Photoshop 5 Artistry
A Master Class for Photographers, Artists and Production Artists

Author : Barry Haynes & Wendy Crumpler - www.maxart.com
Date : September 1998
ISBN : 1-56205-895-9
List Price : $55.00 USD

Summary: (Quoted from the back cover)

For serious professional photographers and digital artists who need to create expert imagery. "Photoshop 5 Artistry" is an in-depth course in digital imaging for intermediate and advanced users who want to create the best possible photographic images.

Work through the reference chapters and step-by-step, hands-on excercises to gain an in-depth understanding of complex topics such as calibration and Photoshop's new ICC Color Management.

* Master the relationship between Photoshop tools - such as Adjustment Layers, Levels, and Curves - and traditional photography's Zone System.

* Learn how to use the new History palette, Layer Effects, editable text, and Magnetic tools for greater creativity and optimized performance.

* Create and output beautiful museum-quality art prints, images for high-end advertising, as well as GIFs and JPEGs for the World Wide Web.

Review:

This book is by far the most "photographer oriented" book on Photoshop that I have seen. It starts off with chapters on setting up your preferences, color space, RGB and CMYK settings and so on. It progresses through color correcting images through hands-on chapters that take specific images and discuss the problems with them, and then walks you step-by-step through the steps necessary to correct the image for the best possible end result. The really nice thing is that the included CD has all the images from the book on it, including the before and after results from the hands-on excercises. This allows you to work along with the chapters and really learn what the book is showing you. Don't have Photoshop? Not to worry, the CD has a 30 day trial of Photoshop 5.0 right on it. It is fully functional, but you can't save your work.

What really attracted me to the book was the fact that it is in full color. I've seen too many books on graphics that were 95% in B&W. Anything that would benefit from being in color in this book is in color.

I still haven't finished going through the book, but already I've learned tons of new Photoshop techniques from it. I started out by using the books suggestions for setting up Photoshops preferences. Then I used the Adobe Monitor Gamma tool to set my Gamma for my cheap, old, 14" POS monitor (I REALLY need a new monitor!). Then I set my color space and a few other things that would take too long to explain here. I then used one of the calibration files from the CD and made an 8 1/2 x 11 full color print on my Epson Stylus Photo 700. OH MY GOD! It was the highest quality print that has ever come out of that printer. I could hardly beleive the quality of that print. I had always been impressed with my previous prints, but this was absolutely amazing. The output was indestinguishable from a real photo unless you put it under a loupe. It was that good. I then decided to see what results I could get from one of my negatives by using the techniques fom the book for scanning. I use an HP Photosmart film scanner, which scans slides or negatives at up to 2400 dpi. A full 2400 dpi scan gives an image size of about 3300x2200 from a slide or negative. The file size is about 25MB. I had always "eyeballed" my scans to get the exposure right when scanning, but the book's technique of using the files histogram really helped me to get a better scan to begin with. Then I made some minor adjustments to color and levels in Photoshop and added a touch of unsharp mask. When I sent this to my printer at 360dpi, I got the best looking picture I have printed to date from one of my own scans. It wasn't quite the same as the test file, but excellent by all means. The film was Fuji 400 ASA and the 7X9 print is tack sharp and you have to look really hard before you can find any grain.

In a nutshell, you must buy this book! If your work in Photoshop doesn't imrove after reading it then you should go write your own book! :)

Also, you should check out the Author's web site listed at the top of the page. It has more information about the book, including a couple of chapters you can download.

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Chapter Listing:

Section 1 : Things You Need to Know

1. How to use this book
2. Using the "Photoshop 5 Artistry" CD
3. Navigating in Photoshop
4. Automating with Actions
5. Setting System and Photoshop Preferences
6. File Formats and Image Compression
7. The Tool Palette
8. Picking and Using Color
9. Color Correction Tools
10. Selections, Paths, Masks, and Channels
11. Layers, Layer Masks, and Adjustment Layers
12. History Palette, History Brush, and Snapshots

Section 2: Creating a Master Digital Image

13. Digital Imaging and the Zone System
14. Color Spaces, Device Characterization, and Color Management
15. Calibration
16. Scanning, Resolution, Histograms, and Photo CD
17. Transformation of Images, Layers, Paths, and Selections
18. Steps to Create a Master Image
19. Grand Canyon (Overall Color Correction of a Normal Image)
20. Kansas (Overall Color Correctin of a Problem Image)
21. Burnley Graveyard (Duotones)

Section 3: Improving Color and Mood with Selections, Layers, Adjustment Layers, and Layer Masks

22. The Car Ad (Detailed Lasso, Quick Mask, and Color Selection Techniques)
23. Grand Canyon Tweaks (Selected Area Modifications, Sharpening and Spotting, Print and Web output)
24. Kansas Tweaks (Advanced Selections and Masks for Color, CMYK Preview and Conversion)
25. Yellow Flowers (Replace Color, Color Range, and Mask Blur for Selection and Color Change)
26. Buckminster Fuller (Making a Great B&W Image, Colorizing B&W)
27. Color Matching Images
28. Desert Al (Complex Color Correction and Retouching)
29. Bryce Stone Woman (Lab Color Correction, Using Layers to Tune Opposite Color Areas)

Section 4: Compositing Multiple Images with Layers, Adjustment Layers, and Layer Masks

30. Bob Goes to . . . (Pen Tool Selections, Compositing, and Transformations)
31. Bob and the Kestrel (Threshold, Hard and Soft Edge Masks)
32. Versailles (Two Scans to Increase Dynamic Range)
33. The Band (Gradient Composites, Correcting Problem Photographs)
34. The McNamaras (Seamless Composites and Color Correction of People)
35. South Africa in Focus (Considerations for Multimedia, Premiere, Director, After Effects, and the Web)

Section 5: Calculations, Patterns, Filters, and Effects

36. Blend Modes, Calculations, and Apply Image
37. Bike Ride in the Sky! (Blend Mode Composites and New Text Effects)
38. Posterize, Bitmaps, Textures, and Patterns
39. Photoshop Filters and Effects (Many Great Techniques for Using the Built-In Filters)
40. The Portable Computer Ad (A Complex Composite Production Ad)
41. Creating Shadows

Section 6: Images for the Web and Multimedia

42. Differences in Creating for the Web and 8-bit Color
43. GIFs, JPEGs, and Color Palettes
44. Creating Small, Transparent GIF Composites

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