Customer Reviews

Professional Photoshop 5: The Classic Guide to Color Correction

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is not for those Photoshop users who are looking for the latest and trendiest plug-in's and/or filters to customize Photoshop. Nope, for that, you'll have to go to one of those WOW books. If, however, you have occasion to make the images that you work with print better on a printing press, this book is incredible. Margulis takes you step by step into the powerful world of Photoshop curves. He demonstrates dramatically how, in many many cases, you don't have to waste time making elaborate selection masks to correct color. All you need is curves. After reading just three chapters, I was able to get dramatically better-balanced and vibrant images. (And I've been using Photoshop since version 1.5!) For variety, he also takes on the correct usage of unsharp masking and how to use different colorspaces to enhance separations. Margulis eschews most, if not all, of the new color management tools adopted by Adobe in version 5, and version 4 users will feel right at home. Although his writing style may seem a bit strained at times, the data presented in the numerous examples is well-rendered and quite clear. Not for Web graphic artists, if you want better color, contrast and sharpness from your images before they go off to press, you must have this book.

For those of us who truly care about sharpening imagery to "best possible quality," this book provides specific, workable paradigms to use. Clear explanations, and powerful visual examples, make it possible for a designer, like myself, to create crisper and more impacting imagery. From the first chapter, I was able to apply the techniques suggested by Mr. Margulis...and they worked. My printer is now using my recent work to promote their work, as the color is punchy, and the imagery very sharp. If you are honestly attempting to "push the limit" of your design ability in print, understanding this book is important to you. Especially clear were the new technical terms to describe dpi, lpi and other vagaries of graphic language. Finally, I understand the differences. This book is sitting next to my computer. Actually, it's my favorite reference when working in color.

For starters, Dan Margulis is the Plato of Photoshop. Truth and simplicity is the philosophy he preaches, and the shocking thing is, it works. But Plato ain't no simple read, nor is this. His '95 book, "Professional Photoshop," completely changed how I use Photoshop, and put me on the path to professional retouch, which I now do (not for full face cosmetic ads in Vogue, but for almost every less-demanding project). Did I mention that Dan Marglis will save you that $1,200 you were thinking of spending on a monitor calibrator? You don't need it; you'll learn his own (free of charge) technique. The book is crammed with before & after photos in color. Professional Photoshop 5 is probably the best written book in the graphics field, and certainly the funniest. It ranges from easy to quite difficult, and shows you every step on every photo. But, please, Mr. Margulis, we need to work on the same pictures that you did, so if you'd put together a CD-ROM of them, we'd GLADLY buy them. Just so I could experience transforming that humdrum beer glass in chapter 16 into a sweating, foaming masterpiece like you did.

dan margulis doesn't waist time with technical blabber. absolute to the point, witty and humorous language is used through out. the first book of it's kind that reads like a thriller to the interested professional. I owe mr. margulis my very deepest respect. «professional photoshop 5» has given my work as a professional fashion photographer a wider view and his profound knowledge of colour correction has given me the possibility of delivering files to my customers that i know will stand up in print. i tip my hat to the author!

My interest in Photoshop is digital photography, and for me this is a must-have book. The information in this book has shown me how to quickly and effectively adjust colours in a digital photograph to optimize its appearance, and then how to selectively enhance the photograph even further.

The author works in the pre-press industry, so he prefers to work in a CMYK colourspace, and all the instructions in the book are for CMYK as a result. I work in a RGB colourspace, but it is relatively straightforward for me to convert the techniques given for CMYK to RGB. The only difference is that RGB doesn't have a black colour channel, so the one chapter that focusses on black is not as useful to me (converting to LAB colour does produce a black channel, however, so the advice given for the black channel in CMYK colour aren't confined exclusively to the CMYK colourspace).

If you want to gain an understanding of colour and means of using Photoshop to enhance and optimize the colour of photographs , then this book is a must-have.

I do agree with some of the reviews bellow about this book being a bit wordy, but color correction is a boring subject. I think the author ment to keep readers interested rather than babble on. Regardless, this book is the book you want to buy if you work at any periodical or graphics house in which you are preparing pictures for press. This book is not for people making simple web graphics. It talks about utillizing photoshop to make things look more life like on paper. I would like to add that colors vary from press to press, so don't rely to much on the colors he specifies. Rather use his techniques and your own experience to find out what colors work best on your press. This is a must have book for people who do any serious amount of printing on a professional press.

Working at a prepress house doing high-end drum scanning, photography, color correction and retouching for 5 years has shown me that there are lots of opinionated blowhards in the graphics field. Mr. Margulis combines the rare gift of technical mastery, insight and humor into a potentially dull topic. This book is very readable on it's own, without sitting at your G4, since he is instilling a philosophy and insightful observations that make sense. The fog lifted from my eyes after reading this book, but now I know why. To quote the master: A full tonal range is absolutely the most critical element of color re-production. If you do not have one, regardless of your creative abilities, channel-maneuvering cognition,etc., you will never be able to beat even a modestly talented person who does no more than set a proper highlight and shadow.

I am a professional computer based designer, working with colour images in Photoshop daily. Before I picked this book up, I considered myself quite professional in image correction. Today as I read through the book, I realise there's even more to colour and printing. Almost every page so far has taught me something, inspiring me to experiment and learn further. And I know when I finish reading this book, I'll have to reread it as an advanced student! Buy this book, but be prepared for information overload!

One of the frustrations that I had in deciding on a book to purchase, to use along with Photoshop 5, was that the books being so expensive, (generally), I didn't want to purchase one just so that in a few months, after having worked my way through the whole thing, I could put it on my shelf and forget about it. I wanted something that would continue to be useful to me for a long time, and that would teach me some advanced techniques. None of the beginner books had that, and they were all more beginner level than advanced. This book was like a dream come true. It shows how to do advanced techniques, without getting bogged down in the beginner level "click here, click there, etc."

In short, for advanced users, (or for those who aspire to one day become advanced users), this is the PERFECT book.

This is the Bible for color on the computer. If you only learn curves and sharpening you will be in the top 20 percent of color correctors. Dan is the master. After his book and classes, I use the LAB color space as much as CMYK. You will save thousands in unnecessary software and equipment that is marketed for the web using masses, or calibrationists looking to sell their theories. After working in prepress for twenty years and being self-taught in color and Photoshop- only one year after Dan's teachings, I have been a scanner operator, and now do color correction and special effects in Photoshop for a service bureau. I have thrown away every other book on photoshop I had- over 300$ worth, and endless tutorials that would not have changed my future. Toys are for children and mythology is for dreamers. This book is for the rest of us who have to meet deadlines with quality results that everyone will judge.