Desktop Publishing Books

Great Book! This book goes into detail explaining techniques used to generate photo realistic results. The best Photoshop book I have read other than Chanel Chops. The book has very high quality color photos and the text is easy to read. I attribute this book in part to my personal expertise with Photoshop. It has helped me make some serious money doing graphic arts projects. I highly recommend this book.

Easy step by step examples. A lot of information. Comes with a disc to help practice with.

This book is great for beginners and for people that have been using photoshop for years. It's very informative and easy to follow.

I'm really fond of this book. I'm an advanced amateur photographer, and I use Photoshop as my "digital darkroom". This book has really opened the world of possibilities for me. If you know just a little about Photoshop, you can still do quite a lot, but it will all be trial-and-error, and you'll waste a lot of time. This book will actually save you time and show you how to do things fast.

Good Book. Does not provide the same luxury as classroom teaching but a good book to have while playing with some advanced features of Photoshop.

This is a fantastic book and, as other reviewers have stated, is its only 'fault' is that the how-to sections are a bit on the vague side. If you love Photoshop collage Maggie is the master, and you can learn an awful lot just by observing the detail of her work.

Also worth a look is Cut It Out by the wonderful Lou Beach, which, although not a how-to guide is a fantastic collection of collage work.

The images are very inspiring. The artist is truly amazing. This is not a "cookbook" like book that will step you through the process of how to create images like Maggie Taylor. If you are looking for that type of book....don't buy. I honestly don't think a book like that is possible anyway. At least not possible in trying to give you a recipe for creating images of this quality.

Imagery like this uses not only technical skill and PhotoShop knowledge, but artistic sensibilities and aesthetics. It would be like buying a Monet in a paint-by-numbers kit and thinking it will help you paint like the Master.


The book is about inspiration, and inspiring you to create amazing ethereal and surreal images like Maggie Taylor. There are some images and text that briefly explain how some of her pieces were created. But all in all, this book is more about inspiration than education. So get another PhotoShop book to learn how to use the program...then buy this book to be inspired as to WHY you want to use it.

It's wonderful when an artist such as Maggie Taylor is, shares her mastery of techniques with us... thankyou for this book!

I read this book from cover to cover and enjoyed every line. The book includes a short biography of Maggie Taylors life and how she came to be the great artist that she is today. This book also goes through her creative process and the steps she takes with Photoshop to achieve her photos. This book is inspirational and gives any photoshop artist a kick in the pants to creat their own works of art! AAA+++

I used to appreciate Taylor's work because of those almost inert portraits, until I read that the only thing she does is buying old portraits on ebay or flea markets to scan them and add color and other stuff to create their "surreal" images, so I think today's critics really don't care much and celebrate almost everything even when is not an original work.

Besides that, the first half of the book is dedicated to interviewing a dozen of taylor's fans -including her husband- who leaves clear statement of how a great artist she is, and the second part features her work with maybe 3 examples of how she did them, in a very superficial way.

If you get this book based on the title, you will be very very disappointed, even more if you really think in what some people call 'art".

Like having an instructor walk you through with examples.

I really like this book because the author leads the reader step by step and he gives lots of examples. The appendix part at the end of the book is very helpful. Although there are parts that are not-so clear, if you follow it through it'll be clear at the end. I would definitely recommend this book for somebody who just started using actionscript.

This is a good book and well worth its price. I especially liked the smartclip chapter and the keyboard has been very busy with me putting what I learned to good use. If you are a game writer this may be an excellent book for you also. There is a caveat here, however. The book is filled with errors, references that aren't there, missing flas, flas with "work" already done when they are meant to be the ones readers practice with. No doubt this was due to deadlines. Still [sigh]. This is a good book for getting used to writing your code from scratch. No references to the "normal" actionscript mode, so you more or less have to type away. Not a bad thing. If, however, you are the kind of person that is very "linear" and do not do well when you have to figure out why something doesn't work when you did ALL the steps correctly - this may not be the book for you.

after read this specific book on actionscript, a miracle is happen. Now i'm able to understand this strange-but-exciting language. Now I'm able to read other book on programing with actionscript.
True this book doesn't have a lot of picture, but please bear in mind that this book is teach you how to think, hear and talk in Actionscript language instead of how to draw picture in flash

Livingston does a good job of introducing action script to those who have had little previous exposure to it. In particular, his examples tend to be interesting. I agree with him in that to get to know action script well its best to use expert mode so that all of the scripting must be typed in--though it can be a lot of typing. The one thing that keeps this from being a great book is that in the last two-thirds of the book the examples can be tricky and the example fla's on the CD are not necessarily in the state the book places them in--most of the time they have stuff that you won't learn about until later so it interferes with the current example. I was particuliarly disappointed with the 4th chapter that the author states is the hardest, yet the major example is mixed up...I finally skipped it.

Dear Readers: There is a new edition of this book (3rd Edition) available that covers the latest versions of Avid's software, including Xpress Pro HD. It also includes information about editing 24p, HD, HDV projects. I hope you find it useful. Best, Sam Kauffmann

I was a Media 100 editor for many years and my company switched to the Avid on Jan. 9, 2006. I didn't take any training but, I bought a training DVD set and 3 books. This book was the best, by far. It is presented by an editor who explains what you really need to know to get going and how to work around maintaining sync, etc. It was great. In less than a month, I completed 2 projects without a problem. I'm using Media Composer Adrenaline on a Mac.
:)

The book jacket says that the book's DVD-ROM will work with Xpress DV 3.0 and higher. The .omf video files were compressed at 20:1 using Media Composer and Xpress DV 4.6 does not support the 20:1 resolution, meaning that the sample video files cannot be imported and used in Xpress DV 4.6. This is a shame, because it seems like a good book and this is not really a problem that the author could have foreseen. Unfortunately, most places won't let you return a book after the DVD has been opened, so let this be a warning, FYI. Hopefully the upcoming 3rd edition will fix this problem.

This book was a part of our school curriculum for a class on Avid Editing. I didn't realise the value of this book while in School, but now sitting on the Avid a year and half later I wouldn't have survived without this book. I also went and looked up some other books but what's great about this one is that the information is very well organized and if you're on the Avid and get stuck... referencing stuff is really fast, as it's all laid out in simple step by step instructions. For any level editor, pro or novice, I would highly reccomend this book.

I can not "truly" put into words how great this book is written. Sam Kauffmann not only shows you the tools in the AVID system, but with "every" tool gives you the reason and purpose for it. Unlike other manuals, you really feel that you have grasped the concepts for each chapter before moving on. I am working efficiently, intelligently, and creatively in Avid because of this book. Sam Kauffmann is a professor at Boston University, and after reading this book I can honestly say if I were a student at BU...I would never skip his class! Simple Incredible!

Color Confidence
Strengths: Screen shots are ok ample size and very reabable. They tie into the tutorials. Good glossary and index are very helpful for searching and finding targeted information.

Weaknesses: Wish there were circles, pointers or some visuals to indicate within the screenshots targeted information.

Intermediate/Advanced
Introduction

Working with color is the "heart and soul" for creating photos and then making them better.The focus is to get the best color results and this book's emphasis is getting the best color results. Since I have read the author's book previously, I was interested in finding more tips and tricks about color management and it if this book has more ideas then I know. Color Confidence does just that, giving you better insights to working with color for your photos.

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. This book is the latest version of this book.

The book has 8 chapters, index and glossary. There are not many brilliant photographs because most of the "action" involves working with the software tools and the amply sized screenshots provide the visuals to drive across the main points of the author. . Notes are also "peppered" throughout the fourteen chapters.
Hands- on guides provide; choosing , calibrating your monitor and scanner; configuring Photoshop color settings, evaluating images and making accurate color adjustments; managing digital camera color with presets and custom profiles; working with color-adjusted and black-and-white images; learning how to build custom printer profiles or generic ones; preparing/adjusting images for print; evaluating prints against standard targets; problem solving out when prints don't match; producing accurate color images for the web, e-mail or digital slideshows, becoming familiar with process-specific workflows: (scan to print, digital capture to print, CMYK output etc.) The Glossary is well done and the and the index has very specific oriented to target, search and fine targeted discussion, hands-on work and more.

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

This book is not for beginners. It is a fine one for intermediate and advanced photographers. Beginners may find it however useful once they upgrade their skills, learning about photoshop and with other graphic editors and and practicing the working with photos.

I would have liked to have seen arrows or pointer to the parts of the histogram that the instructions "talk about." With some other of the author's books ,there has been too much " verbiage" and all the words make your "head swim". However in this book, while there are a lot of words, the information is tightly focused regarding the tasks and tutorials so it is an easier reading. Screenshots tie into the tutorials and make for a good reading regarding color management. I'd recommend

A really very useful book that explains a complex subject about as clearly as you could hope for. Covers a great range of topics beyond color management. I highly recommend this book.

This is the best book that I have used on this subject. Clear explanations, illustrations, etc.

I was really disapointed by the book. I wanted something that would have been closer to the theories and technicals aspects of color profiles. This is mainly a step by step book to follow with specific software (or even hardware) to reach some goal. It is very software and hardware specific - not generic. I learned more about "how color profiles works together" on websites than in the book.

Digital photographers don't pay enough attention to color management. This book is exactly what is needed to remedy that lack. You'll find all the basics here, and enough in-depth information to start you on the road to calibrating and fine-tuning your digital equipment to accurately reproduce the colors you see.

Being a professional texturer for more than 2 years in game design and later in viz, I can tell you why this book is perhaps the best source about texturing.
It teaches you about exploring the surfaces and its history. Yes, that's it. This may sound too simple, but this is the most crucial and hard part of texturing - making the viewer believe, and believe yourself that this thing exists and has a history. In my opinoin, of course.
Ironically, in cg we start from tools and only much later come to the conclusion that there's a sculpture behind modeling, traditional lighting behind cg lighting and not quite, but painting behind the texturing. Obviously not quite the painting as long as we operate mainly with digitized photos simulating various surfaces.
Even now there's not an "ideal" book about texturing because definitely it must explain the physics of materials first, and then move into shaders attributes. I don't see shaders as something separate from texturing. For example, any vfx guy knows that there are 3 main components for a realistic surface: color, bump\displacement and specular\reflection. And they provide them always for any surface. Yes, every surface reflects. Or that your luminosity\saturation values for the diffuse must be around 20-80% to work well with lighting. Or your diffuse must be black for highly reflective or transparent surfaces. This is not stressed enough in most books for beginners, and there are many other important tips, utterly important. The technical side of texturing mainly lies in knowing photoshop inside out. There are some good tutorials on the net by Stefan-Morrell and Leigh Van Der Byl, I strongly suggest you reading them.
But in the end, you will know the technical side well, and you will come to this level where you almost meditate on the surfaces. Yet experience of course is a factor. They say you become good when you did 1000 renderings. There is some truth in it. But in the end, digital lighting leads you to the world of real-world lighting, modeling to sculpture, and texturing to meditating on real surfaces abd their history. And this is the most important thing in texturing imo.

As a well-versed member of the "Google Images & Clone Stamp" school of texturing, I know full well that knowing all the technical ins and outs of a program doesn't guarantee good results. A strong grounding in fundamental art principles is needed to make proper use of all the technical bells & whistles.

It can be said that Digital Texturing & Painting is too art-heavy, but it's such a critical aspect of good CG that's either glossed over or omitted in other books. Being able to break down & understand all the many elements of a texture so it can be recreated and controlled is of the utmost importance. And learning how to go beyond photos and start working with the infinitely unique number of real world textures you can find or create adds new levels to your texturing work.

The art-based sections as well as the more technical preparation section are geared toward making you think about every aspect of the work and how best to execute it, rather than creating bland textures that have been done a thousand time before.

Although the specific texturing examples are rather short, the author covers the basics of several texturing methods. NURBS, polygons, using projections, using 3D paint software, tiling textures, using Illustrator, using Photoshop, making & scanning in real world objects or just making things from scratch. And the included CD has the PSD files for you to poke around in a figure out how the maps are put together.

Digital Painting & Texturing has the breadth & depth to be a helpful book for texture artists of all levels.

This book really takes texturing to a new level. You'll never walk around looking at the things the same way you did.

It describes intensely how to dissect and evaluate a surface, with interesting practical methods to re-create it.

Must read for people who seriously wants to learn about texturing.

I loves this book. It has truly taight me how to see texture and how to bring digital painting to life. This book will help you in all areas of art which can be used in real life painting, digital painting, 3D art and more. I f you need help Understanding how to get your art to that realism point then this book is defintly for you 100%.

You can only gain and loose nothing by reading this book-

This is a useful book, written by an experienced artist. Most of the book was really about art itself, how to see and notice details in real life the way an artist would. Only the last chapter really got into specifics about painting textures in Photoshop or specific types of maps.

If you want a book where most of it tells you how to think like an artist, then this is for you. If you wanted a book that went into more detail about how to unwrap UVs on a model or specific texture painting techniques, you'd be dissapointed.

Learned more from this book than NYI photography lessons wonderful job.....I have purchased more from this author and they are as good as this one!

Busch's book was too chatty by far to suit my tastes and expectations. For example, I would have taken my editor's red pen to filler like this: "There were lots of photographs of the Hindenberg as it started its descent in Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937, and quite a few of the charred rubble on the ground afterwards, but none of them made the cover of a Led Zeppelin album." If you like this kind of commentary in a book on photographic techniques, then Busch'e book will delight you.

But if you're looking for basic information such as the aperture and shutter speed settings for the many sample photos in the book, forget it, you won't find them here. As well, the coverage is lean, spotty and uneven in key areas. Take lenses for example. There are small sections on lenses for architectural, macro, and scenic photography but nothing on portrait photography. Moreover, the section on portraits is dominated by a lengthy discussion on lighting.

I was very disappointed.

Actually, I found the friendly, conversational style in this book both disarming and fun to read. Too many digital photography books are dry and bland, and not spiced up with enough anecdotes and real world examples. Author Busch does a great job of bringing digital photography to life with this book!

I enjoyed the large chapter devoted exclusively to portrait photography, especially since it included complete lighting diagrams for the most widely-used styles of lighting. The diagrams helped me set up lights in my own home "studio" to duplicate the author's techniques exactly.

I've been disappointed in the past by digital photography books that show you how to get the looks you want in Photoshop after the shot was taken. This one skips image editing and concentrates on how to get a great picture with your camera! What a concept!

I purchased this author's "Digital Photography for Dummies Desk Reference" some time back and found it to be very good. His "Mastering Digital Photography" was also available then, but I wasn't ready for it. Now I've learned quite a bit and am ready to learn more, and I was lucky enough to find this upgraded version on the shelves. It has the latest information about using the features of the newest digital cameras, including digital SLRs like my Canon Digital Rebel XT.

The author goes into quite a bit of depth on a wide selection of interesting topics. There are separate chapters on Action Photography, Portraits, Close-Up Photography, Travel Photography, Landscape and Nature Photography, and Architecture. Each of these includes "pro" tips on getting the best pictures.

It's full of beautiful photographs that illustrate each point. This is the best general digital photography book on the shelves, and believe me, I looked at them all before buying this one.

I think this book is a good choice for beginners of digital photography.

Outstanding contant the best of it's type. Easy to read and follow. A major contribution.

More for the advanced beginner, I have learned a lot about blending modes from this but I learned my Scott Kelby basics first.

This is not a book for beginners. Shows blending techniques and effects in a very focused way. Should only be considered by those who are indeed interested in these fields.

I guess it depends on how you learn. This book has recipes for various looks using Photoshop's Blending Modes. The examples generally include several different kinds of photos. The result is that you get to see what happens to photos of things, people, landscapes, etc. using the same or similar recipes. The author also tells you when he did things a little differently for one or two kinds of photos, and why.

I've seen a lot of this stuff before, but found that I learned a lot from how this book is laid out. It should also make it a lot easier to find, and use, a specific technique for a specific problem.

Because I am a digital scrapbooker, I might find all of this a lot more useful than some other people who use Photoshop. I'm not only manipulating photos when I scrapbook, I am also making and manipulating digital papers and elements. These techniques would be extremely useful for scrapbooking.

Of all the wonderful Photoshop books by the O'Reilly Studio, this one rocks solid and gave me things about Blending Modes I never knew were possible. I am still playing around with all the possibilities. They have great internet access to images that go with the 'recipes', and a terrific index with examples of all the different combinations they offer so if you need a type of effect, all you have to do is go to the visual index and pick what you are looking for and there it will be. All have the same single image, so it is easy to find the effect you want. I highly reccommend this book to any level Photoshop lover who likes to get artistic with their photos.

Muy bueno tiene par de trucos y guias para trabajar fotos textos y efectos interesantes.

If you are wanting to make the most out of your life, willing to challenge yourself and change your thinking about life, then, this book is a must read. Ramtha doesn't hold back. He gives his all and lets you know that you can learn to do the same. This book is mind opening, reassuring and a breath of fresh, clean air. Ramthe sets an example for humanity and provides the path. He makes it clear that it is our choice where we put our attention. If humanity focuses and evolves toward Ramtha's example, we have nothing to worry about.

I too am new to Photoshop and am finding this book a struggle.
Also, I have no real reason to learn these skills. But I am hooked! I have only owned Type Effects for 72 hours and have already put in at least 30 hours of work on it.

True, this book does not include all the basics, but there are many other resources for those. I feel like I am struggling with a foreign language, with Type Effects on my right and my "basics" manual on my left.

But what I have learned in only 3 days! A boring "learn to" book alone would not have given me the motivation to stay up all night and forget meals while mastering new skills.

You don't need to be a professional graphics designer to appreciate this book. I have never considered myself to be the least bit artistic and am immensely enjoying being able to produce works of art with Adobe. This book is helping me to quickly master Photoshop.

As to another reviewer's complaint that the author does not provide enough details; a lot of the infomation he requires is available with the samples included on the cd. He can even "borrow" from the layers if he wants to cheat a bit! (Boy, was I delighted to discover this)

This book may be a challenge for a beginner, but I am learning quickly from it and expect to be an expert by the time I reach the final chapter.

Effects is a wonderful book. It is attractive, well written and offers something for everyone.

I have to go against the grain here. Other reviewers seem to like this book, but I don't think it's that great. I am an intermediate level Photoshop user and I feel that for what is essentially a "cook book" that some of the steps are missing or vague. Instructions like "adjust to get the desired effect" mean nothing. If I see an example of the effect I like in the book I want to know EXACTLY how to do it and not be left to guess. It is not what I consider a step-by-step book and some of the instructions tell you to do something and assume you know what to do. If you are a beginner, stay away from this book. If you are an intermediate user you may have some luck, but I'd look at other Photoshop type effets books.

If you don't have time for the "War and Peace" version of some of the other typography books on Photoshop, get this one! The pictures are excellent and the book is organized in a logical layout.

Get in, see what you want, get out...then DO IT! A Perfect way to organize a book for us visual folks.

I recieved the book I ordered quickly and in good condition.

I ordered this book as an introduction to both Photoshop Elements and digital scrapbooking. It's just excellent. However, it's for Photoshop Elements version 3.0. I have version 4.0, so the half of the book which serves as a Photoshop Elements "how-to" did me no good. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to return it. It's a pity because this is an excellent little book.

I purchased this book to learn about Digital Scrapbooking not how to use PSE whatever..I was so disappointed in the book's content that I wish I could return it. If you know how to use PSE this book is almost worthless for scrapbooking. Although the title makes the book sound like a primer for digital scrapbooking nothing about the subject even kicks in until page 84 which is three quarters of the way through the book. Like i said DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY !!

I did not find this book to be very helpful. One turn off is that the actual layouts in the book are very primitive - not at all as nice as the stuff you see in scrapbook mags or on sites like two peas in a bucket or the digital scrapbook place.

There is very little actual instruction on *how* to do the scrapbooking.

I purchased this book thinking it would be a good primer for learning digital scrapbooking. Sadly, there are only 4 pages in the book devoted to setting up a scrapbook page & various techniques. Those 4 pages are good but not worth the purchase price. The focus of the book really is on photography and photo-editing and a lot less on scrapbooking.