Katrin Eismanns book 'Restoration & Retouching'

mtunstall · #16 11-26-2007, 09:44 AM

I agree with Manorts, Katrin's R&R book is very good, It has the presumption that the reader has an understanding of Photoshop and progresses from there. As you progress you realise that Katrin does not repeat all the processes in detail but concentrates on what is special in the examples. There are also examples of other's work which look to be illustrations of what can be achieved with the techniques being shown.
I refer to the book all the time and see it as a valuable aid.

dianajenna · #17 11-27-2007, 11:02 AM

I have never read one of her books, but I do have her DVD on restoration. So, obviously, there isn't the problem of her not finishing any steps, because she has to finish during a "live" tutorial. It's pricey; I think it was $160.00. I really have learned a lot from it. The only complaint I would have, I guess, is that the example photos are not in really bad shape. In other words, I would like to see her fix a reallllllly awful picture, like the ones I get sometimes.

Diana

klassylady25 · #18 11-28-2007, 11:25 PM

You should see some of the dooseys we get through Operation Photo Rescue... They are realllllly awful as you say.

katew · #19 11-29-2007, 02:01 AM

I like the book in general (I have Restoration and Retouching), but I agree that she does take the long way round sometimes. For example (I've only just started the book and am about a quarter of the way through), she shows how to bring out detail from dark areas of a photo by selecting the luminosity, but I found I can do the job just as well and a lot more quickly with a simple S curve in the curves menu. But maybe for some photos, her way would work better than an S curve?

BelindaA · #20 11-29-2007, 02:53 AM

I am looking at purchasing either Ctein or Katrins books, can anyone point me in the direction of one or the other?
I have basic to medium Photoshop skills and advanced computer skills.. so I should be able to muddle through quite a bit, but would still like some handholding

At the moment I am working on my own family photographs (some of those dreadful yellow 70's shots etc) but I want to learn the right processes as I would love to take this further in the future! From whats been said so far I am leaning to Katrin....
any advice much appreciated... thanks!

dianajenna · #21 11-29-2007, 10:53 AM

By the way, does anyone know how to pronounce her name? Is it "Kat' rin" or "Ka trin'"? In other words, is the emphasis on the 1st or 2nd syllable?

Just wondering.

Thanks!
Diana

cricket1961 · #22 11-29-2007, 11:25 AM

It is pronounced "Katreen"

Chris

dianajenna · #23 11-29-2007, 12:42 PM

Thank you Chris. It seems so obvious now.

I'm pretty sure I've heard someone with that name before at some time.

Diana

Manorts · #24 11-30-2007, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BelindaA

I am looking at purchasing either Ctein or Katrins books, can anyone point me in the direction of one or the other?
I have basic to medium Photoshop skills and advanced computer skills.. so I should be able to muddle through quite a bit, but would still like some handholding

At the moment I am working on my own family photographs (some of those dreadful yellow 70's shots etc) but I want to learn the right processes as I would love to take this further in the future! From whats been said so far I am leaning to Katrin....
any advice much appreciated... thanks!

That is the exact situation I was in last year. I looked for the answer for 6 months and everywhere I looked, reference was always (well 90% of the time) made to Katrin Eismanns book 'Restoration & Retouching.
It formed the opinion it was the industry's restoration & retouching Bible.
As far as learning the "right processes", I do not think there are any. Have a look through some of the posts in the Help forum. You might get half a dozen members retouch a pretty ordinary photo, some really brilliant, but they all use different methods.

BelindaA · #25 11-30-2007, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manorts

That is the exact situation I was in last year. I looked for the answer for 6 months and everywhere I looked, reference was always (well 90% of the time) made to Katrin Eismanns book 'Restoration & Retouching.
It formed the opinion it was the industry's restoration & retouching Bible.
As far as learning the "right processes", I do not think there are any. Have a look through some of the posts in the Help forum. You might get half a dozen members retouch a pretty ordinary photo, some really brilliant, but they all use different methods.

Thanks Manorts! they are both pretty costly to get here in Australia, so I can only get the one at this time, and its REALLY helpful to have your opinion

Manorts · #26 11-30-2007, 02:41 AM

Keep an eye out at citysoftware. They are by far the cheapest that I found. Only $50 but they are out of stock at the moment.

JayNads · #27 11-30-2007, 11:08 PM

I've read a number of Photoshop books, and although Katrin's are way up at the top. She teaches a solid foundation. While she sometimes seems to be teaching (as Katew says) the long way around, what I believe she's doing is teaching technique. There are a dozen ways to achieve a similar end result in Photoshop, and she tries to teach most of them. True, sometimes there's a faster way to fix an image than the method she shows, but that's not the point. She's just showing one of many ways.

As for not offering instruction on all of the images, there are times where she just can't. Some images take so many steps to complete that writing the steps up just isn't practical. I think the point is that by utilizing some of the techniques, she is suggesting what is possible.

I have read about two dozen Photoshop books (and probably left a hundred others in the bookstore because I saw they were useless), and Katrin's are the ones I most reference. Sure, I've gotten a lot out of Dan Margulis, but without first reading Katrin, his books would be gibberish.

There are many books out there that do a reader a disservice. The author goes for humor or seems to actually try to keep people in the dark with partial information. Then there are those authors who have something to say but haven't released an updated version of their book since PS6 (Chris, are you listening?).

If anyone finds a book out there that they believe is really better, I really am interested to know - I've been looking for years and - thanks to her work - coming up short.

katew · #28 12-01-2007, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayNads

While she sometimes seems to be teaching (as Katew says) the long way around, what I believe she's doing is teaching technique. There are a dozen ways to achieve a similar end result in Photoshop, and she tries to teach most of them. True, sometimes there's a faster way to fix an image than the method she shows, but that's not the point. She's just showing one of many ways.

That's what I meant when I said that her way might work better on some photos. The way I did it was quicker, using the S curve, but her method might work better on a different photo. I think if you know a variety of ways to do any given process, you can choose the one that works best for the particular image you are working on.