Book Reviews
Photo Seminars Back Cover

Traditional photographic effects with Adobe Photoshop
Lean to simulate infrared photography, create vignettes, handcolor photos, and much more!
By Michelle Perkins & Paul Grant
8 ½ X 11, 128 pages, 150 full-color photos, index, soft cover.
From Amherst Media, Inc. Order number AM1721 $29.95
plus $4.00 S&H (US & CA)

Includes:
Adding soft focus to any image
Using digital neutral density filters
Sepia (and other) toning effects
Simulating black & white infrared film
Techniques for digital handcoloring

About the authors: Michelle Perkins is a writer and photo editor who uses Photoshop to prepare mages for book publication. She has taught at the State University of New York and Canisius College. Paul Grant is a broadcast engineer and writer trained in instructional design who uses Photoshop to create images for print publication and the Internet.

Review

Finally, a well-organized book that is highly instructional as a guide to working with Adobe Photoshop. With this new book you can learn how traditional photographic looks can be achieved using digital techniques. The book is an intermediate guide and assumes that the user has a working knowledge of the fundamentals and basic commands for Photoshop.

I have been working with PhotoShop for many years but have had only a rudimentary understanding of the full power this computer program offers. “Traditional Photographic Effects” helped me opened the door to a much more diverse range of digital manipulation. The book contains 21 outstanding chapters on subjects such as: vignettes, handcoloring, lens flare, soft focus, red eye reduction, creating custom boarders etc. Each chapter walks the reader through each task, step by step, using outstanding photographs and illustrations as reference. The text of each of these chapters is written in a straightforward manner, letting the reader follow in a step-by-step method. Also the book contains many ‘quick tips’ that will help increase your productive.

This new book goes beyond the traditional manuals that come with the software. Here the reader can see the menus, and the steps needed, from start to finish, to achieve the desired effects. I found “Traditional Photographic Effects” concise, comprehensive and full of valuable information. This hook is a must for any photographer who wants to work in the digital darkroom and who has a working understanding of Adobe Photoshop.

Brian D. Ratty
Photo-Seminars.com