PS Book Recommendations Please

[feivel]

Ordered PS7 15 min ago, it's on the way.

Meanwhile, please any reccommendations for a good thorough book would be most appreciated.

My main interest is in photo retouching, restoration and painting.

I'm not intersested in a very beginning book like the dummy series, I have some experience with paintshop already, and am familiar with the basic concepts.

I'm really quite excited.

Thank you in advance.

(Iwon't be able to reply for about a day and a half).

[d_kendal]

Photoshop Restoration & Retouching by Katrin Eismann is the best photoshop book I've seen so far, it's a really excellent book, I learned a lot from it.

- David

[winwintoo]

David and Chuck have mentioned the best books out there IMHO but I want to mention two more that I find useful.

The first is Photoshop 6 (or 7) in an instant - it's only $15 US and it's all pictures with arrows pointing to what button to push and where to find the particular control - you might dismiss it as a "dummies" book, but I kept it in the "library" for a couple of weeks and scanned through it and learned a lot - photoshop is a lot more fun when you don't have to read EVERY menu every time you want to do something.

The other book that I refer to a lot is the manual that comes with Photoshop (it's in the edu version too).

..... and then after you've spent your children's inheritance on all the books, you'll find out that THIS forum is the best way to learn......

Take care, Margaret

[clare]

Katrin's restoration book is the best I have found as yet for restoration and retouching.

If you are after something more art orientated then this one might be of interest

The Art of Photoshop by David Giordan

There are some very useful techniques in it that could help with your overall experience of photoshop as well as some good ideas about how far photoshop can be used as an expressive tool.

I am currently reading this book and have found it quite inspiring.
I think amazon gives a sample chapter for this book. (try both the American and the English site as sometimes they give different info about a book)

Hope this helps

Clare

If you order these from the links in retouch pro's review section, then you can support this site

[DannyRaphael]

I'll agree with Chuck that PS7 Bible is pretty wordy, but for completeness and as a reference, there's nothing like it. While it describes numerous PS techniques, it's definitely not intended to be a "How to learn PS" book.

With regard to "Painting," that's a pretty general term. Do you mean freehand-like (vs. using actions) or what?

Here's a thread in a different venue that might be of interest:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...essage=4300043

~Danny~

[john_opitz]

"Professional Photoshop"

It's here.

Professional Photoshop



<<My main interest is in photo retouching, restoration and painting.>>

P.P.S. is more for color corection. But there are good techniques for retouching using L*A*B.

[feivel]

Thank you.
I will probably purchase Katrins Book
and Adobes "Photoshop 7 Classroom in a book"
Meanwhile I am finding that online tutorials are the best way to learn the basics

[feivel]

Anyone heard of "Adobe Photoshop 7 For Photographers"?

[winwintoo]

I have Photoshop 6 Classroom in a Book and I found it very frustrating. I ended up putting it on the shelf and relying on this forum and other tutorials on the 'net for most of the learning I did.

I did learn a lot from Katrin's book and others that are mentioned above although I haven't tried PS for Photographers.

Unless you have a burning need to own books (and there is medication you can take for that ) I recommend you just stick with the folks here to learn PS.

Take care, Margaret

[feivel]

You know, relying on this forum is probably a great idea when I know a little more.

But it's hard to ask very broad questions like "how do you set up color management"
And people might get tired of me asking every 5 minutes : "where's this tool. what's this for,?" I'll probably end up getting a very pleasant reply like: "We welcome your questions, but you do need to do at least a little research"

But maybe you're right, books might not be the best way to start.
I've seen tutorials all over the place, that might be the best way to go if I can find the right level.

Thank you
feivel

[winwintoo]

If you make use of the documentation that you receive with PS7, you'll be able to find all the tools.

I can't praise the members of this forum enough. They helped me learn PS from scratch and you need only do a search for "winwintoo" to uncover some of the bonehead questions I asked

Margaret

[angue]

I have PS6 for Photographers by Martin Evening. It's a good book for retouching photos. But don't look for restoration tips. It's main thrust is to manipulate digital images.

Tony

[feivel]

thanks all

feivel

[jeaniesa]

Another really good "overall" book is Ben Willmore's Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Studio Techniques. (There are previous versions as well.) Ben does a great job of explaining things in a way that's easy to understand. This is the book that got me started - and then learned almost everything else here. I did purchase Katrin's book as well - after learning about it here.

Jeanie

[winwintoo]

Please don't misunderstand - I LOVE books and use them for inspiration and often refer to them.

At the same time, I want to stress the valuable asset that RetouchPRO is.

Take care, Margaret