Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop

Many consider Martin Evening's Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers to be the single best and most comprehensive book available for CS5. This book is a welcome companion that further expands on that book with more detailed examples of professional workflow, retouching and advanced techniques.The 26 movie tutorials with over 3 hours of content are worth the price of the book many times over.Interestingly, the first chapter, entitled "Before You Shoot" is a wealth of advice from a seasoned professional on how to prepare before shooting to give yourself a better setup for using Photoshop.The 2nd chapter is a very detailed and well explained camera raw workflow. Camera raw is a very important part of my processing and this chapter illustrates Raw workflow with beautiful progressive step-by-step images with full explanatory text. The movie tutorial covers these same pages so you have the advantage of seeing his workflow in both the text and in the video. Very well done.The 3rd chapter you almost never find in a Photoshop book and goes over all the things a good photographer does to guarantee the maximum image IQ before Photoshop is ever opened. There are many jewels here that many photographers may never consider and have a great deal to do with that elusive snap you are looking for in your final image.The book continues with example after example of fully explained and illustrated step-by-step "how-to's". I've found a wealth of information and technique combining the text with the movie tutorials. These are very well done.All the example files are on the DVD so you can work alongside the text.I don't see a list of chapters in the book description, so here they are:1. Before you shoot2. Camera Raw workflow3. Raising your IQ4. Mending and blending5. Now you see it, now you don't6. Retouching people7. Masking and compositing8. Photoshop after dark9. Photomerges10. Cooking with Photoshop11. Robo Photoshop12. Photoshop output13. Minding your own businessIf you already own Evening's Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers, don't hesitate to buy this book.

This is a companion volume to co-author Evening's series of books on basic techniques to manage the various versions of Photoshop taking into account the new resources incorporated in each one. (There was one for CS2, for example, then, 3, 4, 5—on which this volume is based—and now one on CS6 and the latest, CC, or Creative Cloud, as well as books on the different recent versions of Lightroom.) This one is different: the authors present a set of complex problems, and describe how they solved each one. While it uses CS5 for its demonstrations, it is intended to serve as a stimulus for advanced users with slightly older, as well as more recent versions of the program. There is an emphasis on photography, but there is also a great deal of material for the graphic designer; one feature of all these books is attention to the different problems users will have to deal with in preparing their images for different end uses: book or magazine publication, advertising, web design, etc.As with all of this series of books, there is a DVD included which demonstrates various general points, and then goes through the creation of some images step-by-step, as well as including various other reference items, all of which can be downloaded onto your computer, and used for practice as well. Knowledge of basic Photoshop techniques is assumed, and users not familiar with the recent versions of the program will probably get lost trying to follow the examples. For those interested in acquiring this sort of sophisticated technique with digital imaging, I would recommend beginning with the basic volume written for whichever version of Photoshop you are using, and only then going on to an advanced text such as this.

While this book is a SPLENDID accompaniment to the initial title Adobe Photoshop® CS5 for Photographers, the previous reviews I read did not make it clear that this is a workshop book for the original title. You can learn a lot from the material here, but if you are looking for an in-depth play-by-play...this isn't it. The author does a wonderful job at speaking about how to do things differently. Unfortunately, photo retouching is only briefly discussed because he indicates it is in depth in his previous book. After buying this, I had to get the original title so I could utilize both. If you know a little about Photoshop, you will probably want to get both too.

What I like about this book is that it covers a lot of topics. A lot of the subjects covered I don't use so I found myself skipping around a lot but the book allows you to do that. I also find myself going back to the parts that I need most. You can read it like a text, but it is also a great reference.You have to have at least basic Photoshop knowledge (perhaps a little more) because this is not aimed at anyone who is new to the program. What I really like is how they go over things you should do before you even pick up the camera because, as we all should know, everything cannot be "photoshopped."

While I wanted a decent intermediate level Photoshop book, I got a very advanced book. Typically, when showing two images in the before and after stages, the limits of the small reproductions cancel out most of the effect. This is common in Photoshop books in general. What saves this book and makes it one I'm very glad to own, is the accompanying DVD. Not only does it make labyrinthine explanations comprehensible, it makes it easier to see the differences in these before and after images.A killer book on Photoshop, but only for advanced users.

The previous reviews that stated this book is for professional Photoshop users are very correct. I have used Photoshop for years, but this book was still leaps and bounds beyond my level of experience. There were some very good tips that I will be able to use, but the vast majority was not for me. If you are a professional photographer or graphic designer, this would probably be a good investment.

I bought this book after reading and using the previous CS3 and CS4 versions expecting it to be just an updated or padded out copy as it was from the CS3 to CS4 books. To some degree this is true as the book covers subjects as if you haven't read Martin's workshop books before. This is where the similarity ends. There is so much new material in the book to use alongside the accompanying CS5 for Photographers book and all the new features in CS5 itself that I can honestly say it's well worth the money and a compelling read.Martin's books are written in an easy to understand style and are very 'to the point' with little or no frivolity ensuring you get the most from the immense amount of information contained within.If you haven't read Martin Evenings books before, don't be tempted to buy this on its own as it was designed to be read after and in conjunction with "Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: A professional image editor's guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC"

This is an excellent book for those who want to move on from the basics. I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to photoshop. As it looks at more complex matters. Well worth having in your library.

a lot to get your head round

As usual from this author, an excellent and well written book about the subject.

Purchase d as a present and found it to be better than expected a must to have for digital photography. Very please d. And quick delivery