digital photography

I've been using PhotoShop since about 1993 when the publisher I used dumped his darkroom to go digital.

Since then, I've owned many Photoshop books. My favorites have been the WOW! Book series, because of the free styles and other goodies on the CD-ROM, and Real World Photoshop by Blatner and Fraser.

Recently, I bought a new Canon EOS 10D, and I was looking for books to aid in color correcting and retouching photos shot with a digital SLR. I couldn't believe how easy "the Photoshop Book for Digitial Photographers" is to use.

If you think the WOW! books are great, you'll really enjoy Kelby's book; his instructions are so simple and they produce such dramatic results.

The book is also a good bargain for the money. The list price is ... which is much better than a ... book that's loaded with useless tutorials on effects that have no practical applications.

Now, I only wish I could get a subscription to Photoshop User magazine, which Kelby edits, without having to join the NAPP. I think ... is too steep for 12 issues of a magazine. Guess I'll just have to wait for Kelby's next book!

I read a review that said this book is written for professional photographers and hi-end serious amateurs. While that may be true, I found all of the explanations in the book to be very simple and step-by-step, so that advanced beginners or intermediate users should be able to follow along easily.

Author Scott Kelby, Photoshop User magazine editor, shows you the Photoshop pros' techniques for managing, correcting, retouching and outputting your photos to produce brilliant results. This book is great for traditional photographers who are making the jump to digital photography. Reading it should empower you to experiment with your photos.

The full color book is packed with graphics and tutorials that will show you how to re-size your images with the proper resolution without losing image quality, deal with High ISO noise, blue channel noise, and other common digital camera problems. There's good info on color correcting photos for output on everything from inkjet printers to printing presses, and how to get perfect fleshtones. I love the "digital plastic surgery" and facial retouching techniques using Photoshop 7.0's new tools.

Plus, some great exercises in masking, digital dodging and burning tricks, colorizing hair and replacing a portion of a pic (such as a sky).

I have bought a number of photoshop books, and this is one of my favorites. It basically shows you how to do some specific tasks, such as color correction and other retouching techniques. The book takes you step by step through the process. People looking for books more akin to manuals will not like this book. I picked up a number of tips and am still working to incorporate his suggestions.