Beyond Digital Photography: Transforming Photos into Fine Art with Photoshop and Painter (Paperback)

by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis (Author), Donal Jolley (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Digital cameras, advances in color printing, and software tools have changed the landscape of photography forever. The challenge now is to go beyond the basic digital photograph and print, and move toward the next level of expression. For many, this means pushing the technologies available and combining the artistic tools found in both photography and painting.

Beyond Digital Photography: Transforming Photos into Fine Art with Photoshop and Painter brings these once separate disciplines together in a beautiful and instructive book that uses time-honored design principles and basic drawing and painting skills, and applies them to digital photographs. The easy-to-follow, step-by-step format allows you to practice a variety of Photoshop and Painter techniques and gives you the confidence to achieve your own expressive goals with great results.

In this unique and inspiring book, you’ll discover how to transform your photos into works of art:

• Shoot and select photos with good composition and lighting for painting
• Emulate the look of pop art, woodcuts, and dry media texture
• Create Old Masters-style oil paintings, watercolors, contemporary paintings, and abstract art
• Add edge treatments and textured borders with brushwork
• Build creative compositions, such as collages, and traditional styles such as landscape, portrait, and still life paintings
• Use a pressure-sensitive tablet for gestural, expressive painting
• Find additional resources available at www.beyonddigitalbook.com

About the Author
Cher Threinen-Pendarvis, an award-winning fine artist, designer, and educator, has influenced thousands of artists in her many years of teaching and writing about electronic design tools. Her paintings and photography have been exhibited worldwide, and her work is featured in numerous books including The Painter Wow! Book and The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book. In addition to creating hundreds of brushes for Corel Painter, Cher teaches at workshops and conferences worldwide.

Donal Jolley has been a freelance designer since retiring from the commercial printing field in 1996. A master of Photoshop since version 2.5, his artistic ability, design versatility, and Photoshop expertise have been featured in many publications, including The Photoshop CS/CS2 WOW! Book, The Painter WOW! Book, and Photoshop User magazine. Donal has taught Photoshop and Illustrator courses for students and professionals and has consulted on several prominent publications.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (June 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321410211
• ISBN-13: 978-0321410214
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,194 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb book for Photographers and Fine Artists, June 22, 2009

By	Elizabeth A. Meyer "Rocksand" (Missouri USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have worked through every technique in this book and found it to be instructional and a big boost for creativity. The book is beautifully laid out with clear steps in each chapter for not only creating various genres of fine art pieces from my photos, but also the concepts behind composing a shot and preparing to paint. I was amazed at how much I could accomplish with just my digital camera and software.

Highly recommended to any photographers seeking to take their skills and photos to the next level!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique and creative book on steriods, July 11, 2009

By	A. Meek - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was given this book by a good friend as a gift, and have looked through all of the material, and do not understand how anyone can make the mistake of thinking this was written for beginners. If I were a beginner this book would excite me to become good enough to work hard so I could DO this work. Recalling and rewriting the book? Wow. He must have gotten this one mixed up with something else is all I can think of.

This is a well-written book that says it was written for people who already have a working knowledge of Painter and/or Photoshop. (It even says so several times!) A great thing about it is it is written for both Photoshop and Painter users both. Someone with Photoshop will get a lot out of it, and someone with Painter will also. Some projects use Photoshop exclusively and others use Painter, but the authors seem to know what program to use when for the very best effects. Jolley works in ways that are innovative and there are quite a few tips I've never seen anywhere else while he pushes Photoshop further than any other art how-to book out there. Pendarvis is at her very best and shows how to do things with Painter that go beyond her Painter WOW series.

Chapter One sets a lot of groundwork, then chapter two goes straight into novice and intermediate methods. As the chapters progress (there are eight), the material gets more difficult. Each project is well developed and painstakingly moves readers through the workflow. The authors don't expect you to know everything, but they do expect some proficiency in the programs. If you have that the methods they write about are really helpful.

It is obvious the authors took into consideration that non-artists and artists alike would be able to get a lot out of the book, and there just is not another book like it on the market. And if that weren't enough, it is truly a gorgeous printing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Digital artist, July 17, 2009

By	Karen E. Cohen "contemporary digital artist" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a professional digital artist, I know that there is always more than one way to skin a cat. Pendarvis and Jolley have done an excellent job of presenting challenging exercises and providing solutions. Their choices might not always pose the most challenging situations possible, but they do always provide the most elegant and efficient solutions.

Advanced beginners all the way to professional Photoshop and Painter users can benefit from some (but not all) that this book has to offer. And that is as it should be...a decent review and maybe a new slant for more advanced people, as well as some new and (in some cases) very impressive things to learn for everyone.

Anyone who can't find several new things to learn in this book should probably be writing their own. In fact, there's one Photoshop tip alone about masking groups and applying effects that's more than worth the price of the whole book because the results are so extraordinary.