Michael Freeman's Perfect Exposure: The Professional's Guide to Capturing Perfect Digital Photographs

Description

Clear, direct and guaranteed, the perfect exposure method looks at the way professionals work, and lays out the decisions and sequences with absolute clarity, while incorporating the latest, powerful post-processing techniques. Choosing the exposure for a photograph is infinitely complex and one of photography's most absorbing paradoxes because it affects everything in the image and its effect on the viewer. Understanding how and why exposure works is essential, not only because it helps you to decide what is instinctively "right," but this book will give you confidence in that decision--an invaluable skill for every single photographer. Full of beautiful photographs taken by Michael Freeman, this book will arm you with the tools you need for perfect exposure of your photographs.
* Written by world-renowned expert photographer and author Michael Freeman
* Ground-breaking exposure system for digital age photography
* Uses clear examples from real photo assignments with in-depth explanations
* Foolproof flow charts enable quick and easy comprehension

Contents

1. Fast-Track and Foolproof; 2. Technical Basics; 3. The Twelve; 4. Style; 5. Post-Processing; Glossary; Index

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Technorati Tags: Michael Freeman,Composition,Photography,Exposure

 

Michael Freeman's Perfect Exposure: The Professional's Guide to Capturing Perfect Digital Photographs

Visual Poetry: A Creative Guide for Making Engaging Digital Photographs

 

A great photograph has the potential to transcend verbal and written language. But how do you create these photographs? It’s not the how that’s important, but the who and the what. Who you are as a person has a direct impact on what you capture as a photographer.
Whether you are an amateur or professional, architect or acupuncturist, physician or photographer, this guide provides inspiration, simple techniques, and assignments to boost your creative process and improve your digital images using natural light without additional gear.
Chris Orwig’s insights—to reduce and simplify, participate rather than critique, and capture a story—have made him an immensely popular workshop speaker and faculty member at the prestigious Brooks Institute. His engaging stories presented as lessons follow his classroom approach and highlight what students say is his contagious passion for life.

Read More…

You can read my review on Blogcritics.org or take in some Sample Chapters.

Chapter 2: Creativity and Photography

Chapter 4 – Camera Creativity and Technique

Technorati Tags: Chris Orwig,Photography,Art

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: Real World Adobe Photoshop CS4 by Conrad Chavez And David Blatner

Written by T. Michael Testi

 

Real World Adobe Photoshop CS4 is subtitled "Industrial Strength Production Techniques" because that is really what the focus of this book is - how to move images through Photoshop. But this book is not just about Photoshop, it is also about photography and images and translating your own understanding of images into the digital world of Photoshop.

Real World Adobe Photoshop CS4 knows that when you are in a crunch, you have to have an instinctive, intuitive feel for what is going on in Photoshop to finesse it to your needs. Because of this there is a lot of conceptual discussion that goes on in this book. The goal then becomes how to take what you already know and incorporate it with new tools that will give you the ability to push Photoshop to the limit.

This new edition has been completely gone through, tightened up and updated to take on the new features of Adobe Photoshop CS4 including the Masks panel, Modeless Color Correction, Adobe Camera Raw 5, and much, much more. Real World Adobe Photoshop CS4 is contained in 448 pages divided into 12 chapters.

Chapter 1, "Building a Photoshop System," will show you what you need to build a quality Photoshop system. Mac or PC is not as important as having enough power to do the kind of work you need done. Chapter 2, "Image Essentials," reminds us that computers do not understand about images, tone, color, or any of those other things that we view as important about images. While you won't have to understand binary math to work with Photoshop, it does help to understand how Photoshop thinks.

Chapter 3, "Color Essentials," examines the different ways that different people thing about what makes a color. Regardless of if it is RGB, CMYK, Lab, or some other variation, this chapter looks at the fundamental color relationships and how Photoshop presents them. Chapter 4, "Color Settings," constitutes the heart of this book. While the authors consider every topic to be important, they feel that unless you understand how Photoshop handles color behind the scenes, you will never achieve the quality of image that you should be able to get.

Chapter 5, "Building a Digital Workflow," explores what it takes to build a true digital workflow that allows you to make quick work of your digital images. Because taking digital images is so cheap, you soon find you have so many more images which mean that there are many more images to handle. This chapter is all about getting through Adobe Camera Raw as quickly as possible. Chapter 6, "Essential Photoshop Tips and Tricks," continues the work in chapter 5 in that the biggest boost to your productivity is to accelerate it with the tips and trick found here. As a sideline, included here are a couple of Easter eggs included in Photoshop including one honoring the late Bruce Frasier, one of the authors of this book.

Chapter 7, "Image Adjustment Fundamentals," is about tonal manipulation, the adjusting of the lightness or darkness of your images. This is what makes the difference between a flat image and one that pops out and draws you into it. Chapter 8, "The Digital Darkroom," will show you how to get the most out of adjustment layers to make your adjustments instead of burning pixels. By using these techniques, you will be allowed to experiment more with little or no degradation and maximum flexibility.

Chapter 9, "Making Selections," is as important when silhouetting and compositing images as it is when making nondestructive tonal corrections, color corrections, sharpening, and retouching. But to do this you also have to become comfortable working with masks and channels. Chapter 10, "Sharpness, Detail, and Noise Reduction," points out that for us to have a lifelike image it must have sharp edge definition. No matter what quality there is to your scanner or digital camera, you will loose some definition and hence loose sharpness. Here are some techniques to bring that sharpness back.

Chapter 11, "Essential Image Techniques," is a chapter that gives a lot of techniques that allow your images to soar. This is basically a potpourri of tips and tricks that will not only make your images better, but speed up processing as well. Chapter 12, "Image Storage and Output," provides methods of output for those professional images that you are now creating for both printed as well as online destinations.

Real World Adobe Photoshop CS3 is well thought out and well executed. It is definitely a must-own for anyone who wants to get to the nuts and bolts of working with Photoshop. There are hundreds of tips that can be found in the densely filled pages. So much so, that I don't think that there is anything else that comes close to providing this much detail in a book on Photoshop.

Real World Adobe Photoshop CS4 is not going to be for everyone, but if you have a reasonable knowledge of how Photoshop works and you want to learn how to be more productive, have a better understanding of why it does what it does so that you can control the results that you get, then this is an essential book and I highly recommend it.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Photoshop,CS4,Photography

Book Review: The Photoshop Lightroom Workbook - Workflow Not Workslow in Lightroom 2 by Seth Resnick And Jamie Spritzer

As co-founders of the photography training and consultancy company D-65, the authors Seth Resnick and Jamie Spritzer understand the importance in the use of Adobe Lightroom 2, and especially in how to manage its workflow. In The Photoshop Lightroom Workbook, they will attempt to present a well tested workflow that photographers can implement exactly as they do at D-65.

What's more is that in The Photoshop Lightroom Workbook the workflow can be adapted to a specific photographers job requirements, or changed on a job by job basis. As being alpha testers of the product, they have worked with the product for a long time and through insider knowledge, tips, and tricks they plan to take you from before you shoot to out to output in an effective and efficient manner.

Chapter one, "Before You Shoot," begins by examining the importance some of the key elements that you need to consider before shooting digital. In this section you will look at memory cards, ISO, white balance, using a color checker, working with histograms, filters, and other important concepts in the digital world.

Chapter two, "Understanding File Formats," looks in to the various file formats that can be used while shooting digital and what some of the pros and cons of each are. Chapter three, "Color Space for Digital" digs down into the four main color spaces that you can work with when dealing with digital; sRGB, Adobe98, ColorMatch, and ProPhoto. Here you will examine why you would or would not want to use each one of them.

Chapter four, "The Lightroom Catalog," now explains the catalog system. One of the main reasons you would want to use Lightroom is for its powerful cataloging and file management system. Chapter five, "Lightroom's Preferences," calls into question the viability of default preferences. Here you will see what the D-65 group uses.

Chapter six, "Lightroom's Architecture," defines how, while Lightroom is an application, it is modular by nature, and how this makes it not only more flexible, but will make it more expandable in the future. Chapter seven, "The Lightroom Library Module," describes the main asset management module and how it can be used to catalog and manage your assets as well as doing some quick corrections.

Chapter eight, "The Develop Module," contains all of the controls that you need to adjust images. In this chapter you will see why D-65 calls this their "tweaking command central" and how you can use it to edit your images nondestructively. Chapter nine, "Global Corrections and Synchronizing Develop Settings," now takes development further by showing you how to apply the changes learned in the previous chapter to your images either individually or in groups.

Chapter 10, "The Slideshow Module," examines that how now that you have adjusted your images, you can put them into a slideshow presentation as a method to deliver to your clients, family, or friends. Chapter 11, "The Print Module," makes printing a breeze with all of the new features in version 2. In this chapter you will see how to print layouts, print to PDF, print to a JPEG and attach a profile, and create contact sheets.

Chapter 12, "The Web Module," gives you the ability to create web galleries from RAW images. Here you will see how it is done and all with little effort and no knowledge of programming. Chapter 13, "D-65's Lightroom Workflow," is all about putting what you have learned thus far, into action. This chapter covers the D-65 workflow that they have developed over the course of working with Lightroom. Starting with a memory card of images, you will be taken all the way through editing, adding metadata and keywords, correcting, presentation, final product, and preparation to archive.

Chapter 14, "Archiving," has the goal of preservation of your catalog. This is not just backing up, but rather assuring that you have an exact duplicate of your catalog and all of your image files in multiple locations.

Chapter 15, "Importing and Exporting Catalogs and Synchronizing Your Laptop and Desktop," answers the question of how you keep your laptop synchronized with your desktop computer and any other computers that you work with. While this may appear confusing at times, D-65 has found a way that works for them, and here they share with you.

Chapter 16, "Taking it up a Notch – Advanced Lightroom," gets into working outside the box. This chapter shows you how to integrate your Lightroom with Photoshop to work with techniques like panoramas and work with actions, and then bring it back into Lightroom.

The Photoshop Lightroom Workbook provides a firm understanding of establishing an end-to-end digital workflow and for anyone who is working at this understanding, this can be a daunting task. This alone makes this a great book to own.

Add to that, The Photoshop Lightroom Workbook also gives you a solid understanding of digital photographic technology as well. You can get a good understanding of how to set everything up and how to move everything for an efficient workflow.

Pleasantly, the authors don't confound by trying to throw everything at you at, only what you need to know to get the job done. It is very systematically done, and very easy to understand from any level of user. If you want to truly become efficient in your digital workflow, then you really need The Photoshop Lightroom Workbook.

 

Technorati Tags: Adobe,Lightroom 2,Photography

Book Review: Ansel Adams - 400 Photographs, Edited By Andrea G. Stillman

Written by T. Michael Testi

 

Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs is one of those monumental undertakings not only because of the man who created this body of work, but because of the volume of his body of work, and the number of people he influenced. To try to pare this down to 40 (Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs by Ansel Adams) or in this case 400 photographs takes time, effort, and dedication.

For those who may not know of Ansel Adams, or whom have only heard his name with relation to photography, he was the most honored American photographer of the twentieth century. Once destined to become a concert pianist he instead chose photography. Over the course of the next 50 plus years he defined the art of photography.

400 Photographs constitutes a study in that life. The book is 440 pages long and, as the title states, contains 400 of Adams' finest photographs. The book is arranged into five major periods which correspond to his growth as an artist. It is edited by Andrea Stillman, a close associate and editor of seven of Adams' books. 400 Photographs starts with an introduction in which Stillman gives a brief overview of Ansel Adams' life.

"1916-1930 – Yosemite and the High Sierra" begins when Adams was 14 years old and he visited Yosemite for the first time. He had his first camera, and on this trip he recorded a "visual diary" of where he had been. This chapter begins with some of the images he took and of the album he had made with his father. Some of these are very rare images including one of his first of "Half Dome." You can see the growth of his work between 1918 and 1927 as he developed from simple records of scenery to more artistic expressions. In 1927 he began the process that would later become "visualization." It was here that he began to photograph with much more authority and you can see the new power that his images gained.

"1931-1939 – Group f/64 and Alfred Stieglitz" shows the influence of a loose group of West Coast photographers that included Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham called Group f/64. This group promoted "straight" photography as opposed to the "pictorialist" methods that were in vogue at the time. They were trying to define photography as an art form by simple and direct presentation as opposed to photography as relating to painting and graphic arts.

During this time the compositions of Adams' photographs began to change. He tried to present his subject in as straightforward manner as possible. He also lowered his horizon now including cloud filled skies. It was also during this time that Alfred Stieglitz, the director of America's foremost gallery of modern art, An American Place, exhibited Adams' photographs which took Adams' work to a larger audience.

"1940-1949 – National Parks and Monuments" describes the time period in which Adams was commissioned by then U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes to photograph the national parks and monuments for murals to be displayed in the Department of the Interior's new Washington D.C. headquarters. It was during this time period that his work grew in different geographic directions beyond California and the Southwest, branching out to other locations across the country.

"1950-1959 – Conservation, Publications, and Commissions" focused Adams' attentions on photographic commissions and writing. It was during this time that he wrote the many technical books that became standard course materials, even to this day. He also spent time working on conservation issues with the Sierra Club as well as mounting exhibitions for them.

It was in 1956 with the help of Nancy Newhall that the exhibition "This is the American Earth" was presented. It was later turned into a book with Newhall's poetic text, and characterized as a wake up call to the nation for environmental issues.

"1960-1968 – Carmel" examines the time in the life of Adams, that although he photographed less and less, he printed more and more. Adams never worked with a lab as did many of his contemporaries. He made every print himself. During this time, when he was not printing, he was writing, teaching, and tackling conservation issues.

"Notes on Selected Photographs" contains information on selected images from throughout the book. There are over 75 images that contain comments, history, and other interesting insights into the artist. 400 Photographs is fully indexed by title and by subject. There is also included a bibliography of both Adams' work as well as works on Adams.

When I was growing up, my doctor had an Adams mural on the walls in one of his patient rooms. The image to me was enormous. Even more, the impact on me of this image was enormous. It has shaped the way I viewed photography and in many ways, how I view life in general. When I view the photographs in 400 Photographs, I get this same feeling.

Sure, the small images that are presented in this book cannot replace the feeling that one gets when you see his full size presentations, but that is not the purpose of this book. 400 Photographs is about presenting a body of work from someone who chose not to make photography fit into the notion of the pictorial art of the day, but instead made photography into an art form that could stand on its own. That is what makes this book so important.

I think that Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs is an absolute must have for anyone that enjoys Ansel Adams, art work, photography, or just wants to get lost into the world of images. It is also a must have for artists from other disciplines as the compositions, arrangement of light, and locations are inspirational. It should also be in every waiting room or patient room as well; you never know whom it will inspire.

Technorati Tags: Ansel Adams,Photography,Black and White,Fine Art

Book Review: Food Styling For Photographers by Linda Bellingham And Jean Ann Bybee

Written by T. Michael Testi

It is said that you eat with your eyes first. That can be derived by the fact that so many menus and restaurant advertisements have professional food stylists setting up photographic shoots to wow you with their images. But while these images really want to make you desire that dish, you would probably get ill if you tried to eat it as it was shot. In fact at the start of Food Styling For Photographers, there is a disclaimer that these methods of food preparation are not meant for human consumption.

In Food Styling For Photographers you will learn the tricks of what it takes to create that look that will have people wanting to taste the delectables. The premise of this book is that not all shoots can afford to hire a professional food stylist, or there is not the time to find one to make a deadline. As a professional photographer, there may be times in which you have to take the bull by the horns and do it yourself. Food Styling For Photographers is 272 pages and is divided into 12 chapters.

Chapter 1, "Introduction to Food Styling," begins by giving an overview of what food styling is, and to set up some rules and guidelines for the styling of food. You will see how to shop like a stylist, as well as assembling your own food styling kit. Chapter 2, "Sets and Setting," now gets in to the basics of what to consider when planning food photography; "What is the point of the shot?" In this chapter you will learn about how to properly set up the shot so as to make it pop in the image.

Chapter 3, "Chilling Facts About Cold Beverages," explains that you really have only a short window of opportunity to get the right shot when dealing with cold beverages, but with the right techniques, you can fake the effects which will let you better control the appearance and give you more latitude with that time window. Chapter 4, "Making a Salad for the Camera," begins by showing you the proper selection of ingredients so that you can build a feast for the eyes. Here you will see how to put together the proper ingredients to create a salad that has the all of the colors and textures to temp the viewer.

Chapter 5, "Pasta and Sauces," to a stylist is like a blank canvas to artist. There are a wide variety of colors and textures that can be added to the various shapes of pasta to make the viewer's mouth water. Chapter 6, "Burgers, Sandwiches and Beyond," explains that even though it may appear simple, working with burgers and hot dogs is extremely difficult to do correctly. In this chapter you will see how to locate the perfect bun, prep the patties and prepare everything just right.

Chapter 7, "Meeting Meat Head-On," begins with another warning about not eating this food, and that you should use some sort of vinyl or latex gloves when working with meat for safety reasons. Then it gets on to the various ways to cook the meat, building the layout, and even stylizing the meat when it contains bones. While the types of meats available are many, here you will work with beef, chicken and fish. Chapter 8, "Veggie Perfect," again begins with showing you how to shop for your produce, what to look for, and how to prepare it. You then will learn all of the tricks to get that fresh look just right.

Chapter 9, "Ice Cream for Hot Lights," starts off by saying that if you are selling ice cream, then you must photograph the real thing, if you are selling the topping or just using it as a prop, then you can fake the ice cream. Here the author gives a very brief talk about shooting the real thing, but this chapter focuses on creating fake ice cream. Chapter 10, "Desserts," discusses the building and shooting of whole cakes, cheese cakes, and cookies, and what it takes to get your just deserts.

Chapter 11, "Breakfast for the Camera," looks at making bacon for the camera, creating beautiful biscuits, and making eggs that pop out of the image. Chapter 12, "Garnishing Basics" finishes off by describing garnishing guidelines for making your food appeal to the viewer. Here you will see how to finish off the plate for professional look.

Food Styling For Photographers is very nicely laid out, is well written, and easy to understand. Each chapter has "Tricks of the Trade" where the authors explain little tidbits of knowledge that will help you along your path to learning how to style food. Included as well are "safety notes" to keep you safe since you are dealing with food, fire, knifes, as well as a host of other thing that can be potentially dangerous.

While I wish that there were more, and in more detail, I also like the fact that they have "Photographers Comments" on how to set up the shots that you see in Food Styling For Photographers . There are photographs of the shoot itself so that you can see the layout of the camera, lights and other things that create the photograph. You also get a list of all the supplies that were used to complete the shot.

Beyond the fact that I think that there is a need for books like Food Styling For Photographers, I think that it serves a purpose on showing what it takes to shoot for effect of sales and advertising. If you want to see what it takes to do food styling for photography then I very highly recommend this book.

Technorati Tags: Food Styling,Photography

Book Review: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book by Martin Evening

Written by T. Michael Testi

 

Last August, Adobe released the second incarnation of their photography workflow product Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 to rave reviews. As is to be expected, Martin Evening has updated his bestselling book The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book to enhance his existing material as well as to reflect all of the changes to Lightroom 2.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers has been significantly updated and, as with the prior version, it was written with photographers in mind, addressing Lightroom's features from a professional photographer's perspective. This version is 624 pages in length (a whopping 272 additional pages of material) and contains 11 chapters (encompassed in 5 additional chapters).

Chapter 1, "Introducing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom," begins by describing exactly what Lightroom is, and where it fits in within your image processing workflow. Lightroom is a high quality image processer and photographic image database management system rolled into one. In this chapter you will learn about installing Lightroom as well as all about working with the Lightroom interface. Chapter 2, "Importing Photos," explains that because Lightroom is a catalog management system for your images, the first step is that you need to import images. Next you will learn about all of the options that are available to you such as converting images to Digital Negatives (DNG), using Adobe Bridge as a front end, and how imported images are organized.

Chapter 3, "Navigating the Library Module," now begins the journey into working with the various Lightroom modules beginning with the Library. This first look at the library module examines how you to use it to navigate the photos in your catalog. You will also see what tools you have available to refine your image selections. Chapter 4, "Managing Photos in the Library Module," shows you how to organize and catalog your images. Then you will see how it provides a flexible system of file management so that you can really work with your images through file naming, custom metadata, and adding keywords so that you can optimize your searching capabilities.

Chapter 5, "Working with Catalogs," examines how to work with the catalog system in Lightroom. The catalog plays a central role in Lightroom in that it keeps track of where all of your images are located as well as the information that is stored with your photos. Chapter 6, "Develop Module Image Editing," explains how to use one of the most powerful features of Lightroom, the develop module. It is this image processing module that records the changes that you want to make to an image. It stores these changes within the system, but it waits until you actually export an image before it applies the changes.

Chapter 7, "The Art of Black and White," now takes a look at how to transform your images into Black and White. Here you will learn the three main ways to convert an image as well as how not to convert your image to Black and White. You will also see specialized techniques such as creating a Black and White infrared look. Chapter 8, "Sharpening and Nose Reduction," takes on the topics of capture sharpening and noise reduction. This chapter emphasizes that importance of cleaning up an image early on, and what it takes to get that pre-sharpening done without introducing artifacts.

Chapter 9, "The Photoshop Connection," describes how you can take it to the next level when you need that extra processing that only Photoshop can provide. What you want to do is to look at Lightroom as that place where you work with, and process, many images at a time, and Photoshop where you process images one at a time. Chapter 10, "Printing," discusses how to work with the print module and how you can set up batches of images in a print queue to produce high quality prints, or work in fast mode to process quick result items like contact sheets. Best of all, to produce the best, most consistent results, you can set up custom templates to use over and over.

Chapter 11, "Presenting your Work," now shows how to present your non-printed work by using Lightroom's Web module. Here you will see how to create and upload a website of your pictures. You will also see how to create a slideshow that can be presented on computer, or exported as a self-contained presentation for business or personal use.

So what do I think of The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book? Let me preface it by saying that I really liked the first version, but I think that this version is much better. Why? First and foremost is the fact that this one is much more complete and better thought-out. Second, is that it goes into more advanced information that is not found in similar books. You do not get the feeling that anything presented here was glossed over.

In addition, when the Lightroom first came out it was a version one product, and while the author had been using the product prior to release; back to the early Shadowland days of the product, he was probably like everyone else - still trying to figure it out from a technical, real world approach. Now, well over a year later of use, he has had the time to discern the best practices from an on the job standpoint, and in The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book it really shows.

I think that if you don't have the first version, then, The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book is well worth the investment. If you do have the first version and liked it, I think that this second version is worth getting as well as it really covers things in much more depth and detail. If you want to become an advanced Lightroom guru, therefore, I very highly recommend this book.

 

Technorati Tags: Lightroom,Adobe,Photoshop,Photography,Martin Evening

Book Review: Canon EOS 40D - The Rocky Nook Manual by Dr. Artur Landt

Written by T. Michael Testi

It seems to me that whenever dealing with technical devices, everyone has to create a manual that is dry and to the point. I would also think that that over the course of time these things would change and we could have a manual that would inspire us to pick it up and learn more. Perhaps, you would think, we could get an interesting manual that actually teaches us how to use a product rather than just describe it.

Take, for example, a Canon EOS 40D, when they spend the first weekend experimenting and looking in the manual until they learn enough to get by - and then they use those same old options over and over. It's not because people are dumb, rather it is because the manuals are not put together to inspire you to explore your new device in depth. That is where Canon EOS 40D: The Rocky Nook Manual comes in. Its goal is to inspire you to take a deeper look at your 40D and really learn how to use it. Canon EOS 40D is 200 pages in length and covers seven chapters.

Chapter 1, "Camera Technology," shows you how the Canon EOS 40D is a high performance camera that leaves very little to be desired in the way of options. It contains all of the professional features that a consumer would want in a camera and a lot more. This chapter explains what setting you should use to get the best results and which you should avoid at all costs. It targets what you really need to know.

Chapter 2, "Autofocus and Exposure," goes into what is needed to get that great shot. Most of the problems with bad exposures are from the user and not the camera. By using the highly accurate focusing mechanisms and the four basic metering abilities, you should be able to get the right shot every time.

Chapter 3, "The Camera's Exposure Modes," moves on to mastering automatic aperture and shutter speed controls by using the cameras various exposure modes to provide you with a lot of ability to use your camera effectively.

Chapter 4, "Flash Photography," explains how the flash exposure system works on the 40D. By using the built in flash system or using a compatible accessory flash unit, you will see how to make flash photography as easy as shooting in the daylight.

Chapter 5, "Using Interchangeable Lenses," shows how using the some of the 70 interchangeable lenses Canon makes, or the ones that numerous other manufacturers have available, can really take your photography to the next level.

Chapter 6, "Camera Accessories," explores the realm of other items that can enhance your use of the 40D. Things like filters - including neutral, color, and polarizers. Close-up lenses, flash units, stand-alone disk drives, camera bags, and camera shades are all included in this discussion.

Chapter 7, "Camera Output," explains that even though you can use in-camera enhancement capabilities, you would be better off to perform them off camera using specialized programs. Topics included here are data transfer, image optimization, photo printing, presenting your images, and archiving your images.

Clearly aimed at the new user, Canon EOS 40D provides an excellent jumping off point for someone who is trying to understand this complex piece of technology. It will be a comfort to those who are just starting out with this DSLR, and it provides a lot of fundamental knowledge complete with color illustrations. There are probably some good tidbits for those who have been working with their camera for a while as well.

For amateur and "new to digital" alike, Canon EOS 40D will provide you with the knowledge and insight on what you need to know to operate your new camera. If you are new to DSLRs and want to learn how to work your 40D, then Canon EOS 40D should get you off and running.

 

Technorati Tags: Camera,Canon,40D,Photography

Book Review: Take Your Best Shot By Tim Grey

Written by T. Michael Testi

As with a lot of books, Take Your Best Shot is one that has been years in the making. While working with the nature photographer George Lepp, Tim Grey started a quarterly newsletter called "Digital Darkroom Quarterly." Over time he kept getting questions via email asking questions on digital photography, and many times these questions were the same or similar questions. So instead of just responding to these questions, in 2001, he started the Digital Darkroom Questions (DDQ) email newsletter. To this day, these questions still go strong. Tim Grey's latest book, Take Your Best Shot, was developed from these questions. The book is 252 pages in length and is divided into 10 chapters.

Chapter 1, "Digital Fundamentals," begins with question topics that will help give you a strong foundation in digital photography and help shorten your learning curve. The goal here is that even if you have the basics down, by reviewing some of these topics you will even pick up a point or two. Topics covered here include the debate between film and digital, dynamic range, ISO, resolution, RAW capture, and lens problems such as chromatic aberration.

Chapter 2, "Digital Cameras and Tools," examines the wild and wonderful world of ever expanding digital technology. In the days of film cameras, things did not change that frequently, but with the advent of digital, things don't stay the same for very long. Now you have many choices that constantly change. Here you will learn about the differences in camera choices, cleaning sensors, memory cards, lenses, and even about some specialty accessories like Lensbabies lenses.

Chapter 3, "Digital Capture," is really a new technology in the grand order of things, and so we are all still trying to define the rules. While there are a lot of similarities between this technology and film, there are also a lot of differences. This can lead to frustration. In this chapter the author attempts to remove those frustrations by examining some of these new rules. This includes comparing RAW to JPG, why to shoot RAW, setting color temperature, when to change ISO, what color space should you use on your DSLR, and how to interpret the histogram on your image.

Chapter 4, "Digital Darkroom," is a place that you will likely spend a lot of time if you are serious about digital photography. The digital darkroom needs equipment much like the traditional darkroom, but it is dry and performed in open spaces (and it does not have that chemical smell). To build a system, there are also a lot of questions to be answered such as Windows vs. Mac, storage and backup, do you need Photoshop? Do you need Lightroom? As well as many more topics examined. Here you will get a good feel for what you might need.

Chapter 5, "Color Management," examines why there are two kinds of photographers with regard to color management; those who are frustrated with it, and those who ignore it. Topics here try to look at how to manage color. Questions answered here are about profiling camera, calibrating monitors, color spaces, how to use print preview in Photoshop, as well as color management in Photoshop.

Chapter 6, "Optimizing in Photoshop," will help you overcome the learning curve that one generally finds when learning Photoshop. In this chapter the author examines many of the common questions that people have when working with Photoshop. These include working with RAW files, Curves and Levels, Cloning and Healing, Adjustment Layers, Selections, and working with Gradient Effects on an Adjusted area.

Chapter 7, "Creative Effects," looks at some of the more advanced techniques that many use with Photoshop. As you become better, you tend to want to emulate more of what they see others do. It is not always easy to figure out how these techniques can be accomplished. Here you will learn about creating Black and White images, using Photoshop filters, adding Vignettes and edge effects, as well as reproducing classic darkroom effects.

Chapter 8, "Image Problem-Solving," takes on the adage of "I'll just fix it in Photoshop." While it is always better to "fix it in the photo," once the shot has been taken, and you are not in the field, short of going back out, you do have to fix it in Photoshop. Here you will see how to fix things like overexposed skies, removing color casts, fix motion blur, reduce haze, and clean up noise in an image.

Chapter 9, "Printing," examines what it takes to get the best image on paper. Yes there are other ways to display your work; there is just something fundamental about viewing a print. Again, each new technology brings out new questions. Here you will learn about the different types of printers, inks, sending images out to be printed, as well as other topics relating to generating a hard copy image.

Chapter 10, "Digital Sharing," provides the options for those who like to share their images. In this chapter there is a discussion on the problems that can arise with sharing your images online, as well as how to sell them online, creating slideshows, and how to use the Lightroom Web Module.

Like his DDQ, Take Your Best Shot provides a wealth of information for novices through the advanced hobbyist photographer. Many, many of the questions are ones that either are not readily available without searching through a ton of books, or when they are answered, do not provide as complete an answer as presented here.

Some of the things that make me really like Take Your Best Shot is its conversational tone. Tim Grey presents each question as it was asked to him and from there he puts forward his answer. Occasionally there is a "Pet Peeve Alert" in which he pulls out his soapbox and makes his feelings known on something that he objects to, and occasionally there is a "Let's Settle This Already" segment where he discusses a particular topic in more depth.

I have been a fan and regular reader of his DDQ's for a couple of years now, and have always found them informational, entertaining, and I always look forward to that little tidbit that I didn't know. It is for this reason that I think that Take Your Best Shot is a great book for anyone from novice to advanced amateur as well as anyone making the move from film to digital. I very highly recommend Take Your Best Shot.

 

Technorati Tags: Tim Grey,Photoshop,Photography,DDQ

Book Review: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended For 3D And Video By Chad Perkins

Written by T. Michael Testi

There are a lot of things that Photoshop CS3 Extended can do that Photoshop has never been able to do before. These include importing and editing of video and animating any object in a file. Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended For 3D And Video is the first book to provide a detailed look at these new features. This book is geared for both those who want to learn about video and 3D in Photoshop as well as those video producers and 3D artists who want to incorporate Photoshop into their workflow.

The goal of CS3 Extended For 3D is to get you started down the road in using Photoshop for 3D and video. Even if your workflow is print based and you think that there is nothing in this book for you, or you feel intimidated by professional grade 3D and video software packages, this book is aimed at you.

One thing to keep in mind is that because of the specific nature of this book, it does not go over how to use Photoshop. It is assumed that you are comfortable with using Photoshop and know the most basic concepts such as the interface, pallets, tools, how to work with layers and other fundamental topics. CS3 Extended For 3D is 318 pages long divided into ten chapters.

Chapter 1, "Photoshop's New 3D Abilities: The Basics," starts off by looking at Photoshop's new extended capabilities with regard to video and 3D. These include working with 3D files, transforming 3D objects, preset views, and the 3D camera tools. Chapter 2, "Playing with Lighting and Appearance Settings" now shows you how to work with the tools that will light, cut up, and change the appearance of 3D objects. Then you will see how to display wireframes, create cross sections, and learn about some rendering tricks.

Chapter 3, "Even Cooler 3D Tricks," begins to experiment and gets more creative with the tools that you have been learning about. You also begin to learn how to use them with the standard Photoshop tools. You will work with Layer Styles, adjusting color and luminance, and use Layer Masks with 3D Layers. Chapter 4, "Editing Textures of 3D Objects," tackles what may be the most important part of Photoshop Extended for 3D; the ability to alter textures on 3D objects. These changes can be made either non-destructively or permanently, all without having to go back into an external 3D program.

Chapter 5, "Creating Textures for 3D Models," goes over some of the features that are available for 3D users in the standard edition of Photoshop, especially with the creation of textures. Here you will see how to refine bump maps and create a realistic eyeball texture as well as other tips for using Photoshop in your 3D workflow. Chapter 6, "Video Basics," now shows you how to work with video in Photoshop. Once again, the basics are covered beginning with working with files, exporting video, and using audio in your productions.

Chapter 7, "Animating," shows you the six animation properties: position, opacity, style, Layer Mask position, Layer Mask enabling, and Global Lighting. Here you are shown that you can animate just about any layer. With these you can make each of those layers come to life in Photoshop Extended. Chapter 8, "Editing Video," shows you how to do just that, edit raw video footage within Photoshop. Topics covered are cutting video, filling gaps, animation conversions, as well as take advantage of other bells and whistles when it comes to editing your video.

Chapter 9, "Creative Video Techniques," now gets into all sorts of creative video techniques that you can use in your videos. You will work with styles and filters, Paint tools, cloning, healing, and the use of composting. Chapter 10, "Plug-ins and Resources," finishes up by discussing the third-party plug-in solutions that are available for use with Photoshop as well as other resources that may be useful to you.

Adobe continues to push the envelope from within Photoshop and the new extended version is no exception. While narrow in focus, CS3 Extended For 3D is quite broad within the areas of 3D and video and is a needed volume for beginners on this topic as well as those who want to use Photoshop in their workflow.

The author writes clearly and the easy to follow tutorials are great to learn from. I think that this ease comes from his background as a trainer for Lynda.com. Since this release of Photoshop is really a version 1 for 3D and video within Photoshop, Perkins is able to point out strange oddities that he has encountered which may make for an easier time for you while working in this medium.

CS3 Extended For 3D is definitely the resource that you want if looking to get into 3D and video from within Photoshop Extended. The book also comes with a CD that gives you the resources to work with to make your journey much more enjoyable. I highly recommend Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended For 3D And Video

 

Technorati Tags: Photoshop,Video,3D CS3,Photoshop Extended,Chad Perkins

Book Review: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book For Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby

Written by T. Michael Testi

Last August, Adobe released the second incarnation of their photography workflow product Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 to rave reviews. As is to be expected, new editions of companion Lightroom books are also coming to market to provide educational assistance to learning Lightroom. Scott Kelby's Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book For Digital Photographers, along with being one of the best, is also one of the first out of the chutes.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2, while it certainly addresses the new features of Lightroom 2, also guides you through the existing features that have not changed. This version is 456 pages in length (40 more pages of material) and contains 14 chapters (3 additional chapters)

Chapter 1, "Importing," devotes it's time to showing you how to get your photos into Lightroom. The improvement I see in this chapter is that not only are you shown how to get them in, there is more devotion to figuring out where to store your files, how to set up your folder organization, shooting tethered, as well as discussing topics like the use of the Adobe DNG file format advantage. Chapter 2, "Library," focuses on organizing your photographs. Here the author looks at using Collections, Quick Collections, adding Keywords, working with Metadata, and working with multiple catalogs. This chapter is more focused on the library and some of the content from the previous edition was reorganized and moved to the next chapter.

Chapter 3, "Customizing," looks at how to set up Lightroom 2 to fit your work style. Here you will work with setting up two monitors, adding a logo to your interface, choosing what the Filmstrip will display, and learning to work with panels in a faster and much easier method. Chapter 4, "Editing Essentials," gets into the basics of developing your photos. In this chapter you will see how to set the white balance, add more punch to the color of your images, adjust the tone, hue, and color of your photos, as well learning techniques such as vignetting, getting that gritty look, and using AutoSync to fix a bunch of photos live while editing just one.

Chapter 5, "Local Adjustments," moves beyond basics to editing specific parts of your image. This includes Dodging and Burning, working with the Adjustment Brush, retouching portraits, and learning how to fix skies. Chapter 6, "Problem Photos," will show you how to correct problems after you have taken the image. Here you will work with cropping, reducing noise, removing red-eye, fixing backlight photos, sharpening, and fixing chromatic aberrations.

Chapter 7, "Exporting Images," shows you how to save your images as JPEG's, how to email photos from Lightroom, using the export plug-ins to auto upload to sharing sites like Flicker, and how to export your original RAW photo. Chapter 8, "Jumping to Photoshop," examines how to move between Lightroom and Photoshop. This includes how to get there and back again, how to add Photoshop Automation to your workflow, stitching panoramas by using Photoshop, and working with High Dynamic Range images in Photoshop.

Chapter 9, "Gorgeous B&W," begins by showing how to determine if a photo would look good in Black and White. Then you will see how to do it yourself, how to tweak individual areas, how to add a split tone, and how to create a duo tone image. Chapter 10, "Slideshow," begins with a basic slide show and quickly moves to customizing your show, adding music, picking preferences, and finally how to email the show.

Chapter 11, "Print," examines how to properly setup the print, and then moves onto adding text to your print layouts. You then see how to print multiple images on one page, how to setup your final print and management settings, and how to add borders to your photos. Chapter 12, "Web," starts off with a simple online photo gallery and then from there customizes the gallery layout by working with the layout colors, working with templates, and then shows how to put your gallery on the web.

Chapter 13, "Portrait Workflow," is the first of the workflow chapters that will give you a sense of how you should work with Lightroom from a professional standpoint. This is a step-by-step on-location shoot process that will give you a feel of how someone would use Lightroom in real life. Chapter 14, "Travel Workflow," is a different type of workflow because unlike the portrait shoot, this is geared more for those who shoot for themselves and either uses the images for family and friends, or to sell to, say, a magazine or stock agency, not to a specific client. It would work as well for those who sell fine art photos.

There is also a virtual 15th chapter that is available online from a secret location that you must own the book to gain access to. It is a video workflow that will take you step-by-step through a wedding shoot. It is unique in that you will see how Scott Kelby uses Lightroom real time and it really makes for fascinating viewing.

So what do I think Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2? Let me preface it by saying that I loved the first version, but I think that this version is much better. Why? Two reasons that I can pinpoint directly.

First, in the 17 months since the first book was released, the author has been training Lightroom and putting on workshops. I believe that he has learned not only how better to work with Lightroom, but how better to answer the kind of questions that his workshop participants have with regard to the use of Lightroom. Second, which may also come indirectly from the first, is that while much of the content is reused from the first book, the layout is much more concise and has a much more logical order, and therefore easier to understand.

Certainly if you do not have the first version then you should by all means get Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2, but what about if you have the first version? I think that depends on your situation and your finances. If you have the first version and have been using Lightroom for the last year or so, you can probably figure out much of the new version, but so much has changed in Lightroom since version 1.0 on which the prior version was based, I would seriously recommend upgrading to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book For Digital Photographers as you might just learn a few new tricks. I very highly recommend this book.

 

Technorati Tags: Photoshop,Lightroom 2,Photography,Adobe

Book Review: Photo Workshop - Portrait and Candid Photography by Erin Manning

Written by T. Michael Testi

Creating portraits is a combination of skill and technique. It is also about connecting with your subjects. By learning how to observe and understand those you are working with you will get a feel for who they are, and how best to present them in a personal light. Learning to find out what interests you about your subject will allow you to better capture their personality.

It also takes time to learn the creative techniques of composing your images by experimentation, and through the capturing a lot of images; by learning how to tell a story with your image. Portrait and Candid Photography is 272 pages divided into 10 chapters.

Chapter 1, "What You Must Know About Photographing People," begins by showing you how to observe and connect with people. Here you will learn how to compose your images, to see what your eyes see, and learn about working with light in general. Then you will explore the kinds of equipment cameras, lenses, and equipment you will need. Chapter 2, "Accessory Equipment," will now take you into more detail with equipment such as additional lenses, batteries, tripods, flashes, and other odds and ends.

Chapter 3, "Working with Light," will get into more detail about working with light by exploring the quality, direction, intensity, and color of light. Then you will see how to reflect light, defuse light, work with a flash, and work with a meter for exposure. Chapter 4, "Composing your Picture," examines the basics of composition. This includes working with colors, framing your image, using patterns, using perspective, focus, and point of view.

Chapter 5, "Taking Portraits," will have you creating the look that you want by choosing the correct background, adding props, and adjusting wardrobe. You will see how best to take advantage of light, see how best to work with your subject by experimenting with position, changing points of view, and even how to capture candid moments. Chapter 6, "Families, Groups, and Parties," begins by showing you how to prepare for the shoot. Again you need to know the location, the people, the lighting, but it is just as important to anticipate surprises.

Chapter 7, "Kids," provide a unique test because they can be unpredictable, but here you learn about the different ages and stages that come with them. You have to keep it real, but yet get them involved to get the best shots. Chapter 8, "Babies," require timing and being prepared. You have to create the right environment to get the best shots. Here you will see how to prepare the site so that you can capture the moment and make it meaningful.

Chapter 9, "Action Shots," takes you in a different direction in that this, many times is all about lens speed and timing. It is about freezing the action with techniques like using fast shutter with flash, and about blurring action by using slow shutter with a tripod. Chapter 10, "Enhancing and Sharing your Photos," examines how to manage your images by using various software products, how to enhance and repair your images, and finally how to share your images via slide shows, email, websites, and printing.

Aimed at the beginner user, Photo Workshop: Portrait and Candid Photography is very easy reading, and develops through a well defined, logical progression covering most aspects of shooting portraits on a casual basis. Not being aimed at the professional, it does not try to tackle too much like lighting layouts and other more complex discussions.

While I wish that it went a little further in explanations of the relationship of ISO, shutter speeds, and aperture, it does a very good job of presenting the fundamentals. Additional things I like about Portrait and Candid Photography and the series in general is that most of the photos have an "about this photo" caption where, when appropriate, the technical information is presented about the image.

The other thing is the lessons and exercises that give you an opportunity to interact with the book. Portrait and Candid Photography provides a great overview of portrait photography and the subject in general. If you are a beginner or getting back into it and want a good refresher course, then Portrait and Candid Photography will fit the bill.

 

Technorati Tags: Book,Photography,Portrait