Do you have this book?

[clare]

Hi folks,

I am wondering whether anyone here has this book :

New Masters of Photoshop (with CD ROM)
~Catherine McIntyre, et al
Friends of ED

If you have - What do you think of it? Has it inspired you? Would you rate it?

I was thinking of buying it but don't want to waste my money if it isn't worth it !!

Thanks
Clare

It's got good reviews on Amazon but I don't know how much they can be trusted for a realistic view of the book

[DannyRaphael]

Your like / dislike will be a function of what you're looking for.

I got this book and sold it fairly quickly, but I was looking for "photo-art" related topics and there really wasn't much of that. Do you have a large volume bookstore closeby where you could "browse" before you buy?

As an alternative you might look into getting the "previous edition" of this book on the used market. Different content, but same concept...

Check out half.com:
http://half.ebay.com/cat/buy/prod.cg...1856&meta_id=1

Another book in the same league, again an older edition, but similar in content is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

I suspect there are "used book" sites in the UK where you could get these at a discount. If not (and you want either of them), let me know. I'll have them shipped to me... and I'll turn around and ship them to you. No problem. Still save you a lot of $$.

~Danny~

[clare]

Thanks for the feed back Danny - sorry it has taken me so long to respond. Things got a little hectic at the end of last week.

I was looking at this book as a hopeful for inspiration and different peoples techniques. I have got a book store near me and did a quick flick through - but was unable to spend any time really finding out the nitty gritty - so your input has been of a great help.

What book would you recomend for inspirational work and techniques in fine art digital photography? I always prefer to buy books that people have recomended.

I cleared out my book shelves about 3 years ago when I moved house (not the photography books they stayed!) and the amount of books that I had purchase and either never read or were just plain rubbish was astounding. My local library has been shut for the past year with building problems, so I can't even go down and browse there. - not that they ever kept any decent computer books - it was all what is DOS, and Windows95 etc. no help there.

I have also been keeping an eye on the inspirational thread in the forum.

So any help would be great
Thanks again
Clare

[DannyRaphael]

Clare:

Frankly none that I've read to date really jump out as "outstanding" to me. Given that everyone is different from the perspectives of experience, skills, artistic / creative abilities, etc., what's inspiring to one person is, "So what?" to another.

Personally I'm not a "production" artist whose livelihood depends on my abilty to generate time and again super-creative collages that blend textures and type effects and images and special effects into a surreal final result. (not that you are, either) This type of person needs way different inspiration than I do.

The books I mentioned "aren't bad," especially if you get them 2nd hand for less than full retail price. Not a lot of specific detail on the "how" (techniques) -- these are not 'step-by-step' how-to books, but each has lots of images for visual inspiration plus artists' commentary on thought processes, creative decisions, etc.

Another that might be worth a look was co-written by Deke McClleland and Katrin Eismann.

Photoshop Studio Secrets Amazon.com link

This is another with each chapter dedicated to a different artist. Interview, Q-A, images from concept to final result.

Again, I'd suggest browsing at the local bookstore, then decide if you want to part with your hard earned money. Then buy it used!

Hope this helps...
~Danny~

[clare]

Thanks for the book idea danny -I will check it out on different sites in the uk. I like the idea of buying it second hand - keeping money to a minimum is always a winner with me.

It seems my best bet is to fill up on coffee and spend a morning browsing through a decent bookstore to get just the right book.

I have just bought the katrin eismann book on retouching after so many people here were raving about it - It is very good and I have already learnt techniques that I have put into practice in a current commission - money well spent even if she is about to update the book!

If I find a fantastic book I'll post what I find.
Thanks for your input
Clare