Warning: Skipping this Section Could Severely Damage Your Computer


Before you do anything, do this first:

I know, I knowyou want to jump right to Chapter 1 and dive into the tutorials, skipping this critically important section. That's probably because (a) it contains no photos or screen captures, so you're not interested, (b) you have a Napoleon complex (I have no idea what that means), (c) you're only used to reading things that appear in menus or dialogs, or (d) you have the patience of a hamster and therefore cannot possibly focus long enough to read this critically important message, even though it could save you from severely damaging your computer, which would cost you thousands of dollars (unless you have a really crappy computer, in which case you might only save a couple hundred bucks).

So, what is this critical thing that you must do first? You must read this entire section (some might call it an introduction, but I would never do that)every letter, every word, even the ones that don't matter (like punctuation)before you do anything. Why? There are two reasons:

(1) You paid good money for this book, and you deserve to get the most out of it (unless, of course, you shoplifted it, in which case you can turn right to Chapter 1 now).

(2) I haven't thought of a second reason yet, but I'm sure one will come to me before we're done.

Seriously though, there are things in this introduction, I mean "important section," that you'll want to knowlike where to download the photos I used in the book, so you can follow right along using the same images (if you like). Now, I make the photos downloadable for every Photoshop book I write, but I always get letters from readers who complain, "Why don't you make the photos available for download, so we can follow along with the book?" Who are these people? People who don't read the introduction. I call them "goobers." Not to their face, mind you, but to close friends at my secret photo downloading parties (needless to say, only people who read my introductions are invited). Now, here's the good news: If you've read this far (and I know you have), you're no goober. In fact, you're clearly a person of a discerning virtue and impeccable taste. You're my kind of people (even if you are, in fact, just one person).

So, now that you've come this far (in other words, I hooked you with my "saving-you-from-damaging-your-computer" ruse), I can get down to businessgiving you some important tips so you understand how and why the book was written, so you can get the most out of it. Rather than giving you a long, boring "it-was-the-book-that-had-to-be-written" kind of introduction, I thought I'd save you some time and interview myself. That's right, I thought I'd ask myself questions about the book, and by asking them to myself, and answering them myself, you'd not only get the answers you need, but you'd get to know a little about me, the person I'm always referring to as either "I" or "me" throughout the book. (Luckily, I find myself fascinating, so interviewing me, for me anyway, is a lot of fun. In fact, I can listen to me talk for hours, even about boring subjects. Even when droning on and on about some meaningless topic, I'm still quite interested to hear what I have to say.)

So, let me turn on the little tape recorder here. Okay, I'm ready. First question please:

Me: Scott, before we begin, I just have to say you're much taller and more handsome in person than I expected.

Me: Thanks. I hear that all the time.

Me: No seriously. You're totally buff.

Me: I know.

Me: This is the third edition of this book. Can you tell us what's different in this Photoshop CS2 version?

Me: Actually, this third edition is the biggest update of this book so far. In fact, it felt like I was writing a whole new book from the ground up, partly because Adobe added so many new features for digital photographers in CS2, and I had to cover them all. I thought CS added a lot for photographers, but CS2 goes way beyond that, so I felt I had to, too! Also, I've been taking a lot more time to shoot since I wrote the last book (I shot most of the photos used in this edition), and I've learned a lot more about Photoshop since the last edition too (which was published back in 2003).

Me: So what have you added, besides the new CS2 stuff?

Me: I included an entire chapter on Camera Raw (where the previous version just had about six pages on it). I think Camera Raw has become that important, and that powerfulso much so that it now needs its own chapter. Also, I set out to do something that I hadn't really seen anyone do in any Photoshop book yet, and that's really to demystify color management by letting you know exactly how to set it up, with everything shown step-by-step from beginning to end, so you can get what you see onscreen to match the print that comes out of your color inkjet. I devoted an entire chapter to it, and I'm really excited about how it turned out. I also included an entire chapter on creating panoramas, plus I took one of my most popular sessions from the Photoshop World Conference & Expo (my "How to Show Your Work Like a Pro" session) and turned it into a chapter in the book. Also, my "Photographic Special Effects" chapter is updated with the latest cutting-edge effects that I see some of the top pros using in their work, and I break everything down step-by-step. The whole book is riddled with new little tricks, new features, new tips, and some cool new techniques I've learned since the last book.

Me: So whom did you write this book for?

Me: It's aimed at professional and high-end prosumer photographers who either have gone digital or are just moving to digital. Since this book is for people who are already photographers, there's no discussions about f-stops, lenses, or how to frame a photo, and it starts at the moment your photo leaves the camera and comes into Photoshop. If you don't already know how to shoot, this book just isn't for you. (Note: There is nothing publishers hate more than when an author lists who the book "isn't" for. They want it to be for everybody, from soccer moms to National Geographic staff photographers, but sadly, this book just isn't for everybodyit's for people who are already serious about photography.)

Me: Is the book in a specific order?

Me: I put it in the order in which many pros actually manage the processing of their digital images. For example, a typical work-flow might start with sorting the photos directly from your memory card, so I start with the Adobe Bridge (it's replacing the old File Browser of Photoshop 7 and CS). Then, I go right into Camera Raw, for people who are shooting in RAW. If they're not, then they'll jump to resizing and cropping, because that's generally what they'll do next. Then, before they do any color correction or dealing with image problems, we set up a real color management scheme. Then it's on to retouching, adding special effects, and then much later, on to sharpening (since pros apply the sharpening near the end of the whole process), then finally how to show your final work to your client. It's all pretty much following a typical workflow.

Me: So do the readers have to follow along in that order?

Me: Absolutely notthe book is designed so you can jump in anywhere. Although the chapters are in a workflow order, everything is spelled out in every chapter, so you can turn to the technique you want to learn and start right thereyou'll be able to follow along, no sweat. Unless, of course, you're a goober, in which case, you missed all of this.

Me: How did you develop the content for the book?

Me: Each year I train thousands of professional digital photographers around the world at my live seminars, and although I'm doing the teaching, at every seminar I always learn something new. Photographers love to share their favorite techniques, and during the breaks between sessions, somebody's always showing me how they get "the job done." It's really an amazing way to learn. Plus, and perhaps most importantly, I hear right from their own lips the problems and challenges these photographers are running into in their own work in Photoshop, so I have a great insight into what photographers want to learn next. Plus, I'm also out there shooting, so I'm constantly fixing my own problems and developing new ways to make my digital imaging life easier. As soon as I come up with a new trick or if I learn a slick new way of doing something, I can't wait to share it. It's a sickness, I know.

Me: So what makes this book different from all the other Photoshop books out there?

Me: It's not another one of those Photoshop books that focuses on explaining every aspect of every dialog. I don't write "tell-me-all-about-it" books. Instead, I write "show-me-how-to-do-it" books. This is what makes it different. It shows photographers step-by-step how to do all those things they keep asking at my seminars, sending me emails about, and posting questions about in our forumsit simply shows them exactly "how to do it" without holding anything back. Plus, it does something that almost no other Photoshop book dares to doit gives you the actual settings to use.

For example, almost every Photoshop book out there includes info on the Unsharp Mask filter. They all talk about what the Amount, Radius, and Threshold sliders do, and how those settings affect the pixels, blah, blah, blah. They all do that. But you know what they generally don't do? They don't give you any actual settings to use! Usually not even a starting point. Some provide numerical ranges to work within, but basically they explain how the filter works, and then leave it up to you to develop your own settings. I don't do that. I give you some great Unsharp Mask filter settingsthe same settings used by many professionals, even though I know some Photoshop expert somewhere might take issue with them. I come right out and say, "Hey, use this setting when sharpening people. Use this setting to correct slightly out-of-focus photos. Use this setting on landscapes, etc." I give students in my live seminars these settings, so why shouldn't I share them in my book?

Plus, sharpening is much more than just using the Unsharp Mask filter, and it's much more important to photographers than the three or four pages every other book dedicates to it. I give you an entire chapter showing all the different sharpening techniques step-by-step, giving different solutions for different sharpening challenges. That's my thingI want to be the guy that "shows them how to do it!" So, I did a whole chapter just on Camera Raw. Two chapters on all the amazing things the Bridge can doand not just talking about it, but showing exactly how to do it all, with everything step-by-step from top to bottom but without all the techno jargon. The world doesn't need another "tell-me-all-about-it" book. It needs a "show-me-how-to-do-it" book, and that's my thing. It's who I am, and it's what this book is all about.

Me: This sounds like a lot of work. Did you have any help?

Me: When I developed the first edition of this book back in 2001, I got some incredible insights and advice from two of the industry's top digital photographerscommercial product photographer Jim DiVitale and fashion photographer Kevin Ames. These two guys are amazingthey both split their time between shooting for some of the world's largest corporations and teaching other professional digital photographers how to pull off Photoshop miracles at events such as Photoshop World, PPA/PEI's Digital Conference, and a host of other events around the world.

When they heard I was writing this book, they met with me and we spent hours hammering out which techniques would have to be included in the book, and I can't tell you how helpful and insightful their input was. This wasn't an easy task, because I wanted to include a range of techniques wide enough that they would be accessible to "prosumers" (the industry term to describe serious high-end amateurs who use serious cameras and take serious shots, yet don't do photography for a living), but at the same time, I wanted high-end professionals to feel right at home with techniques that are clearly just for them, at their stage of the game.

For this edition, I also got advice and input for my new color management chapter from some of the leading color management experts in the industry, including Canon Explorer of Light and gifted instructor Eddie Tapp, who gave me some great insights, and I went back to my buddy Jim DiVitale to pick his brain as well. I also coaxed Photoshop guru Taz Tally (who teaches color management for a living) into taking a look at the final chapter, and he helped me tweak it even more to make it what it is today. I also got some great ideas from my home team, including Dave Cross and Matt Kloskowski, who work with me each day on Photoshop User magazine at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.

Me: Does all this make the book too advanced?

Me: Absolutely not. That's because my goal is to present all these techniques in such a simple, easy-to-understand format that no matter where you are in your Photoshop skills, you'll read the technique, and rather than thinking, "Oh, I could never pull that off," you'll think, "Hey, I can do that."

While it's true that this book includes many advanced techniques, just because a technique is advanced doesn't mean it has to be complicated or "hard to pull off." It just means that you'll be further along in the learning process before you'd even know you need that technique.

For example, in the retouching chapter, I show you how to use the Healing Brush to completely remove wrinkles, and that's what many photographers will docompletely remove all visible wrinkles. But advanced Photoshop users might retouch the photo differently, because they know that a 79-year-old man's face shouldn't be as wrinkle-free as Ben Affleck's. When they do a similar retouch, they're not going to remove every wrinkleinstead they'll be looking for a way to just reduce the intensity of the wrinkles, so the portrait looks more natural (and the photo appears unretouched). To do that, they'll need something beyond the basic Healing Brush techniquethey'll need a more advanced technique that may require a few more steps along the way, but produces far better results.

So, how hard is it to do the advanced "healing" technique we just talked about? It's simpleduplicate the Background layer, remove all the wrinkles using the Healing Brush, then lower that layer's Opacity a bit to bring back some of the original wrinkles from the layer underneath (see Chapter 10). It works like a charm, but reallyhow complicated is that? Heck, anyone who's used Photoshop for a week can duplicate a layer and lower the Opacity, right? Right. Yet few photographers know this simple, advanced technique. That's what this book is all about. If you understand that line of thinking, you'll really get a lot out of this book. You'll be able to perform every single techniqueyou'll be using the same advanced correction and retouching techniques employed by some of today's leading digital photographers; yet you'll make it all look easy, because it really is easy, and it's a lot of funonce somebody shows you how to do it.

Me: So what's not in this book?

Me: I tried not to put things in this book that are already in every other Photoshop book out there. For example, I don't have a chapter on the Layers palette or a chapter on the painting tools or a chapter showing how each of Photoshop's 110 filters looks when applied to the same photograph. I just focused on the most important, most asked-about, and most useful things for digital photographers. In shortit's the funk and not the junk.

What does this "For Pros Only" logo mean?

It means "Go awaythis isn't for you!" (Kidding.) Actually, it's a heads-up to people who are further along in their skills and are looking for more advanced techniques. It isn't a "this is hard" warning. It just means that as you get better in Photoshop, these are the techniques you're going to want to consider next, because although they usually include more steps and take a little longer, they provide more professional results (even though the difference may be subtle).

Me: Is this book for Windows users, Mac users, or both?

Me: Because Photoshop is identical on Windows and on the Mac, the book is designed for both platforms. However, the keyboard on a PC is slightly different from the keyboard on a Mac, so anytime I give a keyboard shortcut in the book, I give both the PC and Mac keyboard shortcuts. See, I care.

Me: What would you say to people who are more advanced in their Photoshop skills?

Me: Actually, I would just tell them one thing to look out for. I wrote this book so anyone at any level of the Photoshop experience could jump right in, so if you've been using Photoshop for years, don't let it throw you that I spell everything out. For example, in the tutorials, rather than writing "Open Curves" (which a pro instinctively knows how to do), I usually write, "Go under the Image menu, under Adjustments, and choose Curves." That way, everybody can follow along, and this is particularly important for photographers who are just giving up film and switching to digital. Many of these traditional film photographers are brilliant, talented, amazing photographers, but since they're just now "going digital," they may not know anything about Photoshop. I didn't want to leave them out or make it harder for them, so I spell things out. I knew you'd understand.

Me: Okay, they've waited long enough. Where can they download the photos used in the book?

Me: The photos in this book come from three sources. Most of the photos I took myself over the past year, but I also asked my buddy, and fellow photographer, Dave Moser if I could use some of his wonderful work in the book as well. My third source was the great people at JupiterImages, who not only let me use some of their great royalty-free stock photos (this was especially helpful in the retouching chapter since I don't do much portraiture), but they allowed me to let my readers download low-res versions of their images that I used in the book. You can download all these photos from the book's companion website at www.scottkelbybooks.com/cs2digitalphotographers. Of course, the whole idea is that you'd use these techniques on your own photos, but if you want to practice on these, I won't tell anybody. By the way, if you're wondering why I chose JupiterImages, it's simple. I saw their stuff, I was really impressed with what they're doing, so I asked (okay, begged) them to let me use their royalty-free stock in the book. They've got a really interesting concept in royalty-free stock, so stop by their site (www.photos.com) and check them out. I know this sounds like a plug for JupiterImages, and it is. They didn't ask me to do it, but I'm so delighted to be using their images, I wanted to let them, and you, know.

Me: Well, Scott, this has just been great, and I have to admit, yours is the most fascinating, exciting, and insightful interview I've ever done.

Me: I knew you were going to say that.



    The Photoshop CS2 Book(c) for Digital Photographers
    The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)
    ISBN: B002DMJUBS
    EAN: N/A
    Year: 2006
    Pages: 187
    Authors: Scott Kelby

    flylib.com © 2008-2017.
    If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net