Photoshop CS Books

Hans you have obviously had a good look around as you have selected probably 3 of the best around.
I have all 3 and use them regularily. They are all excellent but are quite different. I am a full time Pro and I have spent over AUS$600 on various Photoshop books in the last year. Probably well over $2000 in the last 5 years! YIKES.

"Hans" wrote in message

How would you rate each of these books? I don’t have a lot of cash to build up a huge library right now but would like to purchase one of these.

Depends what you will be using Photoshop for Hans!

Real World Adobe PS CS by Fraser

If you are a professional photographer who is seriously into photoshop, workflow and colour management issues etc this is THE book to get. It really gets into the nuts and bolts of PSCS telling and showing how and MORE IMPORTANTLY why to do things in particular ways. Blatner and Frasers occaisionaly differing opinions on things is refreshing and indicates how deep and complex a program PShop is. Well written by two acknowledged world experts. Bruce Fraser is probably one of the leading writers on colour management issues and pre-press work.

PS Restoration & Retouching by Eismann

A superb book well written with excellent examples by a real pro. Title says it all. This is NOT a general how to PS book. Its a full on book for aspiring retouchers – mostly portraits, and has minimal info on PS for other purposes and has helpful tips on setting up a portrait and photo restoration/ retouching business/studio.

Adobe PS for Photographers by Martin Evening

Another superb book by Martin. Excellent if you are going into business as a photographer as he has lots of good info on equipment selection etc.

Another good book if you are after simpler step by step stuff is "The Photoshop CS book for Digital Photographers". Its a great companion for Real World when you want to look up quick how tos with step by steps and don’t have time to wade into theory on why this way is better than that etc. Another one is Adobe press’s own "Photoshop CS – Studio techniques" by Ben Willmore.
I refer to all of these so regularily I have had to make a bookshelf next to my workstations as they never make it back to the proper bookshelf! Good luck with whatever you choose!

Regards,
Frank Styevko from OZ

"Frank S." wrote in
news:cpqqv1$5c6$:

Hans you have obviously had a good look around as you have selected probably 3 of the best around.
I have all 3 and use them regularily. They are all excellent but are quite different. I am a full time Pro and I have spent over AUS$600 on various Photoshop books in the last year. Probably well over $2000 in the last 5 years! YIKES.

"Hans" wrote in message

How would you rate each of these books? I don’t have a lot of cash to build up a huge library right now but would like to purchase one of these.

Depends what you will be using Photoshop for Hans!

Real World Adobe PS CS by Fraser

If you are a professional photographer who is seriously into photoshop, workflow and colour management issues etc this is THE book to get. It really gets into the nuts and bolts of PSCS telling and showing how and MORE IMPORTANTLY why to do things in particular ways. Blatner and Frasers occaisionaly differing opinions on things is refreshing and indicates how deep and complex a program PShop is. Well written by two acknowledged world experts. Bruce Fraser is probably one of the leading writers on colour management issues and pre-press work.

PS Restoration & Retouching by Eismann

A superb book well written with excellent examples by a real pro. Title says it all. This is NOT a general how to PS book. Its a full on book for aspiring retouchers – mostly portraits, and has minimal info on PS for other purposes and has helpful tips on setting up a portrait and photo restoration/ retouching business/studio.

Adobe PS for Photographers by Martin Evening

Another superb book by Martin. Excellent if you are going into business as a photographer as he has lots of good info on equipment selection etc.

Another good book if you are after simpler step by step stuff is "The Photoshop CS book for Digital Photographers". Its a great companion for Real World when you want to look up quick how tos with step by steps and don’t have time to wade into theory on why this way is better than that etc.
Another one is Adobe press’s own "Photoshop CS – Studio techniques" by Ben
Willmore.
I refer to all of these so regularily I have had to make a bookshelf next to my workstations as they never make it back to the proper bookshelf! Good luck with whatever you choose!

Regards,
Frank Styevko from OZ

Thanks for the book descriptions, Frank. I’m not a professional but have been into photography as a serious amateur for the last 20 yrs. I just started using Photoshop a short while ago and want to use it to create montages and some other advanced techniques. I don’t print my own pictures so one of the things that I am struggling with is finding a decent lab. Walgreens, Walmart, etc. just don’t make decent prints. At least not in my area. I am also working from a 17" LCD monitor and it is pretty difficult to calibrate. I have the brightness dialed all the down to zero in order to get some acceptable contrast (it is a very bright monitor – Hitachi). Do you think that Real World Adobe PS CS by Fraser might be a help to me? Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Hans,
I don’t use LCD monitors because of exactly the problem you are experiencing. The books won’t help you fix that problem. You have very little control over your LCD display. LCD’s ARE excellent for photo work but you need to buy the real high end stuff. Apple Cinema displays, Eizo etc. These are all very expensive but great for photo work, much less strain on the eyes. The monitor, next to the best lenses you can afford, is probably one of the most important parts of your digital darkroom. Bang for buck a high end CRT, the biggest you can fit on your desk, or even two, is the economical way to go and any of these CRT’s will offer a myriad of adjustments to fine tune the monitor. Sony the Rolls Royce of CRT’s with their high end screens no longer make CRT’s so the choice is somewhat limited: Mitsubishi’s Pro series, Electron blue, La Cie etc- shop around and do some googling on whats available where you are. For the price of one top end LCD, you could buy Two high end 19" CRT monitors that will do all you need with far more screen real estate, with a video card to support them, a Wacom tablet, extra Ram some Software etc. and still have change left over! Don’t forget that CRT monitors used for serious colour managed photo work need to be replaced every 2-3 years as the tubes dull.

Regards,
Frank Styevko from OZ

"Hans" wrote in message

"Frank S.">

I am also working from a 17" LCD

monitor and it is pretty difficult to calibrate. I have the brightness dialed all the down to zero in order to get some acceptable contrast (it is a very bright monitor – Hitachi). Do you think that Real World Adobe PS CS by Fraser might be a help to me?

there are many books on amazon.com for pennies on the dollar, i have many photoshop books that list for $30-60 that I usually pay $5 for used

http://community.webtv.net/TinyJohnsonnnnn/MyComputer
http://community.webtv.net/TinyJohnsonnnn/recentpics

Hans wrote:

How would you rate each of these books? I don’t have a lot of cash to build up a huge library right now but would like to purchase one of these.

Real World Adobe PS CS by Fraser

Great *reference* book instead of *cookbook* that goes into how PS works internally. Best for serious pros and covers all aspects of PS applications (i.e. many topics a photographer would find irrelevant). Tutorials scattered and often not in details. No CD to support tutorials.

PS Restoration & Retouching by Eismann

Terrific book with detailed tutorials. Best for those with a basic PS foundation. No CD, but has web support for tutorials. Must have for old photo restoration or portrait photos. The new Masking book by her is also highly recommended.

Adobe PS for Photographers by Martin Evening

By a studio fashion photographer, and tutorials mostly on these. Much regurgitation of PS user’s manual. Many tutorial images not included in CD.

If you want to spend money on only one book, consider PS Artistry. Tutorials well organized and in great details, fully supported by CD. The book is like a transcript of the author’s $$$$ workshop lectures. Best bang for the buck.

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 19:20:08 -0600, Hans wrote:

How would you rate each of these books? I don’t have a lot of cash to build up a huge library right now but would like to purchase one of these.

Real World Adobe PS CS by Fraser
PS Restoration & Retouching by Eismann
Adobe PS for Photographers by Martin Evening

Got all three. They’;re all excellent.

—

Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui

In article , wrote:

If you want to spend money on only one book, consider PS Artistry. Tutorials well organized and in great details, fully supported by CD. The book is like a transcript of the author’s $$$$ workshop lectures. Best bang for the buck.

Do you have anything more in the way of a reference to this book? I can’t find it, or anything like it in Amazon, but I’m probably looking in the wrong place…

Frank

Frank Potter wrote in
news::

In article , wrote:

If you want to spend money on only one book, consider PS Artistry. Tutorials well organized and in great details, fully supported by CD. The book is like a transcript of the author’s $$$$ workshop lectures. Best bang for the buck.

Do you have anything more in the way of a reference to this book? I can’t find it, or anything like it in Amazon, but I’m probably looking in the wrong place…

Frank

I believe it is Photoshop CS Artistry by Haynes and Crumpler.

Hans wrote:

Frank Potter wrote in
news::

In article , wrote:

If you want to spend money on only one book, consider PS Artistry. Tutorials well organized and in great details, fully supported by CD. The book is like a transcript of the author’s $$$$ workshop lectures. Best bang for the buck.

Do you have anything more in the way of a reference to this book? I can’t find it, or anything like it in Amazon, but I’m probably looking in the wrong place…

Frank

I believe it is Photoshop CS Artistry by Haynes and Crumpler.

Correct. I shortened the title because different versions of this book is published after each PS release.

Another reason I like this book is that it is intended for a wide range of PS users, from home hobbyists to pros. On color management, for example, the author is down to earth and pragmatic in discussing how each level of PS users can approach this daunting topic. This is a far cry from those who insist $$$$$ must be spent for calibration tools and custom profiles, regardless of what an user’s final intents are.