The Hidden Power of Photoshop CS (Paperback)

~ (Author) "When making image corrections of any kind, you'll tend to make broad, global corrections first before moving on to tackle isolated problems..." (more)
Key Phrases: luminosity layer, conditional mode change, percent hardness, Unsharp Mask, Hidden Power Tools, Clone Stamp (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Inside The Hidden Power of Photoshop "X", best-selling author and Photoshop expert Richard Lynch reveals little-known, professional techniques that will help you save time and improve overall image quality throughout your work. His skillful advice on retouching and correcting images, as well as preparing images for output, teaches you how to tap into the full power of Photoshop. The book's 32-page color insert exhibits Lynch's valuable techniques, while the companion CD features exclusive tools that allow you to implement these techniques as loadable actions. Don't miss out on this rare resource for Photoshop pros!

From the Back Cover

Required Reading for Serious Photoshop Users

Photoshop is a powerful tool created for those with demanding image-processing needs. If you are an experienced user or a professional who wants to take advantage of the real power that lies inside Photoshop, this is the book that shows you how to tap the source.

The Hidden Power of Photoshop CS takes a rigorously image-focused approach starting with exercises to help you view images in terms of color and tone components. This is not just theory, but a set of practical techniques you can use to separate, modify, and recombine any image. This perspective provides an essential foundation for your work. Your guide and mentor, Richard Lynch, follows through with practical information on using Photoshop’s most advanced tools for everyday imaging tasks. Finding these often obscure features is half the trick; understanding what they’re actually for and how they work is the other. Here’s just a little of what you'll learn:

Understand how images work Introduce color to original black-and-white images Isolate and repair color and tone problems Master CMYK by performing manual CMYK separations Use layer modes, Blend If, and masks to make corrections and calculations Apply filters sensibly and practically Create photo-realistic objects from scratch using light, shadow, and color Work with vectors to create infinitely scalable art Use ImageReady’s rollover and animation features to set your images in motion Use actions and scripts to simplify your workflow and enhance the interface

Featured on the CD The CD contains every example image from the book, along with tools created by the author to help you with the book's examples and in your daily work.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Sybex (February 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782142559
• ISBN-13: 978-0782142556
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,127,907 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Hidden Power of Photoshop CS, October 6, 2004

By	Simone Lange (Anchorage AK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Since I just reviewed Photoshop CS Complete Course I thought that this book would flow from the basics to the more advanced features in CS, and hopefully give more insight into some of the new tools in Photoshop CS. This book is broken down into six major parts with nine chapters covering: Image Color, Altering Image Objects, Creating Objects, Photo-realism and Illustration. The book also comes with a tutorial CD in the back that corresponds to the different chapters plus is has a bonus selection.

Part one; chapters 1&2: Covers tone, color correction and separation. You get more in depth knowledge of curves, using channels and correcting specific colors. This may explain why some of your images may not output to your printer in comparison to what you see on the screen. Lesson learned make sure to calibrate your monitor. Chapter two covers color separations. You learn how to adjust each color separately. Being able to adjust each color separately gives you the control over taking your image from flat to it's full dynamic color range. You also learn how to create duo-tones, and how to separate CMYK color both manually and the automated way.

Part two; chapters 3&4: Covers altering image objects. The cloning tool & I have been friends forever. It's one of the tools that I use extensively with many of my photos with live models to cover blemishes and other unsightly marks on the face and hands area. Ch 3 covers the use of the cloning tool, healing brush and the patch tool. While using masks can be a bit frustrating, using a mask does help with some very time consuming modifications you might need to make to an image. This tweaking can make an otherwise flat image or over saturated image much closer to what you visualized. Ch four covers correction filters. We've all had noise in our images, noise is akin to grain in film sometimes a little bit is acceptable and other times it can really sink an image. In this chapter you learn how to smooth out color noise and tone.

Part three; chapters 5&6: Covers shaping objects, vectors and illustrations. Ch five deals with shaping objects, like buttons for a website, it shows how light and shadows give these objects depth. I really loved creating the seamless textures and tiling backgrounds segment. In my photography business it's "Senior" time and making my own customized graffiti wall is proving to be a neat choice for some of my clients. I am going to spend more time playing with the jigsaw puzzle component. Making an object from scratch shows why graphic artists get so much money. It's a very time consuming endeavor and you realize that those already designed graphics have a lot involved. Ch six covers vectors and illustrations. I have used Illustrator in the past and I really liked being able to make something small and then blow it up to the size of my desk and not lose any of the quality. You get a practical approach to building your own object, it might make some people want to start using Illustrator. This chapter also covers converting pixel images to vectors.

Part four; chapters 7&8: Deals with image output options and creating images for the web with Photoshop and ImageReady. Ch seven covers printing for at home and a printing service. Of course at home you could just reprint if it doesn't look right, with a printing service you need to have all of your settings done prior or your results may not match what you have in mind. There is usually more coordination between the user and printer to get all of the information and formatting. Not all printers are created the same: Laser, ink-jet and dye sub all have very different looks and feel to them. Make sure you know how your paper and the printing process you choose will interact with each other. Ch eight covers ImageReady. I haven't really used this program yet. However since it can create animated effects that will probably be the next program I start looking for more info on. You start using actions with this chapter. You learn how to make a complex and simple animation.

Part five; chapter 9: Deals with creating, editing and using actions. Let me tell you from a person that has had to resize and put my logo on thousands of images this is a feature that I will be the mistress of shortly. I do use the automate feature to have my images resized for my website, but I still am manually putting my logo across the front of my images using PaintShop Pro. So I'm looking forward to being able to tell Photoshop have at it. This is a very underused and discussed feature of Photoshop I feel. Some of us do lots of repetitive tasks in Photoshop and this baby needs to start earning it's keep more.

I do have a confession to make about this book. I am a reader and manual person, give me a book and I'm a happy camper. This book gave me a headache at times, I had to back track on some of the step-by-step instructions because they left something out or told you to turn something on or off later on during the steps. The book is in black & white except for the middle pages. Now I don't need color photos to make me happy but it certainly lets you know right off the bat if you are on the right track or not.

While the book has lots of knowledge it was at times confusing. You can't really skip around in this book many of the chapters make mention of some step you made in another chapter then you have to hunt for it and try to figure out how it fits into your current chapter. I had to put the book down and pick it back up after my brain had some time to process what it was I just read. Lot of information but you have to put aside some serious time if you want to master these secrets.