Intermediate-Advanced Photoshop Books?

EdwardL

EdwardL

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Edward
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I'm looking to purchase up to three books on Photoshop. I think I've passed the beginners stage and am finding YouTube and other videos interesting but I'm not really digesting anything in detail. I feel a good read with one of those old fashioned book things is in order. :)

Can you recommend any?

Three I've come across during my search are:
1. Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/03217495...TF8&colid=1VJJB69EQOHQA&coliid=I3MLFKKWE91YJ1
I think I will probably buy this one

2. The Hidden Power of Blend Modes in Adobe Photoshop
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/03218237...UTF8&colid=1VJJB69EQOHQA&coliid=IWGU9EA8UYUB6
Not sure if this will be good value for money for me and the reviews are not that flattering

3. Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques for Photographers Using Photoshop
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/03217255...UTF8&colid=1VJJB69EQOHQA&coliid=IV76U1MK5ZNXN
Might not for me but considering the thread title I felt this would be a helpful read for some others

[Edit - found another which covers selecting - one of my problem areas]
4. The Photoshop Workbook
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Photosh..._14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0QPWTY4NN852XDFTNKJ0
This has crossed my radar before and a review mentions Intermediate to Advanced
 
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I have no up-to-date recommendation (the Blatner / Fraser Real World titles used to be very solid and intelligent for any kind of pre-press work), but will just say that a choice of book is often personal, to do with how you relate to the author's style of presenting information. So to save disappointment it's best to preview a book before buying it.
 
The Rocky Nook books are often on offer - worth checking out. Also although I know you said you wanted a book but if you didn't look already try Linda.com and Creative Live for more in depth tutorials with downloadable files etc.
 
I think online stuff is always going to be better with things like this.

A book is going to be out of date by the time it's printed. And then you're paying to read one person's way of doing things, rather than not paying (or paying what is likely less than the cost of a book) for countless views that are open to comment and critique from countless more users online.
 
I like the look of the first one as I struggle with using layers to best advantage. I ight have got it for Christmas but got Perfect Exposure by Michael Freeman which I have yet to explore. I prefer a book to online tuition as I can more easily refer back to things!
 
Thank you all for these. I suppose we all like to learn in different ways. Still chugging through Amazon reviews. :) Nearly added the layers book to the basket and now have found another more general book.
 
Jayst84 said:
then you're paying to read one person's way of doing things, rather than not paying (or paying what is likely less than the cost of a book) for countless views that are open to comment and critique from countless more users online.
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That is true but I always find that it can be very confusing to listen to all of the comment, you can end up getting nowhere and not knowing who to believe ... at least if you follow an acknowledged 'authority' you've got a chance of improving without being totally confused?
 
The best thing to do is work out what you want to achieve, and then find a Phlearn tutorial for that (though note that Phlearn is heavily biased towards portraiture and fashiony stuff).
Once you've spent a while on Phlearn you could buy the Martin Evening 'Photoshop for Photographers' complete reference.

Glyn Dewis's videos are excellent too; I've never read one of his books.
Don't bother with the blend modes book.
The Scott Kelby book is ok, but rather gives the impression that his is the one true way to process portraits.
 
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juggler said:
The best thing to do is work out what you want to achieve, and then find a Phlearn tutorial for that (though note that Phlearn is heavily biased towards portraiture and fashiony stuff).
Once you've spent a while on Phlearn you could buy the Martin Evening 'Photoshop for Photographers' complete reference.

Glyn Dewis's videos are excellent too; I've never read one of his books.
Don't bother with the blend modes book.
The Scott Kelby book is ok, but rather gives the impression that his is the one true way to process portraits.
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I really didn't like the Phlearn tutorials (the photoshop 101 and 201). Just seemed too much like he didn't really plan what he was going to say and was just improvising and as a result felt overlong and took a while to get to the point. I prefer the Julianne Kost one on Lynda.com. I have the Martin Evening one and whilst it's comprehensive I found it a bit dry. Probably reading Scott Kelby books ruined my attention span for this kind of stuff!

For me I do most initial editing in lightroom and only go to Photoshop for more in depth changes on photos I particularly like or want to print but I find most books or tutorials are aimed at the person who wants to do everything in either LR or PS.
 
michaelg said:
For me I do most initial editing in lightroom and only go to Photoshop for more in depth changes on photos I particularly like or want to print but I find most books or tutorials are aimed at the person who wants to do everything in either LR or PS.
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Yes - I'm exactly the same, although I am attempting to learn Photoshop in depth for the application of special effects.
michaelg said:
I really didn't like the Phlearn tutorials (the photoshop 101 and 201). Just seemed too much like he didn't really plan what he was going to say and was just improvising and as a result felt overlong and took a while to get to the point. I prefer the Julianne Kost one on Lynda.com. I have the Martin Evening one and whilst it's comprehensive I found it a bit dry. Probably reading Scott Kelby books ruined my attention span for this kind of stuff! .
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I've never read any of the Kelby books, but from what I've read about him he's a bit of an acquired taste.
Personally, I like the Phlearn tutorials, and I've never thought that he's making it up as he goes along or that they are over-long, although I haven't viewed all of them.
In fact one of the things I thought was good about the ones I've seen is that they aren't over-long.
I think one of the best things about Phlearn is that everything is in small chunks covering specific techniques, so if there's a particular effect you want to achieve you can usually find a tutorial on it.
My main criticism of Phlearn is that some of the stuff he does is a bit quick, and he doesn't always explain precisely what he's doing, so you have to keep rewinding and replaying to really understand what's going on.
 
Brian G said:
Yes - I'm exactly the same, although I am attempting to learn Photoshop in depth for the application of special effects.

I've never read any of the Kelby books, but from what I've read about him he's a bit of an acquired taste.
Personally, I like the Phlearn tutorials, and I've never thought that he's making it up as he goes along or that they are over-long, although I haven't viewed all of them.
In fact one of the things I thought was good about the ones I've seen is that they aren't over-long.
I think one of the best things about Phlearn is that everything is in small chunks covering specific techniques, so if there's a particular effect you want to achieve you can usually find a tutorial on it.
My main criticism of Phlearn is that some of the stuff he does is a bit quick, and he doesn't always explain precisely what he's doing, so you have to keep rewinding and replaying to really understand what's going on.
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Have you only watched the You Tube ones or did you buy the same ones I did (photoshop 101 and 201 bundle)? The you tube ones are quick and to the point and more polished which is what led me to buy the download. The download is 6h long and the structure is very loose and a number of times he is saying things like "oh I wonder what this does , let's try it? Oh I don't like that. How about this? Oh that's even worse." Etc. Just made me think it could do with some serious editing. He also seemed to have never come across the sponge tool before and didn't seem to know what it was for when even as a fairly amateur user I recall coming across it in a lot of tutorials in magazines and online so even if he has more sophisticated approaches I'd expect it to be at least vaguely familiar to him as an expert user.

What troubled me the most is that I reviewed the course and whilst I made the same criticism I said some positive stuff too and funnily enough that review never appeared among the others .There actually are no negative reviews for that bundle. The closest is people giving a one star review just asking if they can download in Nigeria or something. Which strikes me as deliberately misleading. If he believes in his product and someone isn't being malicious by posting a balanced review, he should either take it on the chin or respond to the criticism as he did to the more fawning reviews that made the cut.
 
EdwardL said:
Hence the books thread :D

Many thanks for all the comments - very helpful and interesting!
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Yes, I'd rather have a book beside me that I can refer to.
To keep switching between a Photoshop screen and an on-line tutorial can be a real pain.
Even if I watch an on-line tutorial, I still keep stopping it and making notes.

michaelg said:
Have you only watched the You Tube ones or did you buy the same ones I did (photoshop 101 and 201 bundle)? The you tube ones are quick and to the point and more polished which is what led me to buy the download. The download is 6h long and the structure is very loose and a number of times he is saying things like "oh I wonder what this does , let's try it? Oh I don't like that. How about this? Oh that's even worse." Etc. Just made me think it could do with some serious editing. He also seemed to have never come across the sponge tool before and didn't seem to know what it was for when even as a fairly amateur user I recall coming across it in a lot of tutorials in magazines and online so even if he has more sophisticated approaches I'd expect it to be at least vaguely familiar to him as an expert user.

What troubled me the most is that I reviewed the course and whilst I made the same criticism I said some positive stuff too and funnily enough that review never appeared among the others .There actually are no negative reviews for that bundle. The closest is people giving a one star review just asking if they can download in Nigeria or something. Which strikes me as deliberately misleading. If he believes in his product and someone isn't being malicious by posting a balanced review, he should either take it on the chin or respond to the criticism as he did to the more fawning reviews that made the cut.
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Ah! Being a cheapskate I've only watched the free Phlearn lessons, and one thing I like about them is they are brief and to the point.
Sounds like the paid for ones are somewhat different.
There's nothing wrong with him saying "I don't like that, how about this..." since for everything he doesn't like, someone else will have the opposite opinion, and it shows an alternative result.

One thing I wanted to do to an image was to add some sunbeams or light rays.
He's got two short (free) tutorials that covered exactly what I wanted to do.
It was my first "serious" use of Photoshop and nobody has ever questioned the fact that my sunbeams were artificially enhanced.

I should add that I'm also a fan of the Julieanne Kost tutorials, although they tend to deal with the basics, rather than special effects like Phlearn deals with.
 
I've watched hours and hours of YouTube tutorials and lessons which is why I feel a book or two is the next stage for me.

Must admit that I too have only watched the free ones except one which I bought and one does learn much more from a purchased video than the freebies.
 
I have the layers book by Matt K, and the retouch one by Scott K. I was a little disappointed in the layers book, I can't put my finger on why, but it had nothing to add to the tutorials I had viewed. Scott book, I enjoyed, he obviously, puts it forward in his way, because he is the author, it helped me with skin softening, bright eyes, dodging & burning etc. All the basics, without looking false, I found it helped in my processing. Maybe on Amazon you could look inside on some books & see if they are for you.
 
Jango said:
I have the layers book by Matt K, and the retouch one by Scott K. I was a little disappointed in the layers book, I can't put my finger on why, but it had nothing to add to the tutorials I had viewed. Scott book, I enjoyed, he obviously, puts it forward in his way, because he is the author, it helped me with skin softening, bright eyes, dodging & burning etc. All the basics, without looking false, I found it helped in my processing. Maybe on Amazon you could look inside on some books & see if they are for you.
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That's a really helpful post - thank you for taking the time especially as you own and have read them. I was really sold on the layers book and not so much the Scott book. Will have another think now.

I know there are Amazon reviews which is where I've gained most of my knowledge about these books but I am inclined to give more weighting to the views this forum than Amazon, useful as their reviews are. The way I'm seeing it is three books is near enough £100 and that's not an insignificant amount for reading material.
 
Brian G said:
Ah! Being a cheapskate I've only watched the free Phlearn lessons, and one thing I like about them is they are brief and to the point.
Sounds like the paid for ones are somewhat different.
There's nothing wrong with him saying "I don't like that, how about this..." since for everything he doesn't like, someone else will have the opposite opinion, and it shows an alternative result.
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If my internet connection wasn't so abysmal I'd upload one of the clips to let you see what I mean. It's not that he says he likes/doesn't like stuff, just that he seemed to be experimenting with each image with no clear plan in mind as if to pad it out a bit. Other videos I've seen are more like they know what they want to show you with each image or technique in the lesson section.
 
Edward, I don't mean the reviews, if you click on the book on Amazon, it says look inside, then you can see the chapters of the book and see if they appeal to you.
 
@Jango - Oh, sorry - I've done that too. It does take a few clicks to reach the meat sometimes :)

Still interested with your thoughts - not had a time to have another look today as I've been busy with other things.
 
Many thanks for all the replies. I've spent over a month pondering and dusted off my wallet a few minutes ago. In the end I've gone for the Layers, Retouching and Photoshop Workbook - 1,3 and 4 in the above list.
 
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