Photoshop Secrets of the Pros: 20 Top Artists and Designers Face Off (Paperback)

by Mark Clarkson (Author) "Matt Riddle has been a Photoshop maven for six years, since he encountered the program in a digital photography you can really take control of..." (more)
Key Phrases: previous volley, mule file, new layer above the background, Photoshop Tennis, Hard Light, Soft Light (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The first book I've seen that turns Photoshop into a sport." -- Adam Bell, Digital Media Net

"This has to be the most unusual book on Photoshop ever published.... A must-have for dedicated Shopoholics." -- DingBat Magazine

Product Description
If you're a Photoshop user in search of creative inspiration, you'll find it in this original, full-color book, in which 20 of the world's top artists and designers (from classic print designers to cutting-edge web designers) challenge each other to games of Photoshop "tennis." The result is a fascinating look at how they create stunning images under pressure, from their favorite tools and techniques to how they approach creative challenges and discover new visual ideas. Photoshop Secrets of the Pros features never-before-seen work from the pros and gives you unprecedented access to their thoughts. The CD features artwork from the book.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Sybex (November 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782141919
• ISBN-13: 978-0782141917
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #238,906 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting concept for Photoshop afficionados, December 20, 2003

By	Tim Skyrme (Adelaide, Australia) - See all my reviews

Photoshop Secrets of the Pros.
Mark Clarkson

This book is difficult to categorise. It is not really a manual, although it goes to great pains to explain how the images were manipulated.

It is not really a coffee table book either, although the images could be used for one.

Somehow it is really a coffee table book for digital image makers, Photoshop afficionados in particular to use as a reference and to inspire.

The concept is simple, a group of top image artists are paired off and given the brief to create an image in a set time. The artists only have a set time to create their image and then it is sent to their opponent, who has the same amount of time to re-arrange the image, or even to destroy it, and start again.

This goes on over 10 rounds, also within a set time frame, to achieve a final result. This is known as Photoshop Tennis.

All the artists are very adept at using layers and although their techniques are different, they combine and extend each others abilities to create some fantastic imagery.

Each move is annotated with what effects were used and the thinking behind the manipulation, and an accompanying CDRom contains all the images including the layers and effects so that anyone can follow what has been done.

This is what puts it into the realm of a manual, but I think it works best as a book to be left out and picked up frequently to inspire and teach how to make maximum use of Photoshop in particular, but any photo paint program in reality, and their layer technology combined with blending techniques.

Layers are an incredibly powerful tool and this book is about practically nothing else except masking and blending. These tools can be used to generate some amazing imagery, starting with a photo, or scan, or royalty free image, there is practically no end to what can be achieved.

It is not a book about getting better images from your photos, or retouching scans, or creating web pages, but those things are covered in many other books. This one is something of an indulgence, but not a pointless one, as it may serve to stretch your ideas and imagination, and will help to illustrate how and why to use a particular blending mode.

The use of filters to alter an image is kept to a minimum, and this is an interesting concept considering how many filters are availble to the user of any image manipulation program. This probably means that instead of relying on a happy coincidence to achieve a good result, you are going to use skill and imagination coupled with experience and knowledge.

If you are looking for a book to explain the inticacies of Photoshop then this may not be the book for you, but if you have embarked on using the program and are familiar with some of what can be achieved, then it may be.

I really like the book and I don't think I can say more than that.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, October 7, 2004

By	pbtkp "pbtkp" (Takoma Park, MD United States) - See all my reviews

I realize that it's subjective, but the images in this book are not "stunning". Many are a jumble bag of doodles and diddling. Some are interesting. Hidden in the "tennis plays" there are some tips on Photoshop image making, but it's difficult to consider looking for them because of the dreariness of the imagery. This book presents the case for me that it may be best to check these kinds of books out more (e.g, reviewing the pages available at Amazon or actually handling in a bookstore).

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appeals to all levels, February 8, 2004

By	reader - See all my reviews

This book is more than a how-to manual on using photoshop. It describes both the technical methods used and the thought process, as designers work their way through the creation process, under tight deadlines.

The writing style in particular is engaging, offbeat and witty. It's very readable, even for those that don't use graphics programs.

The images cover a range of styles, from vector to photographic images, and would be inspiring for those just starting out as well as seasoned artists.

This would be an excellent read for those interested in using Photoshop to make more creative statements than rotating images or fixing red-eye in photographs.