Book Review: Canon 50D: From Snapshots to Great Shots by Jeff Revell

Written by T. Michael Testi

 

You just got your new Canon 50D. It is an amazing camera and you can figure out some of the basic features, but you want get the best possible images out of it. Well you could read the manual, but even in the best of manuals will only show you functional topics and they never get into when and why you should use one feature over another.

That is where Canon 50D: From Snapshots To Great Shots comes in. What you really want is someone to show you how go beyond the camera's features, and show you how to actually use the 50D to take great images. The goal of Canon 50D: From Snapshots To Great Shots is to blend photography instruction with camera reference so that you can take your skills to the next level. Canon 50D: From Snapshots To Great Shots is 288 pages in length and divided into 10 chapters.

Chapter 1, "The 50D Top Ten List," consists of elements you can use to make you more productive right out of the box. Whenever anyone gets a new toy, they want to unwrap it and start playing. But many times you would be better off if you spent a bit learning about your toy first. Many of these are fairly basic things like charging your battery, setting up the image quality, setting the correct white balance, and turning off the ability to shoot without a card in the camera, but once they are done even your first images will come out better.

Chapter 2, "First Things First," now examines some of the other details that you should take care to ensure you take the best quality pictures. These things include how to choose the right memory card, updating the camera's firmware, and cleaning the sensor. Here you will also get a primer on RAW vs. JPEG, ISO, exposure, and working with depth of field.

Chapter 3, "The Basic Zone" now examines some of the basic modes that your camera can be put in to take an image. These include Full Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, Flash off, and Creative Auto. After all of this is explained, the author will also explain why you will never want to use the basic zone again.

Chapter 4, "The Creative Zone," is where anyone who has been shooting for any length spends their time. It is known as the backbone of photography. It is here that you are able to control the aperture and the shutter speed. In this chapter the author guides you through what each of these modes do and when to use them. They include Program Mode, Shutter Priority mode (TV), Aperture Priority mode (AV), Manual mode (M), and Auto Depth of Field mode (A-DEP).

Chapter 5, "Moving Target" is hard to hit unless you have the correct settings. In this chapter you will learn the best settings to have when trying to capture a moving target. Along with composition, lens selection, as well as other considerations, what matters is shutter speed. Here you will examine all of the factors that you need to take into consideration when shooting speed.

Chapter 6, "Say Cheese!" slows things down by shooting people. Even though you cannot change how someone looks, you can control how they appear. In this chapter you will look at camera features and techniques that will help you improve your portraits. Here you will look at what mode to be in, how to meter your shots, and other techniques like focusing, working with black and white, and the use of fill flash.

Chapter 7, "Landscape Photography," will challenge you because of the ever changing conditions of the environment, but the 50D has some features that will not only improve your work, but make it easier to take great shots. In this chapter you will look at working with tripods, selecting the right ISO, selecting the correct white balance, and how to tame bright skies with exposure compensation as well as many other techniques.

Chapter 8, "Mood Lighting," explores how to shoot when the light is turned down low. When the sun goes down, the 50D has some great features that will let you work with available light. These include increasing the ISO and the use of Flash, but there are other concerns like red-eye, and dealing with the reflections of flash off glass.

Chapter 9, "Creative Compositions," will show you that a great photo is more than just the correct settings on your camera. It also includes how the elements within the frame come together. Here you will look at depth of field, angles, point of view, color, patterns, contrast, and other things that affect how someone looks at your image.

Chapter 10, "Advanced Techniques," will take your techniques beyond the ordinary and give you an added advantage in obtaining a great shot. These include spot metering, mirror lockup, the use of manual mode, bracketing exposures as well as other more advanced techniques.

Canon 50D: From Snapshots To Great Shots is definitely not a re-do of the user's manual. It is very well thought out and well executed. It makes for a good introduction to digital photography while working with the 50D. While it is geared for the 50D, anyone could learn some lessons from it.

One of the things that I really like are the photographic images that populate the book. At the start of each chapter are a couple of images that fall into a category called "Poring over the Picture" where, in a two page spread, the reason for the image is explained and particular points are highlighted. In every image the camera settings are displayed as well. If you have 50D and want something more than the manual to learn from, then this is a must have, if you have one of the other new Canon DSLR's you will probably learn enough from this book to warrant the cost and it is for that reason I highly recommend this book.

 

Technorati Tags: Canon 50D: From Snapshots to Great Shots,Jeff Revell,Canon 50D,Photography

Book Review: The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes by Joe McNally

Written by T. Michael Testi

Joe McNally is an internationally acclaimed photographer whose 30-year career has included assignments in over 50 countries. His images have graced the covers of Time, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, and during the 1990s he was Life Magazine's sole staff photographer.

So just what is The Hot Shoe Diaries? It is a book about what Joe McNally has learned about lighting and the lighting of a wide range of situations during his photographic career, and it includes a wide variety of images he has created during that time. He begins with the basic gear and then works with one light, then two or three and then quickly accelerated to Mach1 which, to paraphrase Led Zepplin, is about a "Whole Lotta Light." The Hot Shoe Diaries is 320 pages and divided into four parts.

Part I, "Nuts 'n' Bolts," introduces us to what kind of equipment the author uses, how he shoots, how he meters, and all about the different settings that he frequently uses. He explains about the flashes, and the technology of today's flashes. He also goes into detail about the other gear that accompanies him on a shoot.

Keep in mind that McNally is a Nikon shooter so when he talks camera and especially the flash technology he comes from a Nikon angle. This should not dissuade users of other models as the book is about concepts and techniques and not technology.

He then goes in to his philosophy of light, shooting, and explains how one should go about learning to hone their abilities. Finally, he goes over how best to grip the camera and take your steadiest shot.

Part II, "One Light!" is, as the title implies, about using one small flash to light your scene. In these articles, there are quite a variety of lighting situations from an open room where the flash is used as fill light, to a night scene where he uses it to capture the eye and the silhouette of an alligator.

He explains about good light and bad light and how the flash can be used in a non-optimal scene, how it can be used in conjunction with light from a doorway, and even how to use the flash to make it appear that the sun is rising on a cloudy day.

Part III, "Two or More," now gets into shooting with multiple lights. The problem with shooting with a single light is that in situations where there is no other fill lights such as from an open window, the one light can leave shadows and harsh areas. This is especially true if that one light is the pop-up flash on your camera. According to the author, the pop-up flash should only be used in a pinch when you don’t care about the image, or for taking a picture of someone you don't like.

On the other hand, the pop-up can be used as a driver for a handheld or remote wireless flash. In these situations then you will have better luck. In this section you will explore how McNally uses a couple of flashes to light a situation.

"Lotsa Lights," the topic of Part IV, are what you need when lighting full scenes or large objects. In this section you will see what is needed to light more complex situations. Imagine you want to photograph a person in a garage scene. Well two or three lights will be fine for the person, but what about the background? You may need some for around the bench, some for the walls, etc.

The examples in this chapter includes low light scenes that need many lights to convey a mood, to outdoor projects that need to move quickly because of the heat and sun, to how to build a backyard studio, to lighting an Air Force plane using 47 Speedlights.

So in this part you will see how to get a scene to give up its nooks and crannies. To do that you have to plan what you are going to frame in your shoot so you can see what you need to light. You will also explore other areas to do complex lighting

As with the author's first book, The Hot Shoe Diaries is a fun and entertaining read. But most of all it is classic Joe McNally. For those who follow his blog you will know what I mean, for those who don't you should check it out.

For the most part The Hot Shoe Diaries is written in an easy to understand, conversational style, but there are times when someone new to photography, or someone who may have experience with a camera, but not with photographers, might miss some things in translation.

McNally speaks in photographer jargon at times. For example in one place he says "Zoomed the flash to the maximum at 105mm, gelled it with two cuts of CTO to keep it warm in tone, and dialed the power output way down." If you don't know that CTO stands for Color Temperature Orange, and that the gel is used on your flash correct the lighting, you may be intimidated by the language.

What I say is that if you want to become a better photographer, become better with using flash in lighting situations, then when you don't understand something, find out. It is easy to do. Some may say that this book is not for newbie's. I disagree; I think that The Hot Shoe Diaries is for anyone who wants to learn to use small flashes to create big light. I very highly recommend this book.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Joe McNally,Photography,Speedlight,Flash

Book Review: Photoshop CS4: Down And Dirty Tricks By Scott Kelby

Written by T. Michael Testi

It has been a while since author Scott Kelby has put together a Down And Dirty Tricks volume together, but now, with Photoshop CS4: Down And Dirty Tricks he has come back to where it all started and he has accumulated a whole host of new Photoshop special effects in one book.

This title has been one of the best selling Photoshop books in history and its release is long overdue. Down and Dirty 5.5 was the first book that Scott Kelby ever wrote and subsequently, is what started his career.

Keep in mind that unlike many of Kelby's recent books, THIS IS NOT A BOOK ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY. You will not learn about camera raw, about sharpening, about curves, or levels, or channels. It is a book about creative design with photographs. It falls back to an earlier time in his career when he worked with design effects.

The effects that are contained within are the same types of effects that you see on TV, in magazines, and on the Web. The book also contains creative ideas, layouts, and design techniques to enhance your creativity. Photoshop CS4: Down And Dirty Tricks is 384 pages long and is divided into nine chapters.

Chapter 1, "Miracle Photo," is the first of two chapters on photo effects. Some of the techniques include a very popular de-saturated portrait look, a corporate ad that takes on a sports poster look, a reflected sky logo technique, and an effect that takes a photo of a real object (a baseball stadium) and makes it look like a toy.

Chapter 2, "Studio 54," looks at professional style studio effects that are done in Photoshop. These include a logo that is placed on a grid-like floor that goes off in the distance, adding texture and aging to a photograph, and a gritty high contrast portrait look,

Chapter 3, "Commercial Break," works with special effects that are used in commercial environments such as brochures and advertisements. These include a sports-look bio page, a line burst background effect, and a back screen layout.

Chapter 4, "Dangerous Type," examines type effects that have been made famous from various sources beginning with the halftone pattern type look that was used for Ford's F-150 trucks. Then you will see how to create the look used in the movie "Fracture," the Play station type effect, and others.

Chapter 5, "Reflections of Passion," now explores reflection effects. You begin with how to correctly create a basic reflection. While this may seem simplistic, it is something that I have seen messed up by many. You then move on to letter or shape reflections using a double gradient, a glassy bar reflection, how to create a 3D video wall with live updating reflections, and more.

Chapter 6, "Truth in Advertising," is about effects seen in web and magazine ads. Included is a multi-photo look to use when you have only one photo, but don't want that one photo look. A fake see-through glass look, and a chrome with photo reflection look that Disney Pictures used on their new logo.

Chapter 7, "The Midnight Special," contains more special effects that include working with a mix of photos and vector art, a fashion-warped grid look, and a fading people in the background look.

Chapter 8, "Photo Finish," is a second chapter on photo effects. Here you will see such effects as creating a sports wallpaper look, how to add window light to flat looking photos, and creating sparkle trails.

Chapter 9, "3D Jamboree" was actually written by Corey Baker, an instructor and 3D specialist at NAPP - since Scott Kelby admits that he lives in a 2D world. In this chapter you will learn how to create true 3D lights and shadow, 3D package design, a 3D filmstrip, as well as a 3D sports logo.

As with all of Scott Kelby's books Photoshop CS4 is very well written, easy to understand, and chocked full of pictures and descriptions. And, as with all of Scott Kelby's' books, there is a certain amount of humor that you either tend to like or hate. For those who are not a fan, he does contain this humor to the first page of each chapter where you can get by without reading it. For me, it just wouldn't be a Kelby book without it.

While Photoshop CS4 is about learning how to create and use special effects, according to the author, it is more about doing things other than photography, sharpening, camera raw, and all the other usual techniques you find in most Photoshop books. It is about learning the "other side" of Photoshop.

One thing to keep in mind is that Down And Dirty Tricks should be viewed as a cookbook and not an in-depth guide to each of these techniques. I have heard in the past where someone says that the book just tells you to put in values, but not why to pick those values? For example, in this book in one tutorial you are told "when the Gaussian Blur dialog appears, enter 9 pixels, then click OK to apply…" Sure, you are not told why 9 is the magic number, but this is no different than when you are making spaghetti sauce and you are told to put in an 8 oz can of tomato paste. If you want to try 6 go for it.

For me, the real purpose of Photoshop CS4: Down And Dirty Tricks is not to show you how to recreate the effects demonstrated here, although if you needed to, you have the steps. The real purpose is to show you the steps to recreate an effect. Then with an arsenal of techniques at hand, you can start putting your own techniques together to create your own style. In his intro, the author recommends that you work through each tutorial even though you may never use that technique. It is because of value of gaining this arsenal that I very highly recommend this book.

 

Technorati Tags: Photoshop,Scott Kelby,Adobe,Graphic Design

Book Review: Photoshop CS4 Photographers Handbook By Stephen Laskevitch

Written by T. Michael Testi

 

Digital technology has fundamentally changed how we photograph and print images. You have unlimited options in order to accomplish creating the precise image output that you imagine. The level of control today now exceeds some of the most powerful darkroom techniques that were available in the past.

But this power comes at a price. The price is that, for many people, it is an overly complex piece of software and with all of its features it can become confusing. In fact, many of these features most people will never use. The goal of Photoshop CS4 Photographers Handbook is to guide you through the thousands of complex techniques for editing an image, and distill out those few steps that are really needed to get the vast majority of the jobs done.

Although Photoshop CS4 Photographers Handbook addresses Adobe Photoshop CS4, Lightroom 2, Adobe Bridge, and Adobe Camera Raw, many of these techniques will apply to previous versions of these products. The book is 272 pages in length and is divided into 10 chapters.

Chapter 1, "Terms & Concepts," begins by covering many of the technical details of how computers and software deal with digital images. This section gives you a good foundation for your understanding on how Photoshop 'sees' your digital image. Chapter 2, "System Configuration," gives you an overview of how you might configure some general settings in each of the applications that are addressed in the book. There is also information on what to consider when purchasing new equipment.

Chapter 3, "Flowing with the Software," gives you the means to be in tune with the tools that you are using and the tips and techniques to work with the software in the most efficient manner possible. Chapter 4, "Capture & Import," are important in the workflow. While it is possible to fix many types of problems in Photoshop, it is still a better idea to start with the best image possible. After capturing the image, you will also see the best way to get images in to both Lightroom, and Adobe Bridge.

Chapter 5, "Organizing and Archiving Images," will help you develop a strategy for keeping your images organized. Here you will work with Stacks and Collections, moving images through the process, as well as options for backing up your images. Chapter 6, "Global Adjustments" looks at the big picture of image correction. These adjustments focus on making the overall difference in your image. This includes, tone, brightness, contrast, color, and cropping.

Chapter 7, "Local Adjustments," pertain to changes that need to be made to a smaller portion of the image. Say the sky is too flat and you want to punch it up, or the face is in the shadows and you want to lighten it without washing out the rest of the picture to make the image more balanced. Here you will learn how to target adjustments. Chapter 8, "Cleanup and Retouching," is also referred to as spotting. This is where you will clean up dust spots, blemishes, or other flaws in the image.

Chapter 9, "Creative Edits & Alternates," is a catch-all chapter that details the effects that you may want to employ that do not fit one of the other sections. This includes burning, dodging, adding soft focus, adding film grain, and boarder effects. Chapter 10, "Output – Print, Web, and Presentation," looks at the different methods for presenting your image output. This includes printing on inkjets, putting your images on a website, or creating a presentation using Lightroom.

At first it seemed that Photoshop CS4 Photographers Handbook was trying to accomplish too much by trying to cover how things are done for four products, but by having the flow be the main thread, and highlighting the techniques for each, it really was not too confusing once you got a hang of it. Some may still complain that the title says Photoshop, and it also spends time covering Lightroom, but that was not a problem to me.

Another thing that I liked is that annotations on the screen shots. Not only is the important aspects highlighted, but the flow from one dialog to the next is made apparent. Overall the text is clear and concise and the dialog a narrative voice. While a more advanced user would gain some insight, this is really geared for the beginner user, the user who has been using Photoshop and wants to become more efficient in their workflow, as well as the person making the transition from film to digital. For these users, I highly recommend this book.

Technorati Tags: Adobe,Photoshop,Photography

Book Review: Views by Roger Dean, Carla Capalbo, and Donny Hamilton

Written by T. Michael Testi

Roger Dean is an English artist, designer, architect, and publisher. His work is wide ranging, from his design of the Sea Urchin chair and the Retreat Pod chair, to his best known work stemming from the album cover designs that he began designing in the 1960s.

The most recognized album cover work is that of the English progressive rock band Yes. Dean first started creating Yes covers with the 1971 album Fragile. Along with the cover art he also developed their bubble logo, which appeared on the 1972 album Close to the Edge. He has also worked on video game art beginning in 1985, has done architectural pieces, and is currently working on a film project that will feature 3D renderings of his classic images, using music by Yes.

Views is a re-release of Dean's bestselling classic book from 1975. When first released, it went straight to number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list and would go on to sell over a million copies. This book surveys the first seven years of Dean's professional career. It is 160 full color pages and is divided into an introduction and five chapters.

Views begins with an introduction by Donald Lehmkuhl who, along with Carla Capalbo wrote the text to go along with Dean's images. Here he tries to put into perspective who Roger Dean is: a describer, and a creator; it is the vision that matters most to Dean. Next there is a discussion on Roger Dean's technique and how it gives his work its distinct style. Finally there is a biographical outline of Dean.

"Furniture" looks at the design concepts that he developed while he was in art school (1961-1968) and the concepts of design within the constraints of the environment. One of his ideas was that of a chair that one could do anything with. One that was adaptable in shape and use. This led to the Sea Urchin chair.

"Album Covers" explores how Dean got involved with album covers. It actually started in 1968 with the cover of an album for a band named Gun. This section looks at album covers from bands other than Yes. These include Budgie, Uriah Heep, Badger, Greenslade, and McKendree Spring.

"Yes" focuses on the body of work that Roger Dean is most known for. From late 1971 onward, he has had a relationship that even Steve Howe said "There is a pretty tight bond between our sound and Roger's art." This chapter looks at the covers for several Yes albums as well as the set designs that were created by Roger and his brother Martyn Dean.

"Retreat Pod" looks at another project done with Martyn Dean which was designed to be a piece of equipment that is to allow one to free their minds. It is an environment that contains speakers and specialized lighting. It was first demonstrated at the Maples-Telegraph exhibition. It was soon after this that it made an appearance in A Clockwork Orange.

"Architecture" examines the fact that while working in the school of furniture design at the Royal College of Art in London, Dean was struck by the extent that furniture was made to compensate for inadequate architecture. During this time he found himself questioning the very nature of domestic architecture and the role of the house itself. Here, his thoughts on architecture are explored.

When it was first released Views was a groundbreaking book that encompassed the work of Roger Dean. Today, while the topic of the Sea Urchin chair seem a bit dated, the thought behind it is still interesting. The rest of the book is just fascinating. The book is sized to that of an album cover, and the full color images are high quality.

Views was more than ready for a re-release. I have always loved Dean's work as he set the stage for a new generation in fantasy art. If you want to understand the work of the early Roger Dean better then Views will give you that insight. I highly recommend this book.

Technorati Tags: Roger Dean,Art,Illustration

Book Review: Adobe Photoshop CS4 For Photographers: A Professional Image Editor's Guide To The Creative Use Of Photoshop For The Macintosh And PC By Martin Evening

Written by T. Michael Testi

If you want to learn how to use Photoshop to improve your photos, then who better to learn it from than a professional photographer who not only uses Adobe Photoshop, but is in on the ground floor as an alph/beta tester for the product? Because of the complexities of updating a book like this every time that Adobe comes out with a new version, and with the fact that Adobe rarely takes anything out of Photoshop, but always adds new features makes it that more complex.

To this end, Martin Evening has focused on the essential information that you need to know about Photoshop Camera Raw, Bridge, and all of the new features in Photoshop CS4. To do this there are some things that have been removed and others that been reworked with the help of Jeff Schewe and have been put into a book called Photoshop for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop.

While Adobe Photoshop CS4 For Photographers is not a beginner's guide, over the years, the content has been adapted for a broader readership. Even so, it is still a reference book for all things Photoshop and working with photographs. There is a reason the subtitle begins with "A Professional Image Editor's Guide…"

Adobe Photoshop CS4 For Photographers is really a reference book for both advanced amateur and professional photographers. It is a listing of every conceivable technique that a photographer may need to implement in the pursuit of creating digital photographic images using Adobe Photoshop. It contains 15 chapters covering over 700 pages.

Chapters 1-2 are more of an introduction to the changes and new features that come with Adobe Photoshop CS4 as well as a guide to the physical layout of Photoshop interface. You will also see how to configure Photoshop to optimize your computer as well as what accessories you may want to help you in your work.

Chapter 3, "Camera Raw Image Processing," has really grown and taken on a life of its own. Because you can process your JPEG and TIFF files, as well as your RAW images this has become a significantly larger chapter is focusing much more on the subject than ever before. Chapter 4, "Sharpening and Noise Reduction," examines pre-sharpening your photos in Photoshop. This topic was all but untouched in previous versions, but now with the advances in Camera Raw, it has become much more important.

Chapter 5, "Image Editing Essentials," gets into specifics about editing a photograph outside of Camera Raw. There are some techniques that overlap with information in previous chapters, but now include images that have never been near to Camera Raw. Here you will learn about the fundamentals of image editing. Chapter 6, "Black and White" will show you how to create black and white images from original color images. It also explores cross processing, infrared effects, and other darkroom-related techniques.

Chapter 7, "Extending the Dynamic Range," is all about capturing the greatest range of tones from the minimum shadows to the brightest highlights. In this chapter you will look at various techniques for getting the most from your images. Chapter 8, "Image Retouching," examines the basic techniques for modifying an image and giving it a more professional look. These include working with the Clone Stamp tool, the Healing brush, the Patch tool, Liquefy tool, and many more.

Chapter 9, "Layers, Selections, and Masking," looks into what it takes to make composite images. Here you will use different image elements to create something totally new. This all begins with making selections, and working with channels. Chapter 10, "Essential Filters for Photoshop Editing," gets into one of the more powerful features of Photoshop; the plug-in filters. Instead of trying to look at all of the 100 or so filters that in Photoshop, you will focus on the 15 or so that are useful for photographic work.

Chapter 11, "Image Management," is all about the use of Adobe Bridge to allow you to preview images, choose the one you want to open in Photoshop, perform ranking, add metadata, and other basic file management tasks. Chapter 12, "Color Management," will introduce you to the basic concepts of color management and look at the color management interface of Photoshop.

Chapter 13, "Print Output," is the printer version of color management. Here you will look at what it takes to get images to print so that they more truly represent what you see on the screen. Chapter 14, "Output for the Web," shows that unlike the printer, when dealing with sending your images to the Web, you really have no control of who will see your work on the Web, and therefore, no control over how the image is viewed on their system. Here you will learn how to get the best output for online distribution. Chapter 15, "Automating Photoshop," looks at how you can speed your work by using keyboard shortcuts, creating actions, and how to use scripts to automate Photoshop.

One point to note, there is a DVD that comes with the book. On the DVD, comes many of the images you see in the book. Not all of the images are included. In the introduction the author explains that some of the images in the book; especially the ones with the models, are of restricted use and can not be given away. There are also movie tutorials, additional tips, and a keyboard reference guide.

To me Adobe Photoshop CS4 For Photographers is just about the most important reference book I have. It covers just about all aspects of Photoshop and presents them with an eye toward the photographer. It is written by a professional photographer for professional photographers. It covers both the Mac and Windows in a clear and concise manner. For intermediate and advanced Photoshop users, it is the definitive word on Photoshop. Now, even for the beginner, it will make you that advanced user. For anyone who is serious about Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop CS4 For Photographers is a must have.

 

Technorati Tags: Adobe,Photoshop,Photography

Book Review - Digital Painting In Photoshop By Susan Ruddick Bloom

Written by T. Michael Testi

Most people tend to think of Adobe Photoshop as a program to edit and enhance photographs or make Web graphics, but there is a whole other side to Photoshop that can bring out your inner artist. Whether it is the pigments of the cave dwellers, the materials of the Renaissance, or the pixels of the digital artists humans have felt a need to express themselves through painting.

The goal of Digital Painting in Photoshop is to offer you techniques for working in the new world of digital painting. You will learn how to push pixels instead of pigment. Your monitor will be your canvas. And when all said and done, a printer will apply the pigments. Digital Painting in Photoshop is 248 pages divided into 8 chapters.

Chapter 1, "Introduction to the Concept of Digital Painting," begins by giving a brief overview of painting and its relationship to technology. This is a short chapter wherein the author describes workflow, techniques, and a general outline of the rest of the book.

Chapter 2, "The Basic Tools for Painting in Photoshop," examines the tools that Photoshop gives you for digital painting, most notably its brushes. After examining the brushes that are available, will see how you can make your own brushes, how to work with texture libraries, patterns, and how to apply a pattern texture. This is a detailed chapter and gives you an arsenal to use in the rest of the book.

Chapter 3, "Charcoal Drawings in Photoshop," starts off with a history of the use of charcoal to create drawings. You learn about the traditional materials, and how they are created. Then you will see the techniques used to create charcoal drawings. Finally you look at specific techniques for portraits, landscapes, and a conte brownish-red look.

Chapter 4, "Pastel Drawing in Photoshop," examines the techniques associated with artists like Degas. In this chapter you start off by looking at what constitutes pastel drawings and some of the techniques that are used. Next you will see how to create a pastel brush, look at some issues for when you want to print pastels, and look at some examples of the pastel style.

Chapter 5, "Painting with Watercolors in Photoshop," now turns our attention to replicating watercolor techniques and an overview of the medium. In this chapter you look at a landscape scene and work with the techniques for rendering the image. You will see how to use the appropriate brushes, how to use Pattern Stamp tool and working with a simple two-layer watercolor technique.

Chapter 6, "Painting with Oil Paints in Photoshop," begins with a brief history of oil painting. It then moves to working with an Impasto Technique to recreate the painting that is used on the cover of this book. Next you will work with a Bevel and Emboss Layer style of oil painting. Again you will examine printing considerations with regard to oil painting.

Chapter 7, "Illustration Techniques in Photoshop," now looks at techniques that might be used for illustrative purposes within Photoshop. These include stylization, Faux HDR, pen and ink mixed with aquatinting, a soft focus effect, and a cut out effect.

Chapter 8, "Effects Using Third-Party Software as Photoshop Plug-ins," finally examines some plug-ins for Photoshop that can be used to enhance colors, contrast, and mood. These include Nik Color Efex Pro, Ailen Skin's Snap Art, and Ben Vista's PhotoArtist 2.

Overall, I liked Digital Painting in Photoshop. While I am not much into pastels and charcoal, I realize that since this is an overview book it is meant to expose you to all of the different styles. While it does not go into depth on any given style, it does give you a solid introduction to of them all.

If I had one problem with the book it is that in the second chapter, the author prints out images of all of the brushes as a reference. My thinking is that this should have been located in an appendix with only specific brush information located in the immediate chapter.

Digital Painting in Photoshop is well thought out, well explained, and provides a good look at how digital painting can be accomplished from within Photoshop. If you are familiar with Photoshop, and are willing to explore and experiment, then this book will provide a good foundation into the realm of digital painting and I therefore recommend this book.

 

Technorati Tags: Photoshop,Painting,Art,Adobe