One of the problems with Adobe Photoshop, according to the authors of Adobe Photoshop CS4 For Photographers – The Ultimate Workshop , is that the engineers at Adobe keep adding things to their product and seldom take anything out. That leads to more to write about, which in turn leads to a larger book. This time, Martin Evening decided to focus on the fundamentals of Photoshop and leave the functionality of what you can do with Photoshop to a separate volume.
Adobe Photoshop CS4 For Photographers – The Ultimate Workshop is thus a tutorial-based book that doesn't just show you how to use Photoshop, but rather explains the planning process, as well as describing some of the photographic techniques that are used to get the shot. This book is 400 pages and is divided in to seven chapters. There is also a DVD that contains two hours of video tutorials, images from the book, and the actions and plugins to automate Photoshop. One thing to note is at the top of each page is a little Photoshop style icon in the top margin that has the letters "Me" or "Js" to indicate which of the authors wrote the section.
With Chapter 1, "Before you Shoot," you really have to take your time. The shoot is just as meaningful because it is all a part of the workflow. While you can use Photoshop to manipulate an image, most of the time it is more efficient to fix it in the camera. The best way to get it right in the camera is to plan before you shoot. The main thrust of this chapter is to learn when it is easier to do it in Photoshop, and when it is easier to get the shot first.
Chapter 2, "Raising your IQ," means knowing how to get the best digital results from your camera. These techniques can mean different ways of shooting, the choice of lenses, and using Camera Raw to carry out initial processing. Camera Raw is designed to make mass adjustments quickly, accurately, and efficiently where as Photoshop is for finetuning those special images. Here you will look at how to optimize images, essential image editing steps, sharpening, and noise reduction.
Chapter 3, "Mending and Blending," is all about repair work. While Photoshop can do a lot more than touching up photos, it is best known for its retouching work. In this chapter the authors share their favorite retouching techniques. Some of these require a certain amount of skill and can be quite involved. First you start out with general retouching, fashion and beauty retouching, retouching portraits, and working with Vanishing Point techniques.
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