for -- photo retouching and restoration. I've been manipulating photographs for years in Photoshop, but in just a few pages of Eismann's book I realized there was much more to learn. Eismann's clear tone, direction, and oceans of screenshots showing photos in many stages between "before" and "after," make this book the only Photoshop book really worth owning. The techniques presented inside are smart, timeless, and will help you take your photography to a whole new level. And let's also be clear about who will benefit from this book -- just about anyone who works with images, from professional graphic designers all the way down to digital camera hobbyists. As a matter of fact, she often refers to digital cameras, and provides a plethora of techniques to consider when working with this specialized medium. The book does not come with a CD-ROM, but Eismann does provide a web site where you can download all of the images (in their raw, untouched state) used in the book so you can work alongside it. The book is printed on crisp, bright white paper that holds the detail of the photographs quite well -- an important factor especially for seeing the differences b/w before and after stages, and the sometimes subtle changes made. In closing, I have never seen a more useful book than this. Anyone would benefit tremendously from buying it.
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best!!!, April 18, 2001
This review is from: Photoshop Restoration and Retouching (Macintosh Library) (Paperback)
I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this book since hearing of it at the annual Thunder Lizard Photoshop Conference in San Francisco in early January. Early previews had set some high levels of expectation regarding the content and application. My book arrived and I sat up all night reading it and trying the various tutorial exercises. My expectations were more than met. They were exceeded! I am a professional photographer and educator. I have been teaching and employing Photoshop since version 2.5. In the years that have passed, I have probably purchased every major instructional book on Photoshop that has appeared. Many have had outstanding sections, but this book surpasses all of them. Its graphic design, its instructional methodology and its practical, straigtforward application of Photoshop to the commercial portrait photograper's craft is unique. Every chapter brings a new insight to bear on the daily work of the photo-retoucher. This is a MUST for any serious Photoshop user. It will be a required text for all of my future college Photoshop classes.
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