Photoshop CS3 Workflow: The Digital Photographer's Guide (Tim Grey Guides) (Paperback)

by Tim Grey (Author)
Key Phrases: master image file, clipping preview display, background image layer, Camera Raw, Clone Stamp, Healing Brush (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
If you’re like most artists, the idea of structuring your work may seem at odds with true creativity, but you’ll be surprised to learn from digital imaging expert Tim Grey that just the opposite is true. This latest edition of his bestselling guide shows you how proper workflow can free you from the repetitive parts of a project and let you focus on your vision. Discover techniques that streamline processes, reduce your time and effort, and produce striking results.

From the Back Cover
Set up an effective workflow and set your imagination free

If you're like most artists, the idea of structuring your work may seem at odds with true creativity, but you'll be surprised to learn from digital imaging expert Tim Grey that just the opposite is true. This latest edition of his bestselling guide to Photoshop shows you how proper workflow can free you from the repetitive parts of a project and let you focus on your vision. Discover techniques that streamline processes, reduce your time and effort, and produce striking results.

• Explore the new Photoshop CS3 interface and updates

• Download, sort, and organize digital images for top efficiency

• Process RAW captures to retain maximum detail

• Crop, rotate, repair, and adjust tone and color in your images

• Harness new Clone, Curves, and blend mode features

• Get creative with colorization, filters, and more

• Automate tasks and optimize your output

Adjust images with the revamped and easier-to-use Curves tool

Produce more dramatic black-and-white images with a new adjustment layer

Apply creative effects to your images

About the Series
Sybex's Tim Grey Guides series leads digital photographers to new levels of excellence with professional, full-color books on the topics they need to know most. Covering topics from color management to workflow to nature photography, Tim Grey Guides are your path to better images.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Sybex (May 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470119411
• ISBN-13: 978-0470119419
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #281,759 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Near-Perfect Guide for Beginners, August 21, 2007

By	Joseph Boone (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Photoshop CS3 Workflow: The Digital Photographer's Guide is the best Photoshop primer I've read yet. The author works through image adjustments in a very logical progression. He begins with very simple edits and works his way up to more complex fine-tuning. The instructions are both step-by-step and very clear. He also does an excellent job of explaining the "big picture" of why you want to make these adjustments and does not just turn you into a mouse clicker following steps by rote.

While no one book is going to tell you everything you could ever want to know about Photoshop, this is a fairly comprehensive tome. The entire workflow process is covered beginning with downloading files and sorting them in Bridge, all the way through printing. I would suggest using the "Look Inside" function to check the Table of Contents if you're interested in a complete list of the specific steps covered. The good news is that all the most common bases are covered, and covered well. If I could add one thing to this book, it would be a chapter or two on the basics of making adjustments in the LAB color space. For certain images, LAB will yield truly superior results, yet it receives no coverage in most Photoshop books. If you're interested in learning more, I highly recommend Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace.

For those who own the CS2 edition of this book, you should be aware that this is largely unchanged. Most of the text is unchanged, the example photo are carried forward, etc. There is just enough new material to cover the new features in CS3. It's debatable whether the purchase is worth the money for roughly 30 pages of new material.

If this book has a weakness, it is that it doesn't really live up to its title. The book is not about workflow per se, but about all the steps that are part of a workflow. Only the first and the last chapters really focus on the aspect of trying to plan the workflow itself. This is no crime, I don't know if it's even possible to fill an entire book with workflow planning discussions without becoming ridiculously redundant and useless. But Tim Grey and his publishers chose to identify this as a workflow text and on that basis I think they have failed. If they had named the book "Photoshop CS3 for Beginners: The Digital Photographer's Guide" I would give it 5 stars and my highest recommendation. As it is, I'll still give it my highest recommendation for Photoshop novices as long as they realize that this book is really to help them with image editing skills much more than planning the workflow process itself.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CS3 Workflow, February 24, 2008

By	P. Mayer (Ventura, Ca.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Photoshop CS3 Workflow: The Digital Photographer's Guide (Tim Grey Guides)
This is a great learning tool for people new to Photoshop . I took a class in Adobe Photoshop CS3, and find this book so much more helpful in editing my images. I can't believe how much more I am learning, and it's easy to read and understand. Great step by step instruction!!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must have (even if you already have several PS books), January 2, 2008

By	Kathleen Flora Bolger "kfbolger" (houston, tx) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

i practically own a library of photoshop books, manuals, & tutorials, and this has absolutely become my go-to reference.
(for those times when i need something not covered in this book my other fave is martin evening's adobe ph cs3 for photographers).

b/c i'm somewhat lazy, (you can read details elsewhere) here are the things that set this book apart from all too many of the other photoshop guides out there:

1) it is useful for just about all experience levels (other than the pros, i suppose). if some of the individual tricks he illustrates are more basic than you need, they work to illustrate the thought process behind the *workflow*
2) tim's descriptions, instructions, and explanations are actually intuitive and flexible