Photoshop Filter Effects Encyclopedia: The Hands-On Desktop Reference for Digital Photographers (O'Reilly Digital Studio) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Adobe Photoshop has become the tool of choice for professional photographers,

designers, and amateur enthusiasts. But it's a complex application with many features-and scant information on how to use them to best advantage. A case in point: there are 100 built-in filters in Photoshop, designed to enable the user to easily make subtle or dramatic image adjustments, and there is very little online help available with the application, and no printed manual. Users can spend hours trying to use filters effectively-an inefficient and often frustrating way to work.

In "Photoshop Filter Effects Encyclopedia," author and educator Roger Pring explains and decodes the settings of every filter that Photoshop CS2 has to offer, from Artistic filters such as Colored Pencil, Cutout, and Watercolor to Stylize filters like Bevel, Emboss, and Extrude. And, unlike many reference books that give you a lot of information you'll never need, it is filled with easy-to-follow, step-by-step, practical recipes for creating truly amazing effects, such as:

Creating selective focus

Simulating motion blur

Adding special lens and filter effects

Working with tone and color

Creating dramatic solarized and posterized images

Working with artificial lighting

Simulating textures

Creating multi-layered images and photomontages

Reproducing graphic arts effects

and much more.

The best part is that you don't have to be a Photoshop expert to create sophisticated, professional-looking results-the recipes take the guesswork out of the process, so you can work quickly and efficiently. Packed with hundreds of full-color photographs, clearly written instructions, and practical tips, thisbook is the ultimate, no-nonsense Photoshop CS2 Filters reference for creative photographers, designers, and artists.

About the Author

Pring is a graphic designer and educator.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media (November 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596100213
• ISBN-13: 978-0596100216
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #40,970 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #45 in	Books > Reference > Encyclopedias > Antiques & Collectibles
  #67 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Digital Photography & Video > Adobe Photoshop

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference book on Photoshop Filters, November 19, 2005

By	calvinnme "Texan refugee" (Fredericksburg, Va) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Until this book was published, I still used my old 1999 copy of "Photoshop in a Nutshell" as the definitive guide to Photoshop filters. However, this book surpasses that one in its coverage and its no-nonsense approach to each filter. The book has a chapter for each class of filter: Artistic, Blur, Brush Strokes, Distort, etc. Depending on the complexity of each filter there are two to four pages describing each filter in detail, its controls, and how to use each filter to improve a photograph or achieve a particular effect. Some effects require combinations of filters, and this is covered in detail too. There are plenty of colorful photographs demonstrating the effects that are possible with each filter. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a complete reference on all of Photoshop's filters and not just the coverage of the most popular subset of filters that most books have.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Photoshop Filters Reference, February 18, 2006

By	Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Of all the things that Photoshop can do, the Filters option certainly is one of the coolest options available to users. Taking a digital picture or just a standard graphics file, you can use the power of Photoshop Filters to create unique art for whatever purpose you want. From a colored pencil effect to blurring images to one of the newest filters "Vanishing Point", this book is an absolute gem.

If you use Filters on a daily basis and want to see what can be done to take a normal image and make it stand out from the "blah" that is out there in the world, this book is for you. If you are a heavy Photoshop user but want to go beyond the basics of just resizing images and cropping pictures, you will also heavily enjoy this book. Of the 4 books in this Photoshop line I love each one of them and feel that all readers should rush out and pick them all up for their reference.

The only downside of this book really isn't a fair one at all, and that's that I wish there were more pages and examples dedicated to all of the filters covered here. Obviously this isn't a realistic gripe so it's barely even worth mentioning.

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great Photoshop resource, November 22, 2005

By	S. M. Snyder (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As soon as I saw that O'Reilly was going to be publishing this encyclopedia of filter effects, I placed my pre-order for it. When it arrived I was not disappointed. This book explains how each filter in Photoshop works as well as having plenty of photos to illustrate them. The same picture is used for each group of filters so it is easy to compare and contrast the differences in filters.
Beside showing what every filter does, tho book also demonstrates how the settings in the filters will affect the final result.
This is a great reference that explains the filters in Photoshop better and more comprehensively than any other Photoshop book I own while still being very easy to use and understand. O'Reilly also has a similar book for Photoshop blending modes that I'm now planning on buying after seeing this book.