REAL WORLD ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS
By David Blatner and Bruce FraserReviewed by Tom Zinneman
Real World Adobe Photoshop CS is another of the Real World series of books published by Peachpit Press. The books in this series all have a subtitle "industrial strength production techniques." This book certainly fits in the series. This is not a book for those just beginning to work with Photoshop; it’s for intermediate and advanced users. Each of the authors has considerable experience with Adobe products and each has at least one other Real World book under his belt.
This is a large book, 900 pages, that is divided into 18 chapters. The first several chapters cover the essentials, such as the work environment (what’s new, tools, palettes, preferences), and image essentials (resolution, resampling, image mode). Chapters 4 & 5 deal with color management, including a large section on color spaces (RGB & CMYK).
After the basics have been established, the authors move on to various editing techniques. In-depth coverage of topics such as tonal correction, color correction, selections and channels, adjustment layers, and sharpening is provided. Usually several methods are provided for accomplishing the same task along with the author’s opinion as to wish is the better method and why.
I discovered many new techniques while reading these chapters. For example, the chapter on sharpening starts with a discussion of unsharp mask, which is the primary tool for sharpening images. Advanced techniques such as the use of sharpening layers, edge masking, and sharpening brushes are then covered. There is even a section on sharpening without unsharp mask, using high pass filters instead.
Later chapters cover spot colors and duotones (important to pressman), image capture (cameras and scanners), and building a digital workflow using camera raw and the improved file browser. The final four chapters discuss essential image techniques, storing images, output methods, and multimedia and the web.
This book is extremely well written and well illustrated with figures. It provides in-depth coverage and detailed explanations for many of the image editing and handling techniques offered by Photoshop CS. It has become my main reference book for questions relating to Photoshop.
Copyright 2004
Peachpit Press
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Retail - $40.99; 901 pages