Camera Labs

This thread was created by a member who decided to revisit his/her opening post in order to spam the forum. The spam has been removed but I'll leave the rest of the thread intact. I think you can guess the question...


Check out Martin Evening's guides. I own CS4 so I bought "Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop" and it was a revelation. It comes with a CD-ROM so you can follow through the examples on your own PC and, from memory, it also includes some videos. It's not difficult and but expect to take some weeks reading through it unless you have a lot of spare time.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

There's also lots of stuff on youtube if you search for specific examples...

Iv always been a fan of "photoshop user tv", its a free video podcast. They also do a photography specific show called D-Town.

They have heaps of handy tips, and the guys that do it publish photoshop and photography books and stuff like that, so they really know their stuff.

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Nikon D300s / 50mm f1.8D / 18-200mm VR / 70-300mm VR / micro Nikkor 60mm 2.8 / Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 / sb25 / Phottix cleon II

My Flickr

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But are these podcasts and YouTube videos structured into a coherent learning program? I seriously doubt it! Maybe I'm feeling cranky this evening (OK, I admit it: I am feeling cranky) but picking up tips almost at random is no substitute if, as with josefina, one has "had Photoshop for a year now, and still dont know how to use it". I guess the thought of a few weeks of structured study just isn't the modern way.

Rant over. Sorry. Nothing personal.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Personally I would recommend the Adobe photoshop cs5 book by Scott Kelby, basically he just explains what you need to know, with which settings to use etc.

I personally didnt like the Scott Kelby book as it doesnt really go into depth of the program (my experience with the CS3 book). He shows some tricks but you dont really learn to use all the features. As a basic intro that you can work pretty fast is the Classroom in a book by adobe. As I have no opportunity to have a look inside the Martin Evening book, I dont know how much better that book would be

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- Wout -
Nikon D80 with 18-70 DX, 70-300 VR, 35 1.8 DX
Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with 488RC0 midi ballhead
Lowepro CompuRover AW and Nova 200 AW

Hi Wout,

Maybe there's a country specific restriction but the Amazon UK site for Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers has what appears to be an unlimited "Look Inside". I can't say that Martin's books are better or worse than others as it's the only one I've read but I did do some research before selecting it and it transformed the way I use PhotoShop and, in particular, made me realise how useful it is to start off in Bridge with a view to doing my initial post-processing, and usually most of my post-processing, in CameraRaw.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Thanks for the link, but in Holland the preview is limited to the first chapter + Indexes. I do my shopping at Amazon.co.uk (of course with the link of cameralabs) so I always keep my eyes out for those previews I will probably buy this book as well next to the Classroom in a book and try to see what book is better in my opinion (got some spare time on my hands lately).

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- Wout -
Nikon D80 with 18-70 DX, 70-300 VR, 35 1.8 DX
Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with 488RC0 midi ballhead
Lowepro CompuRover AW and Nova 200 AW

my wife bought a book by Chad Perkins, How to do everything in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

I am slowly working my way through it. I like working form a book. When I have tried you tube for different things I find that you learn a method of doing something, but don`t necessarily find the most efficient method of what you actually want to do, ie you don`t know what the program can do, you just learn a method. I also missed the reasons behind it doing it that way.

You tube has video`s on how to set up your workspace, but judging by the "views" its not something people spend a lot of time at. They just get to the good bits. With the structure of a book I have been building on knowledge as you go from chapter to chapter, so its properly better for the beginner, and not a bad way for a more advanced used to fill in the holes in their knowledge base.

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Canon Powershot S95, Canon 7D, 15-85, Canon 85 1.8 USM, Sigma 30 1.4, 50mm 1.8, Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro, Canon 70-300L IS USM+Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX, Canon 430EX II and RS 4 Classic

josefina,
I started my acquaintance with Photoshop tools using the help section that is provided with the software. It's rather detailed and written quite simple for general users, start with this.

Gavin hoey has some really good ones.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PhotoGavin

I know it's not a book, but the best and easyest way I found was:
Photoshop Top Secret it's a 5 cd box set, the stuff in here is (so thats how they do that!) I seen some on youtube.