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Norm Buchanan
19-Jan-2008, 17:36
Can someone suggest a good, advanced level, book on Photoshop (CS2) geared towards photographers? I have a couple of books at the level of Scott Kelby's Photoshop for digital photography and I am looking for something more in depth, perhaps even written by a photographer.

Thanks,
N.

Kirk Gittings
19-Jan-2008, 21:27
REAL WORLD PHOTOSHOP by Bruce Frazier (who has died and will be replaced by Jeff Schewe on the next version). Very clear, and easy to understand, but more aimed at color as are most of the books are.

neil poulsen
19-Jan-2008, 21:34
For a sort of good nuts and bolts book, check out The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers. S.K. is the editor of the Photoshop User Magazine.

Of course, it's a little dated. But, I imagine he'll have a version for CS3.

David Rees
19-Jan-2008, 22:08
Dan Margulis -- Professional Photoshop.

Walter Calahan
19-Jan-2008, 22:12
Scott Kelby's Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers

He also wrote Photoshop CS for Digital Photographers

and Photoshop CS3 for Digital Photographers

Bruce Frazier and Dan Margulis are also very good.

akalai
19-Jan-2008, 22:13
After looking through many books I found that the best was;

"Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers:
A Professional Image Editor's Guide to the Creative Use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC"
by Martin Evening

Here is a link to Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-CS2-Photographers-Professional/dp/0240519841/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200805882&sr=8-1

darr
20-Jan-2008, 02:59
After looking through many books I found that the best was;

"Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers:
A Professional Image Editor's Guide to the Creative Use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC"
by Martin Evening

Here is a link to Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-CS2-Photographers-Professional/dp/0240519841/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200805882&sr=8-1

I second this book as well!

jetcode
20-Jan-2008, 09:03
REAL WORLD PHOTOSHOP by Bruce Frazier (who has died and will be replaced by Jeff Schewe on the next version). Very clear, and easy to understand, but more aimed at color as are most of the books are.

This book is a bible filled with large quantities of real working information not arm chair theory.

Leonard Evens
20-Jan-2008, 10:32
Many such books are prescriptions for how to do this or that. I didn't find such books helpful because they didn't help me build a conceptual model of what I was doing.

Those books which explain things in context, including some theory, are much more helpful. The books I found most helpful in this regard were Real Word Photoshop by Bruce Fraser---lots of theory despite jetcode's remark--- and Professional Photoshop by Dan Margulis. The latter book is aimed mostly at prepress applications and emphasizes CMYK, which you are unlikely to be doing, but the principles are basically the same for RGB. Margulis's discussion of how you are never going to get all the colors right and how to concentrate on what is most important was worth the price of the book for me.

I actually do most of my photoediting using the Gimp under Linux. The best book I found for understanding the general process of photoediting is Grokking the Gimp by Corey Bunks. I had started off using Photoshop and trying to understand it using a couple of books on the subject, long since discarded, and getting nowhere. Then I switched to the Gimp and found this book, and suddenly everything became clearer. You can't lose anything except some time by looking at it since you can read it for free on the web at

gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html

If you ever get into color management, I think the only book worth its price is Real World Color Management by Bruce Fraser, Chris, Murphy, and Fred Bunting.

Note: All the Photoshop books get updated every time Adobe produces an update, and the authors may change. But the basic principles remain the same. You probably won't miss much if you get one "for CS2" for example, and you might save yourself some money.

Ron Marshall
20-Jan-2008, 11:01
I have read all of the PS books mentioned above, and own most of them. Most are fairly good.

The best I have found, by a photographer and written strictly for photographers, is Photoshop Artistry by Barry Haynes, Wendy Crumpler and Sean Duggan.

Ralph Barker
20-Jan-2008, 11:05
After a similar thread a few weeks ago, I bought the CS3 version of the Martin Evening book. I haven't made it through the entire book yet, but so far I'm pleased with the level of coverage and detail.

Lenny Eiger
21-Jan-2008, 11:18
I like Amadou Diallo's new book. It's focused on B&W, but it has a lot of great background info as well. good all-around, right most of the time...

Lenny

snapsnap
9-May-2008, 16:45
I have this book by Margulis but for photoshop 6, just about to read it, very informative for me.
he released one for photoshop 7,
does anyone know if getting the second book is worth it in terms of new information,
I can only access it via amazon.com and can`t see any information thats different,
and theres no cs3 version...

I am wondering if this book will help me with printing on my home epson and hp printers,
I wanted to get a higher end HP with RIP which I believe you can then focus on controlling cmyk ink output, where as lower end home printers use rgb data, is this correct?

mdd99
9-May-2008, 17:13
Adobe Photoshop for Photographers, by Martin Evening.

Stephen Best
9-May-2008, 18:29
I have this book by Margulis but for photoshop 6, just about to read it, very informative for me.
he released one for photoshop 7,
does anyone know if getting the second book is worth it in terms of new information,
I can only access it via amazon.com and can`t see any information thats different,
and theres no cs3 version...

I am wondering if this book will help me with printing on my home epson and hp printers,
I wanted to get a higher end HP with RIP which I believe you can then focus on controlling cmyk ink output, where as lower end home printers use rgb data, is this correct?

The current (and final) edition of Professional Photoshop has a lot of updated material. The author claims that 90% is new. However it isn't a great book on printing to inkjets. Then again, I haven't read any book that covers more than the superficials. You'll learn more by understanding how your printer works and experimentation ... and having a critical eye. There's a lot you can do with just the driver so I suggest you exhaust its possibilities before looking at alternatives.

Darryl Baird
10-May-2008, 08:19
I'll third this Martin Evening book. It has a professional approach though, so the depth included may or may not be what you're after. What type of work are you producing with Photoshop?

I second this book as well!

RJ-
10-May-2008, 09:38
I hope this isn't inappropriate to post although it is a little embarrassing.

I have a mint/new/unopened copy of Martin Evening's Photoshop 7.0 which I purchased in 2002 if anyone wants for the cost of postage.

Ideally I'd love to find a copy of any edition of the 'Book of Pyro' which I regret disposing of.

Kind regards,

RJ

Bruce M. Herman
10-May-2008, 11:45
Two books that won't cover the latest features, but will make you think about what you are doing are John Paul Caponigro's Adobe Photoshop Master Class and George DeWolfe's Digital Photography Fine Print Workshop. I don't know if they're still in print, but copies should be available from used book stores.

scrapbooker
28-Apr-2009, 23:28
"The Complete Guide to photoshop's most powerful feature" by Matt Kloskowski is nice.
Try this.