images from photoshop retouching cookbook
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Creating Skin Highlights
Creating Skin Highlights
Some of the old tools are still the best. In the days of developing prints in the wet darkroom, dodging was used to lighten selective parts of the final image. In Photoshop, the dodge tool performs the same function, but is far more controllable. Many of the most common photographic techniques are often the simplest to apply. Photoshop offers you an array of tools that will essentially do the same thing, but with a handful of tried and tested techniques, very little else is required. This image is the result of some careful application of the dodge tool over the natural highlight areas.
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Changing Hair Colour
Changing Hair Colour
Changing hair colour from dark to light has never really been much of a problem. The real problem is when you want to change dark hair to a lighter colour, such as the blond hair in this image. The less succesful techniques result in a yellow hand painted look, reminiscent of the early days of hand colour tinting of photographs. Definitely not the way to go if you are looking for realism. The technique in this example harnessed the calcualtions command, using the channels to not only desaturate the colour, but also to make it reasonable neutral. This left me with a good 'canvas' on which to perform the natural blond colouring as seen in the finished image.
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Depth of Field Effects
Depth of Field Effects
I spotted this elderly man in a square in Casablana. The light and shadow formed an interesting pattern over his clothes. He was only still for a moment and there were lots of people walking past the camera, so I had to take the shot quickly. A second later he had moved and the opportunity was gone. The resulting photo was ruined by the distracting background
elements, but it made me think how many photographers have similar photos. Images that might be classics, except for their background. So instead of hitting 'delete' I decided to use it to offer hope to anyone with a potentially good image, except for the background. The photoshop edited photo is the result of masking, combined with lens blur or gaussian blur filters.
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Body Sculpting
Body Sculpting
Its a controversial subject I know, but it seems the media are determined to squeeze our models, actors, pop stars, celebrities and wannabe superstars into ever slimmer, shaplier bodies. This chapter deals with slimming the models face and neck, but th etechnique works equally well with any body part. The technique is one that has seen revolutionary changes in recent years. The old method involved lots of cutting and pasting and cloning and airbrushing. But now, the introduction of the Liquefy tool has changed all that. With just a little knowledge and a steady hand, truly believable results can be achieved.
Photoshop retouching cookbook
Published by O'Reilly Books 176 pages
ISBN 10: 0-596-10030-2 | ISBN 13: 9780596100308
Photoshop Retouching Cookbook for Digital Photographers tells you everything you need to know to use Adobe Photoshop to adjust, correct, retouch, and manipulate your photographs-without making you first learn everything there is to know about the application. These straightforward, easy-to-follow recipes give you specific directions so you can quickly and easily apply the techniques employed by photographers from the traditional wet darkroom environment.
Barry Huggins, the author of Photoshop Retouching Cookbook for Digital Photographers, has created the only recipe-format manual on photographic retouching targeted specifically to digital photographers. Founder of a highly successful multimedia training and consulting company, Huggins is uniquely qualified to deliver step-by-step instruction in digital retouching methodology, with easy-to-follow recipes that address specific problems and teach "best practices" techniques. This is his fifth book on digital imaging and graphics software.
reviews
Excellent, January 15 2008
Submitted by Larry Green, The PhotoKenosha Group
This book contains 113 great, easy to follow recipes to improve your photos. It takes you through the process, step by step, along with giving you many useful tips as you go. I’ve looked at a lot of other books, and they all fall short. Barry does a nice job of presenting the book.
Photoshop is a great program, with one exception; you need to work with the program day after day, to keep up on all the tricks and the work flow. Barry does a nice job taking you step by step through the whole process, start to finish. He is very thorough on many of the things you may want to do in Photoshop.
One thing I felt he could have spent some more time on was layers, otherwise I thought the book was very easy to read and the author made it very easy to follow along.
Nice job Barry.
Photoshop Retouching Cookbook for Digital Photographers
ISBN: 0-596-10030-2
Reviewer: Joseph Iagnemmo
Austin Adobe Users Group
This is one of those books that has multiple functions. Not only does it become a reference book but, if you're like me, as you read many of the sections you will find yourself inspired to try what you learned on your own photos. I especially liked the section on how to make a photo look as if was hand-tinted.
There are 12 sections and each section has several topics that are covered under it. The first section covers the different ways to make a selection, layer masks and clipping masks. These are fundamental techniques that will be used throughout the rest of the book. Each section after is independent of each other so you can skip around if you like, just make sure you don’t miss anything because there is something to learn on each page.
You will find practical sections like ones for helping with color correction, focus manipulation, darkroom techniques and exposure correction. You will also find artistic sections with techniques for retouching portraits, lighting effects, retouching landscapes, color effects and photo restoration.
You expect a book that covers digital photo manipulation to be packed with color examples. The people at O’Reilly go one step further by making each example available for download on their website. This lets you follow along by doing each step of the process with the same image that is used in the book.
Overall this book is packed with practical how to steps and will help you fix, change or create an image from all of your photos.
Media reviews
"This is something that you will want in your library. You will find yourself referring to it often. The 113 easy to follow recipes will help you to improve your photos and create special effects. This is a great book."
-- Clara Harold, eJournal of the Tucson Computer Society
"The best way to use this book is to read through it so that you can see the kind of problems that are covered, without trying to commit the individual steps to memory. Keep the book near at hand and when you encounter one of those unusual problems, open the book and then follow the steps suggested. "
-- Conrad J. Obregon, Amazon.com
"This is Barry Huggins' 5th book on digital imaging and graphics software, and his expertise as an author and trainer becomes readily apparent in delving into the specifically targeted projects he presents in each chapter....I find this book qualifies for placement in a handy spot on my bookshelf and I recommend that you put it on yours if you have an established or evolving interest in digital photography and are intrigued by the magic of Photoshop."
-- Rochelle Goldman, Main Line Macintosh Users Group (MLMUG)
"One hundred and thirteen recipes? No kidding. That's a lot of recipes for a housewife...If the housewife like me has 113 easy recipes at hand, every day before she decides what to cook for dinner, she can just open up the book and point to a page randomly, or select a page based on the appetite, and then make dinner by following the instruction. The whole process is made easier and less painful due to the presence of the recipe book. Well, these 113 recipes for a digital photographer serve the same purpose. Open the book and find an appropriate topic. Then go to the specified page and follow the instructions....With only $29.95, you can enjoy more than a formal Mexican or Italian or Chinese dinner. You can have a lot of desserts, main entries, different soups, sushi rolls, egg rolls, spring rolls, exotic fruits, and exotic fishes, and it is not a bad deal in my opinion."
-- Jin Yang, The Bridge (Mephis PC Users Group)
"This book provides excellent guidance for digital photographers with beginner-to-intermediate-level Photoshop skills...Overall, The Photoshop Retouching Cookbook for Digital Photographers provides a useful introduction to retouching techniques and makes a handy reference tool to keep on your bookshelf."
-- Kimberley Bermender, American Society of Media Photographers: Northern California
"Photoshop is the digital artist and photographer's premier choice for editing and manipulating digital photos. And with the mounting interest in digital photography, the demand for practical guidance, expert techniques, tips and solutions — recipes for success if you will — continues to grow. It's exactly all of this and more that O'Reilly delivers in its beautifully designed and visually stunning new series, the "Photoshop Digital Studio Cookbooks.""
-- Jennifer Apple, PhotoshopSupport.com
"This book is packed full of 113 recipes for getting the most out of your Photoshop experience. Most of the recipes are clear and concise. While the book is intended for use similarly to a food cookbook in that generally a person would not sit down and read this book cover to cover a la War and Peace but instead search for a recipe that suited their immediate needs, I found myself paging through sequentially, discovering many ways to “convince” photoshop to do what you want...There is something here for everyone, of all levels, to learn. The novice will gain immense understanding of Photoshop, her features and the power hidden behind the scenes of this immense program. Even professional Photoshop users and trainers will find tidbits of information here to make their workflow more efficient or enjoyable."
-- ELUG (Edmonton Linux Users Group)
"In Photoshop Photo Retouching Cookbook, Barry Huggins will, in step-by-step instructions, show you how to perform all these techniques and many more. In fact, there are 113 recipes for adjusting, correcting, retouching, and manipulating your photographs...While Photoshop Photo Retouching Cookbook will work for anyone wanting to roll up their sleeves and take advantage of learning new techniques, it will be especially helpful to those that work with Photoshop and want to have at hand a quick reference book of retouching techniques."
-- T. Michael Testi, Blogcritics Magazine
"Barry Huggin’s book covers Photoshop and it is an excellent book in many ways. I especially recommend it for photomanipulators who wonder what Photoshop can do for them that Photoshop Elements can’t do. I’m not talking about all the things that happen when a professional ships his photo-file to a publisher, I am only concerned about getting some photos fixed, upgraded, or created and delivered to your kids, friends, and neighbors. This book changed the way I think about Photoshop and the way I work with photos."
-- James Hodges, Silicon Valley Computer Society