PHOTOSHOP LAB COLOR
By Dan MargulisReviewed by Tom Zinneman
What’s this you say! Another book on Photoshop! There are already 500 books on Photoshop. But, wait! Did you read the title carefully? Did you see the word LAB in the title. How many Photoshop books have you seen with that word in the title. Probably none. Do you even know what LAB signifies?
Photoshop has three color modes to work with: RGB, CMYK, and LAB. The vast majority of us work in the RGB (red,green,blue) mode. Those people working with commercial printers do a lot of work in the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) mode. But I suspect very few of you, including myself, have ever ventured into the LAB (based on the CIELAB international standard) mode. Those that have probably only used it when working with dull color scenes, such as deserts and canyons.
The first seven chapters of the book, which is half of the book, focuses on global techniques using the LAB mode that don’t require much expertise, but make images look a lot better then when done using conventional techniques. The Curves tool is used on all three channels: L, a, and b. The techniques provide extremely powerful methods to improve color variation, color correction and contrast in images. Applying the Unsharp Mask and Highlight/Shadow tools to the L channel only is discussed in detail.
The last half of the book, nine chapters, focuses on more advanced applications using the LAB mode. Topics dicussed include selections and masking, color changes, retouching and blending. The final chapter discusses techniques for improving portraits. The book also includes a CD that contains most of the images used to illustrate the numerous examples.
This book is one of the few creative books (on software) most of us will have a chance to read in our lifetime. Unlike many Photoshop books, this book was written by a man who is a true expert in its use. The book is extremely well written and well illustrated with figures. It is not a book for those just beginning to use Photoshop; it’s for intermediate and advanced users. If you’re ready to advance your color correction techniques to the next level and are willing to take the time to seriously study the use of LAB techniques, this book is for you.
Copyright 2006
Peachpit Press
1249 Eighth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-524-2178
www.peachpit.com
Retail - $54.99; 366 pages