The Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations

div class=“Aplus” pAward-winning photography/design team Harold and Phyllis Davis are back with a brand-new volume in their new Photoshop Darkroom series. Picking up where their best-selling first book left off, iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2: Advanced Digital Post-Processing/i will show you everything you need to know to take your digital imaging skills to the next level./p p Great photographers know that the best images begin well before the shutter clicks, and certainly well before Photoshop boots up. Harold takes a step back, and shares his helpful tips for capturing the most compelling images possible by keeping in mind what type of post-processing you'll do before you start shooting. You'll also find complete coverage of important topics such as compositing, working with layers, and HDR. Packed with tons of eye-popping images which have won Harold national acclaim, this is a fantastic resource for photographers who want to think outside the box and create truly stunning artwork. /p ul liCompatible with any version of Photoshop/li liUseful case studies break information down into condensed, real-world examples which are easy to follow and put into practice immediately/li liImages and supplemental material are available for free on Focal Press's website /li /ulbr SPAN class=h3colorBAmazon Exclusive: Selected Techniques from iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations/i/B/SPANbr pThese images show some of the techniques explained in iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2/i:/p table width="98%" tr tdimg src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/Kirsten._V196267485_.jpg" border="0" width="150" alt="Kirsten"/div class="imageCaption"I used multi-RAW processing to build up this striking portrait with a dark background. Photoshop’s retouching features smoothed the skin and helped enhance the eyes./div/td tdimg src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/Sunny-Side_Up._V196267459_.jpg" border="0" width="250" alt="Sunny Side Up" /div class="imageCaption"This macro photo of water drop reflections and refractions was enhanced using partial desaturation and the soft light blending mode./div/td tdimg src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/Sea_Palm_Forest._V196267459_.jpg" border="0" width="250" alt="Sea Palm Forest" /div class="imageCaption"This image of sea palms (kelp) in the surf is a stacked composite view with photos taken over a period of time combined in Photoshop./div/td tdimg src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/stech-ems/No_Yolk._V196267485_.jpg" border="0" width="198" alt="No Yolk"/div class="imageCaption"This photo composite started with a shot of an empty eggshell, and an entirely separate shot of a wasp. In Photoshop, I used an LAB color adjustment to turn the wasp wings green, then composited the wasp into the eggshell./div/td /tr /table brbr SPAN class=h3colorBAmazon Exclusive: A Letter from Harold and Phyllis Davis on iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations/i/B/SPANbr pDear Amazon Readers,/p pHow would you like a Photoshop book that is one part inspiration, one part nuts-and-bolts techniques, and 100% as visually gorgeous as a 21st-century Photoshop book should be? That’s our idea behind iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2/i: to inspire you so you can create your best imagery with the tools you need./p pThere’s really no secret sauce here. Our earlier book, iThe Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing/i has been hailed as “the best Photoshop book ever,” “easy to use,” and “fun!” We’ve used the same approach in iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations/i. We don’t try to cover everything: we explain Photoshop from the perspective of what we really do every day in the course of our professional lives. We are not interested in bells and whistles for the sake of bells and whistles; we are interested in getting things done. We believe that having fun and being inspired is part of the point of Photoshop, and we’ve tried to make every page in our book both fun and inspiring./p pWe often get asked two questions about iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2/i: First, how does this book relate to the first Photoshop Darkroom? And then, do I need the latest and greatest version of Photoshop to get the most out of your book?/p pThese are good questions./p piThe Photoshop Darkroom 2/i and the original iPhotoshop Darkroom/i are companion volumes. Each one is meant to be read on its own. Since we didn’t want to repeat ourselves too much, in some places in iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2/i we refer you to the first book for more in-depth information about certain topics. But you certainly don’t need to read them in order./p pAs the subtitle, iCreative Digital Transformations/i, suggests, iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2/i emphasizes the portions of Photoshop that involve changing the nature of what is shown: retouching to remove flaws and enhance beauty, making the unseen visible, and photo compositing to create new worlds./p piThe Photoshop Darkroom 2/i was written using the most up-to-date software available at the time of writing, Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Lightroom 3. A few of the features specific to these versions are discussed in the book. However, for the most part, the techniques shown in iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2/i (as with the first iPhotoshop Darkroom/i) involve core features of Photoshop such as layers and masking that have been available for a long time./p pIf you are new to Photoshop, iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2/i is designed to get you up to speed quickly. If you are an old hand in the digital darkroom, we think you’ll find some new techniques in iThe Photoshop Darkroom 2/i--and, more importantly, some new ideas about how to approach Photoshop and the digital future. /p pWe hope our book helps you along your path as a photographer and digital image creator. Enjoy! /p p--Harold and Phyllis Davis/p /div