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Author: Harold Davis
ISBN : B00BY79JV4
New from $8.61
Format: PDF, EPUB
Free download Free Download The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations [Kindle Edition] for everyone book 4shared, mediafire, hotfile, and mirror link
Award-winning photography/design team Harold and Phyllis Davis are back with a brand new volume in their new Photoshop Darkroom series. Picking up where their best-selling first book left off, The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Advanced Digital Post-Processing will show you everything you need to know to take your digital imaging skills to the next level. Great photographers know that the best images begin well before the shutter clicks, and certainly well before Photoshop boots up. Harold takes a step back, and shares his helpful tips for capturing the most compelling images possible by keeping in mind what type of post-processing you'll do before you start shooting. You'll also find complete coverage of important topics such as compositing, working with layers, and HDR. Packed with tons of eye-popping images which have won Harold national acclaim, this is a fantastic resource for photographers who want to think outside the box and create truly stunning artwork.
Direct download links available for Free Download The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations [Kindle Edition]
- File Size: 10413 KB
- Print Length: 208 pages
- Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
- Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (March 20, 2013)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00BY79JV4
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,125,799 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #53
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Photography > Photography > Darkroom & Processing
- #53
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Photography > Photography > Darkroom & Processing
Free Download The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations
This slim volume covers a few areas of image-processing. Some areas are covered nicely, while others are considerably weaker.
Harold Davis excels with his backlit images of flowers which have all the delicacy of water color. His technique (he calls it 'hand hdr') of combining multiple exposures is covered in detail. He also describes his unusual compositing techniques, which have given him strange and beautiful images. He enjoins the reader to experiment with different color spaces, particularly Lab Color. Virtually all of his transformations are accomplished without the filters (pastel, gesso, brushstrokes, etc) used by first-timers. This is all valuable information.
Where I feel that Davis falls short is in his actual use of Photoshop. While his techniques work, they barely touch on more recent developments in PS. For example, Davis recommends layering varied conversions of the same RAW file. But he doesn't touch on the subject of smart layers, which both simplify this process and confer greater flexibility. Nor is there any mention of adjustment layers, which I believe would accomplish many of his effects with less fuss. Much of his compositing (I'm thinking particularly of his Escher-like staircases) would be much easier with the new puppet warp feature. He also uses a brush to paint over many problem areas; while he's good at it, it's devilishly difficult to do and shows too little faith in judicious use of the new context-sensitive features of CS5. The section on glamour retouching should have been excluded. Many of the problems could have been eliminated by more careful studio lighting. Most of the remaining touch-up looks artificial. All in all, it feels like Davis's knowledge of Photoshop has not been refreshed in quite some time.
Photoshop is a mature product, having been around for a couple of decades. It is huge in terms of the number of features, and the book market for teaching people how to use it has evolved accordingly. At first there were only "Bible" books that attempted to teach you everything. More recently there have been books that are more topical, teaching you specific kinds of skills, like color adjustment, or digital collage, or painting. I haven't seen a book of this sort before - mainly because I have not read it's predecessor, The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Just looking at the cover, then flipping through the pages, one cannot help but be astonished at the lively, colorful, attractive pictures. The usual flowers, pictures of women's faces, spiral staircases, but with unusual treatments. "How did he DO that?" is a question that keeps coming up as I browse the book.
HOW HE DOES IT
The best part of this book, and what sets it apart from others, is he takes you through multi-step processes of using a variety of different techniques to create a unique image. Other books will typically show you how to use one technique, and the result. That's very helpful, as far as it goes, but the real power of Photoshop is combining these techniques. Going through a process of combining the techniques gets you to think about planning the result and how to get there.
The book is organized as a series of separate projects. Each project has the steps, including original pictures, and interim steps along the way. He explains what he is doing, and why.