Photoshop CS3 Workflow: The Digital Photographer's Guide

Reviewed by Dr. Eric Flescher

Author: Tim Grey Sybex 1151 Marine Village ParkwayAlmeda, CA 94501 http://www.sybex.com/WileyCDA/SybexTitle/productCd-0470119411.html Released: May 2007$40 USD Pages: 352 ISBN: 978-0-470-11941-9

Strengths: Includes information on raw format images. An in-depth highlight of curves with the applications, which is a very difficult topic, is applied in an excellent fashion in this book. Information regarding adjustment layers well done.   Weaknesses: Too much verbiage.There is a need for more arrows and pointers to integrate the information laid out in the screenshots and applied to the text and tutorials.

 

Introduction

 

“Workflow” is the latest “buzzword” regarding digital imagery. The word relates to the whole process of taking your images from the beginning to end and all the processes, tasks and management issues that are needed, for making your finished images even better. Photoshop CS3 Workflow: The Digital Photographer's Guide, is the next version of a popular book that takes your through the steps of workflow evolution.

 

The author, Tim Grey, is a renown Photoshop and digital photographer. He is Microsoft’s Chief ambassador to professional photographers and presents workshops on digital imaging. He is the author of another book Color Confidence. This book is the latest version of this book. I wanted to see whether this book has been updated compared to the previous version which I reviewed.

 

Within the book, there are many brilliant photographs to illustrate the points the author is trying to show you. Notes are also “peppered” throughout the fourteen chapters. Additional ideas related to the techniques are highlighte. I found these insightful and tied in well with the tutorial type information for the most part. Many screenshots, help illustrate the learning process but I wish some of them were larger. I would have liked to have seen more icons (like more red circles or pointers) that could have served to highlight and focus what the author talking about in the text.

 

Part 1, points to “getting started” and takes you from the beginning. Chapter 1 talks about workflow foundations. The main focus is the final results you want for your images. Chapter 2, “ downloading and sorting”, uses the browser Adobe bridge. On page 28, the “palette set up” is very well written in explaining and using palettes. The tool and palette shortcuts (page 34) are also well done and useful. Chapter 3, “ raw conversion” is well explained in terms of the reasons for using RAW images instead of JPEG or other types of images.

 

Part 2, works on the basic adjustments that are needed. In Chapter 4, “Basic adjustments” details how to use basic tools as, rotate and crop, using crop tool, using aspect ratio.

 

Chapter 5 “Basic tone and color” specifically targets evaluating channels. This written introduction into channels is done very well. In fact, this is some of the best information on the topic that I have seen. The screenshots and the shots of the application windows (Curve, levels, etc.) helping with the understanding. However only in a few places (page 101) were additional pointers or guides used in the windows (red enumerated small circles or additional ways) to verify even more explicitly what the author is speaking about. This chapter (page 110) has a real nice listing of five benefits of adjustment layers but I would have liked to have seen this information earlier in the chapter and focusing specifically on the benefits through the tutorials and screenshots. Levels and problems signs followed with clipping, gaps and posterization with levels adjustment pages 110-113) but I did not feel that the information was cohesive enough. Color balance (page 108) and (page 112) basic saturation have well done instructions.

 

Notes in Chapter 6 are very helpful. Here in Chapter 6, “ Image cleanup” has information concerning healing brush, cloning stamp (copying parts of the text to others to clean up smudges by copying from one part of the image into another – for example sky color).

 

Now Advanced adjustments come into play on Part 3. Chapter 7, “Advanced tonal adjustments”, covers working with image tones. Shadow highlights (page 138) is an interesting section and nicely done. Curves information and adjusting these (page 143) I fell are the most difficult to understand and master. The author does an exceptional job in explaining this topic done and is some of the best I have ever seen. Ways to use anchor points are excellently written. The curves table (page 159 and throughout this chapter visually nicely done.

 

Chapter 8 has advanced color adjustments information which includes hue / saturation, color casting and more. Chapter 9 works with the selection tools is not one of the best chapters. There should have been more visuals, many of the screen shots should have been bigger. I wish there was more to show and display how the selection actually work instead of all the verbiage.

 

Chapter 10. targeting adjustments layered masks I have been a difficult one to accurately portray and teach in many books. Once again there are too many words, not enough visuals and some parts are plain confusing to understand.

Chapter 11, creative adjustments talks about filters. The screenshots are small and there aren’t arrows, pointers or circles. Steps to take are created in paragraph form and it “hurts “ when trying to figure out the processes.

 

Part 4 finishing the workflow (Chapter 12) finishes with saving files while workflow automation (Chapter 13) follow and finally there is (Chapter 14) teaches some of the output processing.

 

The Appendix has a sample workflow checklist which makes sense. I like that the chapters for target objectives are included here (but I would have been even better if the pages were listed). Finally the index is well done.

 

Conclusions

 

Overall the author portrays the PhotoShop tutorials for use of digital photography. The notes throughout the chapter help break up the use of the text but its not enough. There is just too many “words” in the explanation process.

 

I would have liked to have seen more arrows or pointer to the parts of the histogram that the instructions “talk about.” Sometimes the terms (like posterization on page 103) are inserted at the end of a paragraph and should have been integrated better instead of making me feel like some of the information is included at the end or the last second.

 

I “wrestled” with this review. While there is a lot that “hits the mark” in terms of understanding, I feel that style and way much of the instructions are written get in the way of learning. The text feels “too much like a seminar workshop” which the author is noted for. Lectures go too fast at times. Sometimes there is a need for visual pointers for additional guidance so one does not “get lost”. Sometimes with seminars, I say to myself “ stop, hold-it, backup”. The seminar has moved ahead and I am stuck or still digesting what is said. Added visual pointers can help slow down the written workflow when one needs to, to regroup and then forge onward.

But fortunately this is a book and you can go back and try to make sense of the process if you are listening to a presentation/ workshop. I thought about the final “grade” for evaluating this review.

 

Overall this book is solid but it has a lot of gaps mainly because of the multitude of text and not enough visuals. The tutorials are too long and should have been broken up. At times I found it difficult to figure things what the author was trying to “say”. I have seen tutorials in other books. I just did not “get what the author was saying” part of the time. Part of the problem is “too much text”.

 

I was looking for something a little different to find out more about using Photoshop skills to supplement what I already knew and in some ways I found it in some of the chapters. But much of this book and the way it reads does not suit my “learning style”. For my tastes, I will have to look to my other resources to advance my workflow knowledge. But other Photoshop (intermediate and advanced) users who want to improve their image production and work on their workflow, may find the book to their liking.