The Creative Digital Darkroom

Why another book on digital photography? Another book on CSx? Another book on RAW image processing? Another book on workflow? Another book on photo composition? Why? Because it's ONE book! A cohesive litany of eye-to-print, not only "hows", but the "whys".. This book is about photography. Well written, illustrated and laid out. The organization is like workflow should be, natural, easy to follow. It has gems for the beginner and pro alike. But let's be clear on what the beginner is. - The book is digital SLR focused. - The book is ADOBE CS(3) focused. - The book is RAW image capture focused. - The book presumes you have workflow needs. - The book assumes you didn't take the picture you thought you did. - The book assumes you care enough to fix it. The beginner here is not someone who got a Canon Pro-Shot for Christmas. Many photographers have moved from film to digital in the last couple of years, only to be smacked in the face by the EXTREME DIFFERENCE in the workflow of the two media. Ms. Eismann and Mr. Duggan have done a wonderful job covering so much so well without turning it into a MAC vs PC or CS3 primer. Throughout the ENTIRE book I felt I was working with images and concepts, never sitting in a classroom learning the Adobe interface. Thank you, Katrin and Seán, for that and this book! If you are a photographer that is buried by all the images, by all the post shutter-click "stuff" and are looking for a life-line of sanity to make sense of it all, this is THE book. The Creative Digital Darkroom is simply the best comprehensive book you can buy, especially for thirty bucks. Other reviewers have dinged this as a beginner's book. Sure, it appeals to that market, because it is full of step by steps and screen shots and explanations of how and why in CS3, Bridge, Lightroom and third party plug ins that don't exist in such detail in ANY SINGLE SOURCE. This book also gives the reader something that so many others lack - THE PICTURES IMAGES TO WORK ON! Ms. Eismann has, like in her other books, given the reader the links to the photos she uses to demonstrate her experience. Every concept, tool and technique can be explored implicitly and rotely as shown in the book, but also can be exploded into a vast field of self-exploration. Fun stuff. Cool. Every section is chock full of ideas and tips that easily could rescue, restore or release that one image that makes the book worthwhile. There are hundreds of topics explained and visually manipulated on the pages of this book. For example, chapter two, Digital Nuts and Bolts has a section on color space. Color space. What is it? What is meant by CMYK and RGB and sRGB (not the words cyan, magenta, yellow and black or red, blue, green, but what is Adobe RGB (1998) or Apple RGB or the camera manufactures' sRGB). Color space clipping from different cameras. Color and luminance. For beginners? Perhaps, but I know many a wedding photographer that now straps a Canon or Nikon pro body around the neck and hasn't a clue about what color space, resolution, bit depth, ISO-noise relationships and how to handle them with all those sliders in the software: let the lab handle it... Five Star Plus

This book is written for the photographer, the visual artist, or anyone aspiring to become such. In the first paragraph of the preface the authors state "As visual artists, photographers are constantly practicing looking and seeing images. They make photographs, even when they don't have a camera with them. The eye is the lens and the mind is the camera." The digital darkroom tools that the authors reference in the book are Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. They further state that the concepts and techniques presented are really applicable for use in most image editing and RAW processing applications. The companion web site, [...], provides additional information, as well as the images for use while following along with the exercises in the book and a bonus chapter in PDFformat covering the subject of creating high quality prints. Today many books on the subjects of image editing and RAW processing are mainly step-by-step cookbooks, with an emphasis on following a recipe to create a specific result. While this book does have plenty of exercises to step you through, the focus is really to hone your sense of creativity, refine your artist's eye, and build a deep understanding of how the digital darkroom tools work. The first of 10 chapters is brief, only 15 pages, and addresses training yourself to "see" images and learn digital darkroom basics for both detail work on individual images and batch processing for large numbers of files. From here you begin to lay the groundwork for image processing with considerations for building a digital darkroom environment and understanding color settings and management. Next, in the chapter titled Scan, Develop, and Organize, are details on various methods and considerations for acquiring and managing images. And now the magic begins, as do the in-depth explanations of the processes used to create those magical results. Chapter 5, Tone and Contrast, caught my attention as my photo-taking abilities require a lot of darkroom work especially on those two subjects. I also like to add drama, or some would say melodrama, to areas of my image. The `deep learning' contained in these pages provided me with a lot of much needed information. Working with curves and the Photoshop curves dialog has always been a matter of applying a known formula and not knowing where to go from there, but usually another tool. The section titled Understanding Curves begins on page 140 and continues through page 145. This tool provides the greatest control over manipulating tonal values in an image. How to select a tone in an image and then locate it on the curve grid and then create a control point, enabling a tonal adjustment, is thoroughly explained. Then there are steps, explanations and examples for applying a basic S-curve and reverse S-curve for increasing or decreasing contrast. The concept of lockdown points was new to me. It is a method of placing points at grid intersections, fixing parts of the curve in place so they are not affected as you adjust other areas of the curve. After this introduction to the power of curves for use in tonal control of an image, I read on to see that the tool plays a prominent role elsewhere in the chapters when working with color. I was able to use the info gleaned from these pages for improving a portrait cropped from a family picture. Using the approach of applying a mask and subtle curves adjustments, I was able to reduce the ruddy complexion in the photo to a more natural state for this individual. The Short Take: The ten chapters of this book contain a lot of technical expertise, sometimes more information than I could absorb in just one sitting. The subjects discussed cover a wider range than I could detail here. I'll mention just a sampling of subjects: color management, techniques for acquiring images, improving image quality, and applying creative enhancements. I found this book to be a great resource filled with tips and cautions, suggestions for training the eye to see in terms of composition, step-by-step instructions for trying out digital darkroom techniques, and bits of personal wisdom from the authors. I'm sure it will prove a valuable resource to keep handy by my computer when transforming a digital photo or my imagination into a digital creation.

There are a large number of books that provide an overview of Photoshop; most are for beginners and emphasize the tools and how to use them. If you are lucky and happened to buy one written by a working photographer, you likely also had a number of the author's really good photographs to work with. If you were unlucky, you had a book written by someone who was an expert, professional Photoshop user, but whose sample photographs were more snapshots than art. Perhaps you learned how to use the tools but not necessarily why. The good photos didn't need a lot of adjustmant, and the poor ones might not seem worth the effort. If you were really unlucky, you might not have gotten any sample images, or 'color' was a small selection of small images bound together in the middle of the volume with the rest of the book in B&W... even the 'color' illustrations! This books is well done... full color throughout. As far as I can tell, all the images used as examples in the book are available as downloads from the book's web site. This is important! Many of the examples are necessarily printed at a small size. You cannot esily see the outcome of the various editing steps. But with Bridge open to each chapter's image set, you can open and follow along with exactly what you are reading. (It's amazing how many authors do not do this!) This book is written by a photgraphic artist who uses Photoshop as a tool to create works of art. So the emphasis here is to present Photoshop as a tool to achieve rsults that were either similar to existing film effects (cross procesing, grain, dodge, burn etc) and also things that are just so much easier and new in Photoshop. This is no a beginner's guide to photography (digital or film), or a beginners guide to Photoshop. You should have experience in both. No explanation of f/stops and shutter speeds, and no elementary hand holding in Photoshop. You will learn how to color correct, balance tone & contrast, create film and digital effects, B&W conversion and much more. If you have experience with earlier versions of Photoshop, and are moving to CS3, I would also recommend Fraser & Schewe's excellent book, "Real World Camera Raw", coverage of which would have made this book another 300+ pages longer. So yes, this book does have, in part, some resemblance to other Photoshop 'recipe' books, but is written at a much higher level. Even more impressive in this book is the close attention to non-destructive image editing techniques. That is, techniques that do not commit changes that can't be later adjusted, removed or changed. The smart object abilities of CS3 are emhasized. So if you want to move you digital darkroom techniqies to a higher level of artistry, this is great book to learn from!

With one notable exception, this book is a rock solid foundation on the digital darkroom. It's very well written and the authors explain things in a very understandable way. It's full of information that every serious digital photographer should learn and master. Lots of this information can be gleaned from other sources, but this book rounds up all the really important info into one place. I can see this book being used as a text in digital photography classes. Although there is a section on creative enhancements, this is not the book for you if you're looking to learn to remove your ex from a photo, or create photo art. But, if you're looking to make your photos look great and understand how and why, this is your book. The one flaw is the lack of information on printing. Sure, the authors have a website where you can download the "bonus" printing chapter, but why was this chapter not included in the book? Printing is as important as any other subject in this book, so to claim the printing chapter is a "bonus" is a great disservice to buyers of this otherwise great book. I find it disturbing that the publisher is trying to pass off a flaw as a "bonus". I would have given this book 5 stars if not for the omission of the printing chapter. Otherwise, this is a valuable resource for your digital darkroom.

I have never bought an Eismann book that didn't reward me many times over. This book is no exception. I recommend it highly with one caveat: Her books do require you to possess a solid intermediate or preferably advanced comfort level with most aspects of Photoshop. I use CS5 and this book is perfect for me. While I am an advanced user, I am self-taught and Eismann is my guru in learning to do things the fast, "right" way. She is full of tips on efficiency and her real gold shines through when she explains WHY a procedure is effective. You don't get the "trained seal" approach from her. This is not a beginner's step-by-step book, but she assumes you have the background to follow her instructions. If you do, her writing is easy to follow and logically arranged. Her books are packed (and I DO mean packed) with nuggets of super tips and tricks, plus time-honored techniques that every Photoshop wannabe pro needs to have under their belt. Even as an advanced user, I learn so much from her. I cannot recommend this--or any or her books--highly enough. Even if they are out-of-print, buy a used copy. You won't regret it. Some of her books will target former iterations, like CS3, for example, but it is easy to transfer the knowledge to whatever higher version of Photoshop you use.

The "Creative Darkroom" is, in my judgment, the best book ever written on understanding and applying the power of Photoshop in the digital darkroom. It joins a long shelf of other Photoshop books in my "darkroom". Soon however, many of the others will be available on Amazon's used book market. This book is so clearly written and profusely illustrated that it will make even the most obtuse tools of PS come alive and become valuable in the hands of newly enlightened readers. It is clear enough to meet the needs of newbies to PS, while thorough enough to be of great value to long time advanced users. Furthermore, the writing style and organization of the book make it a pleasure to read and, encourage the reader to read on and learn more even after their initial question has been answered.

This book is not for beginners. Neither beginning photoshoppers or photographers. Although it is a book that you can grow with. It does not presume that the reader knows a lot already, and thus covers the basics as well as going over the basics of proper PS and monitor settings. I thought, from what i've read so far, that it a very good book, aimed at the intermediate PS'er and experienced photographer. It is just what i was looking for. The tone is professional, without glibness or condescension. It is not geared to the "Dummy" market. If you know how to take decent pictures and are looking for ways to make them better using PS than this book is for you. I think this book will provide a whole course of study to the persistent reader. I recommend this book to those photographers who have a handle on the digital end of things, but want to know more. It is not light reading, but it will be rewarding reading.

At first glance the title might make you think this s an digital art type book but it is not. Katrin and Sean are experts on how to enhance your photos from RAW to finished print (online bonus chapter). The book is filled with color examples and explanations on how to modify a picture for the best look. While it is centered around Adobe Camera RAW and Lightroom, I find the examples to be quite easily applied to Bibble. If you are trying to upgrade your skills using todays computers and software, this book will greately enhance them. It is like being tuttored by Katrin and Sean. I highly recommend this book. Also, take a look at [...] for RAW software.