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Recent Recommended Books and Reviews
Deke McClelland is in rare form for Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks. His books are always good and informative but I cannot remember laughing as much. Nor not wanting to go to bed because the next tutorial looked to be just as fun as the one I had just completed. You hear about books being real page-turners but they are seldom tutorial books. So, to say that this books gets only five stars is truly an injustice. This book is a universe of stars. It has helped me finally gain a real good understanding of selection tools, channels and masks. One of the most frustrating things for me in Photoshop has always been the selection tools. I would spend hours slogging through pixel-by-pixel selections. Alternatively, I would duplicate entire photographs, do a bulk erase of an area I did not want, and then hone in and erase, once again pixel by pixel. That probably sounds dumb, right? Well after I read this book, I would say that would be a qualifying statement for my use of Photoshop. However, by Lesson 3 I was beginning to feel like a pro at selecting content but selecting content that looked like a pro did it, not my 4 year old son. Without a doubt, if you spend hours trying to get the perfect selection and tend to stick to one tool for selecting your content then this book is for you. Deke is very honest in his love for Photoshop as he has been there with it since its advent. I would say that this makes him a remarkably trustworthy source. So, when he says the “Magic wand tool often feels not so magical” it makes you feel better that even a pro thinks some of the Photoshop tools are not as good as they ought to be. But then, through his instruction he shows you that often it is not so much the weakness off the tool but rather when and how to use them. He even shows some outstanding tricks that you would never figure out unless you are a selection tool guru, or had read a book. Therefore, I will say it again. If selecting stuff really creates a standstill in your workflow then this book is for you. Channels as well have always been a mystery to me. However, did you know that channels are one of the simplest ways to see if your mask selection is a good one or not? I used to think that the channels tab was only useful if I got too frustrated in Photoshop and wanted to watch a little TV. Little did I know that channels could help me to alleviate my frustrations. Deke does a fantastic job at clarifying how you can put channels to use for you when you are making selections. In fact, in many ways he stresses indirectly that a visit to the channels tab is ALWAYS a good thing to do after selecting something. This book is really for those Photoshop users who not only want to take their work to the next level, but take it there quickly. Deke has left no stones unturned in his treatment of channels and masks. The first three units are golden. The rest of the book is priceless. In addition, true to form for Deke’s work, the example files that you work with are extraordinary. One of my favorite things about working in this book is the exceptionally high quality creative images used in the tutorials. It really deviates from the typical fare for this kind of book. Many times, I have become bored working in other Photoshop tutorials because the images have been so blah (to put it nicely). Not here, with this book you start with awesome images and then make them spectacular.
A lot of people own websites these days and it doesn't look like the rate of website creation is going to slow down! Many businesses are creating websites and we are seeing a huge amount of blog sites that cater to different audience and deliver different types of content. One thing that I find to be true about all of those websites is that they WANT TO BE SEEN. They want someone to "land on their page." How does the website owner, webmaster or internet marketer get that to happen? A lot can be learned from Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions that pretty much covers many of the ways that a website can increase its traffic, profit and visibility. So much is covered in these pages. There are different reasons that people have webpages, but often one reason is to either sell a product or to make a profit from services like Google AdSense. This book is not solely about marketing services like Google AdSense, but it delivers a TON of information for someone who may be in the position of wanting to see an increase in profit from their website by explaining the things that can be done and that should be done to bring more people to your website and keep them coming back. Of course, having a webpage is not always about making a buck and Tim Ash's book does not only cater to those who are attempting to do such. In fact, this book gives insight on how to simply accomodate and effectively reach out to your webpage's audience. Content, usability and interaction are important and discussed. It's a very well-researched book as well. You get real-world scenarios and some numbers if you want statistics and are a statistics/numbers person. You are also given insight on how to read your own website's numbers and what to do with those numbers.
Many photographers would agree that what you do after taking the photos is just as important as taking the photos. Photoshop CS3 Workflow: The Digital Photographer's Guide covers the ground for creating or maintaining an effective and efficient workflow for digital photography with the assistance and use of Adobe Photoshop CS3. The book is really a great resource for beginning digital photographers or for someone who has experience but is looking for a better way of processing and improving their photos. It really is a guide, guiding a digital photographer through the different areas of improving photos from the best and most efficient way of downloading photos to the computer by using Adobe Bridge to setting up automation for your processing within Photoshop. Topics covered can make your studio more powerful and able to produce even better results.
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