Photoshop Stuff | January 5, 2004

bongoman said on January 5, 2004 11:54 PM

My two favourites:

Realworld Photoshop by Bruce Fraser and David Blatner: the deepest book there is. These guys have a very strong technical understanding of digital imaging in general and Photoshop in paricular. Stay tuned for the CS version in February (I think).

Adobe Photoshop Master Class by John Paul Caponigro, who is a digital fine art photographer. The book gives insights into his way of working along with some good general technical knowledge. Check out his site: http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/

I have also heard good things about the Photoshop Artistry books.

None of these books will show you how to make liquid flaming chrome type with lightning bolts but they will enable you to explore the depths of Photoshop, especially for photographers.

bongoman said on January 5, 2004 11:59 PM

I should also mention a great site:

http://www.imagingrevue.com

You’ve got to pay for the privilege but you get access to some serious photoshop gurus both via their articles but perhaps more significantly in the forums:

- John Paul Caponigro
- Katrin Eismann
- Martin Evening
- Bruce Fraser
- Greg Gorman
- Mac Holbert
- Seth Resnick
- Andrew Rodney
- Jeff Schewe

BTW, I have no connection with the site.

bill said on January 6, 2004 12:32 AM

The two that I have found helpful when teaching — and that my students enjoy — are:

Adobe Creative Team, Adobe Photoshop CS Classroom in a Book. Berkeley: Adobe P, 2003.

Scott Kelby, Adobe Photoshop CS Down & Dirty Tricks. Indianapolis: New Riders, 2003.

Zelnox said on January 6, 2004 5:32 AM

www.phong.com
Good for beginners.

Brad Knapp said on January 6, 2004 7:42 PM

Ok, you wanna know about photoshop? Here’s a couple hundred links. Go into the Popular Photography Magazine Forums at Digital Imaging & Editing Tips for a ton of links to amazing info about PS.

Every couple of days I try to read another article listed here. Mabye I’ll have them all done before I retire.

Digital Imaging & Editing Tips

Brad Knapp said on January 6, 2004 7:46 PM

Doh! the link didn’t stick, let’s try that again:
http://www.popphoto.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=7840&sessionID=8CDDA9C02AA44AF48C724F4683D7AE49

Stephane said on January 7, 2004 12:58 PM

As osmeone already mention the Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book would be a good choice.

And there’s always what I do, read the actual manual but it’s only for someone who bought the app ;-)

Amit Karmakar said on January 7, 2004 10:27 PM

Have you tried Ben Willmore’s “Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Studio Techniques, The Definitive Guide to Photoshop” Maybe he will release one for PhotoShop CS. I have the version 7 book, its simply awesome. If I am not mistaken he also has hands on training sessions. But then again just one book is never enough and one can only learn so much in a classroom.

Amit Karmakar said on January 7, 2004 10:49 PM

Thought I’d add some URLs as well.

Free tutorials on Apple’s site - http://www.apple.com/creative/resources/ttphotoshop/
Total Training - Not free but real good stuff - http://www.totaltraining.com/ (try signing in for a free Demo CD)
Digital Mastery, Ben Willmore - http://www.digitalmastery.com/

Andrew Bolte said on January 9, 2004 11:02 PM

The Apple tutorials were actually quite helpful. Thanks for putting them up, Amit.

I haven’t looked at any of the links posted, but I’m starting to learn Photoshop 7.0 (a bit behind the times, I know, but it’s what I have) and will look those up to see how they are.

Andy Budd said on January 14, 2004 12:17 AM

I have to admit that I spent quite some time in Borders over the weekend and couldn’t find a single useful Photoshop book.

I know how to operate Photoshop, so don’t require a beginners book explaining what a mask is. There were a few descent looking books aimed at photographers, but nothing of use for the graphic designer or web designer.

All I could find were the usual 101 tasteless Photoshop effects books. You know the ones I mean. The ones that show you how to create really ugly wood or chrome textures, nasty “neon” text and bevelled buttons. Great if you want to create 1994 style sites, but not so good if you want to create 2004 style sites.

There are so many good photoshop designer out there, creating great looking designs, why does every Photoshop book look like it’s been written by a 17 year old who’s just discovered filters and layer styles. I want to know the though processes behind some of the great Photoshop montages you see, or how people go about creating cool Icons and GUI elements.

So please New Riders, head my call and make a descent Photoshop book for professional graphic designers and web designers.

Amit Karmakar said on January 14, 2004 11:52 PM

I know exactly what you mean Andy. ‘Tis unfortunate though! The quality of information in books has dropped a fair bit thesedays, besides, with books like ‘Build yourself a website in 24hrs’ and ‘Go to Moon in 3 days’ … the average buyers do fall for them!

Try http://www.eyeball-design.com/ some of his tutorials are excellent. Mix and match your ideas to his psd files you will find them handy.

Dare I say the books on Photoshop for Photographers are not even worth looking. I do photography almosty daily and with my photographers hat, NO I’d never buy one of ‘em. The amount of information one would find in those is no more than a simple google searches. So why buy then?

The trend of books these days is not to make the reader a master of the topic but make ‘em more dependant.

If you still have problems so let me know if I can help.

Andy Budd said on March 16, 2004 12:08 AM

The comments on this thread are now closed. However Amit asked me if I could post this link to more photoshop tutorials, so here goes.

http://www.karmakars.com/weblog/archives/2004/03/14/photoshop_tutorials.php

Florin said on January 12, 2006 2:26 AM

I would like to learn photoshop.Were can i get tutorials.Can anyone sugest me a website for beginers or something