Restoration & Retouching(Katrin Eismann)

[john_opitz]

Katrin Eismann book on retouching and restoration. When I bought the book. Reading the first 4 chapters (chapters 1-4) I was not too impressed with it. Being a deciple of high end color books and using only curves for color correction and contrast moves for color and b&w. Nevertheless the book (chapters 1-4 ) has some good tips in it and those chapters are geared towards the beginner as well as the intermediate retoucher. She explains the color balance sliders,variations, as well as (explains lightly on the use) levels and curves. And I can understand. The book is on retouching and restoration, not geared towards high end color correction. Depending on who (company) you work for as a retoucher and restorer. Your workflow might not be having you do color correction as a retoucher. Retouchers in the field will know what I mean by that. But the book kicks into high gear from chapters 5-10. The experiences she and others (other methods professionals are doing. Example: Eddie Tapp, who is a photographer as well) bring to the book. One method is as good, if not, better than the other. Katrin Eismann is a very open minded retoucher,author and educator. She brings the best(methods) to the book. She explains not only about retouching methods for the picture(portrait). But also to have a feeling for the portrait,as well as for retouching. Which is important for retouching. Example: don't make a 80 year old man into a 20 year old. Holding back on the retouching is better than over doing it. Overall, I'm impressed with Katrin Eismanns' book "Photoshop Restoration & Retouching" The book is not only for the intermediate/advanced (as it states in the back of the book). But for the beginner as well. Anyone who wants to learn about retouching and the advanced retoucher who wants to learn about other (and better) methods are candidates for this book

[Ed_L]

John,

I was a little reluctant on buying the book because I felt that my level of skill would fall short of what I needed to benefit from the book. But I was surprised. She explained it in such a way that I was able to benefit greatly.

Ed

[Matt Elder]

I actually really liked the book as it answered a couple of the 'nagging' issues that I could never figure out what to do about (such as scanning from glossy paper and getting dots everywhere and how to minimise these). I would tend to think the book was more geared at how to 'fix' images rather than how to prepare images for prepress print. It started to deal a little with the 'calculations' option which I would like to get a solid book on (I have "PhotoShop Channel Chops" which I would highly recommend but I still feel there is alot more that could be said on this subject). I guess a strong point was the number of examples that you could work through and had the base images to. Very difficult to 'learn' photoshop without 'doing'.

[DJ Dubovsky]

Some how I missed this thread when it first came out. I too like the book and it's the one I keep handiest for reference. She did a great job on it and if anyone has troubles she is quick to get back to you with help.
DJ

[Hankster65]

This is kind of an old thread, but I wanted to float it back to the top for the benefit of any newcomers who are not yet aware of Katrin's book.

My brother and his wife were kind enough and thoughtful enough to give me this book as a Christmas present. I had heard many positive comments on this board about it, so I knew it was going to be good. I just didn't know how good!

I keep several problem shots (bad exposure, difficult restoration, etc.) on my system that I use as a barometer to measure my skill against. After reading Katrin's book and doing many of the tutorials, I went back to those problem shots, redid them, and matched the results against my prior results. The improvements were stunning.

Its a tremendous book for anyone doing this kind of work and I *highly* recommend it.

[john_opitz]

I personally like Helene Delillos' work(studio photography & design magazine. April 2001). Some of her techniques are in chapter 10 of Restoration & Retouching.

[DJ Dubovsky]

John
I'll have to check out that one. Thanks.

Tim
I think what I am most impressed with Katrin's book is her responsiveness to your problems. I have e-mailed her a few times as have others and she was very quick to respond personally. I thought that was very unusual but a real plus in my book.
DJ

[Hankster65]

Dj, that is a nice benefit. I'll keep that in mind.

One thing I meant to mention and forgot...I understand Amazon.com has a pretty good deal on this book. I also recall reading somewhere that its advantageous to *this* site if you link from here to Amazon to buy the book.

[DJ Dubovsky]

Yes, Doug's site gets a small percentage of the profits if you access Amazon from his link. He's posted it several places on this forum but click here and you will get to Amazon through Doug's link.
DJ

[john_opitz]

One other thing, I know I don't post as many as others do here. I'm more into color correction,retouching than restoration. But Dan Margulis' book "Professional Photoshop 6" is good also. I do a lot of channel blending. That book helped a lot on that subject. The three I have are "Professional Photoshop 6", "Photoshop Restoration & Retouching", "Adobe Photoshop 6 for Photographers".
Martin Evenings' book is geared more for RGB'ers(photographers). That book is o.k.
Don't forget her(Ms. Eismanns') website to download the images from her book. It's listed in her book.


p.s. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !.......Everyone.....

[Dolby]

With a bit of luck, I'll be getting Katrin's book tomorrow..

[DJ Dubovsky]

Dolby
When you get it, let us know what you think. Also if there are some trouble spots in it for you, let us know since alot of members here probably already found the same ones and can give you a hand.
DJ

[Dolby]

Thanks DJ, will do.
Didn't turn up today *sob*

[d_kendal]

today I got the restoration & retouching book!!! I've been reading through it quickly and I love it. I don't actually have PhotoShop, but since I'm using the GIMP which is basically a photoshop knockoff and works very much like it, everything makes sense anyways. also I haven't really got into layers much yet, and the book has great stuff on all that which should really help me. Katrin Eismann is incredibly talented at photo editing and I think shes done an excellent job of making each chapter like an easy to follow tutorial.

- David