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Welcome to Oz: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop (VOICES) | 
 enlarge | Author: Vincent Versace
Publisher: New Riders Press
Category: Book
List Price: $44.99
Buy New: $25.89
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New (38) Used (13) from $25.89
Avg. Customer Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 29694
Media: Perfect Paperback
Edition: Pap/Dvdr
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 9 x 0.5
ISBN: 0735714002
Dewey Decimal Number: 778
EAN: 9780735714007
ASIN: 0735714002
Publication Date: December 23, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"Vincent Versace is a Renaissance man who has produced the best how-to book of the year! With its subtitle of “A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop” Versace introduces a system for creating images that owes as much to the traditional darkroom as the digital one. Don’t just read the book; study it. The first chapter isn’t called “The Tao of Dynamic Workflow” for nothing and, like the rest of the book, contains Versace’s charm, wit, and wisdom. It’s copiously illustrated with detailed step-by-step examples of techniques that when applied to your own work will turn you from zero to hero. The fact that he’s a heck of a photographer means the book is stunningly illustrated, but it’s also been well designed. It has become a cliché to say that a book could change your life, but this one could." -- Joe Farace, December, 2007 , Shutterbug, Top Digital Books Of 2007; More & Better Digital Imaging Books
Creating memorable photographs is a process that starts before you edit an image in Photoshop, before you capture the image, even before you pick up the camera. You must first approach the subject with the proper sense of perception, with the ability to visualize the finished print before you commit a scene to pixels, but still be flexible and spontaneous. Master Fine Art photographer Vincent Versace has spent his career learning and teaching the art of perception and how to translate it into stunning images. In Welcome to Oz, he delves into what it means to approach digital photography cinematically, to use your perception, your camera, and Photoshop to capture the movement of life in a still image.
- Adapt your workflow to the image so you always know how best to use your tools
- Turn a seemingly impossible photographic scenario into a successful image
- Practice “image harvesting” to combine the best parts of many captures to create an optimum final result
- Create black and white prints that have the look, feel and “richness” of traditional silver prints without ever leaving the RGB color space
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 An introduction to advanced photgraphic editing in Photoshop July 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book is useful for those who want to move up from basic use of Photoshops image enhancment tools to a more advanced level. The use of various layer masks and how to develop an efficient workflow is described. The book is laid out as a course and the reader should do the exercises using the images from the included CD. The style of the results is of course a reflection of Versaces own style, however by learning the described teqnique the reader can gain a platform to develop his own style. The example images are portraits and close-up nature. There is also a small collection of the Versaces images nicely presented which shows that the author has achieved his goals.
This is not a general encyclopedia on Photoshop rather it is an introduction on how to use the toools in Photoshop to achieve a specific photografic result and to get inspiration from a master.
Great digital photo book! July 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Vincent Versace's Welcome To Oz is quite possibly the most innovative and best digital photography title I've ever come across (excluding my own books, of course!).
Versace is a superb photographer. So this is not one of those digital photography books that is written by a Photoshop guru without the creative gifts and guts to make images. But it is still largely a Photoshop book.
Versace's subtitle tells the story of his book: "A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop". After reading this book, I felt better able to view photograph-making from the perspective of what would happen to the photo in the computer as well as in the camera. And, as I said, the images are splendid (and the step-by step accounts of how they were created very thorough).
If I have one caveat here, it is that Versace provides versions of his original images, and encourages readers to duplicate his work on these samples. Personally, I prefer to try things out on my own images, and I enourage readers and students to process their own work. Otherwise, the whole thing becomes a slavish imitation of a master rather than an original creative endeavor. But that's a matter of individual taste and a quibble, this is a really, really good book.
 Inspirational March 30, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is inspirational; there are 4 or 5 very detailed step by step exercises. There are, also, many example pictures of finished work, like the one on the cover. It is a pity that the author has chosen the "less beautiful" pictures for developing the exercises. Don't expect to find how to make the one of the cover.
Some great concepts - very sloppy editing February 12, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Versace's book introduces some great concepts about seeing and handling images that are not found in your typical Photoshop book and are always given from the perspective of a practicing photographer rather than a computer jocky. It is designed however as a tutorial with the intention of having the reader actually do all the exercises not just once, but several times. All great advice, but there is one aspect of this book that is exasperating. The editing is terrible. I have found this problem with many technical tutorial books. I believe it is because the editor does not have the knowledge to know when something is amiss in the instructions and the author is too close to his material to see the ambiguities and layout mistakes are never picked up. In layout mistakes, the author never sees them and the editor has no clue if they exist or not. It is only the poor reader trying to follow very detailed instructions that picks up these gafs.
In this book, I found every tutorial had mistakes in the instructions with steps out of order, ambiguity in instructions, mismatched example images for the step involved, layer masks that did not match the instructions. Truly maddening. These types of books should be proofed by a student so that these mistakes can be reported and fixed.
So I have started doing the exercises, but when I come to a step that has mistakes, I just have to wing it. Frustrating for an expensive book.
One reviewer mentioned that the exercises depended on using proprietary plug-ins. Well, he does encourage the use of Nik plug-ins, but does usually give you a work around with the exception of the Nik Skylight filter. He also notes that you can freely download time-limited trials that can be used to do the exercises. I agree that the arrangement between Versace and Nik is just a bit to tight in this book.
Overall I am glad that I am working through this book, but poor production practices have made it a struggle and thus my 3 star rating.
Also it should be noted that Versace's handling of images is quite theatrical with very strong lighting effects that will strike some viewers as phoney looking. This however is this photographer's style. I believe that the concepts he is trying to impart can all be used but much more subtly if his style seems way over the top to you.
A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop January 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Looking for a wild ride or an interesting trip? This is the book for you. Along the way, you'll get a few important glimpses of the future. This a highly personal, idiosyncratic, at times eccentric, thoroughly original, book.
The contents include: The Tao of Dynamic Workflow; Image Harvesting: The Unwitting Ally; Classic Studio Lighting; Creating a Black-and-White Image from an RGB File; It's About Time.
Vincent shares his personal experience with and passion for how digital tools have changed the way he sees and makes photographs. He invites you into his world.
His `cinematic approach' is fascinating and timely, as the nature of visual culture and still imagery becomes more and more impacted by moving pictures.
In this book you'll get a first-hand glimpse of how Vincent struggles to achieve original authentic expression with the basic building blocks of photography - light and time.
He uses compositing to represent how the human eye sees in more compelling ways, controlling depth of field, time, and light.
Ultimately the concerns of this book transcend Photoshop. It's really about perception. He draws on other fields (acting and science) to expand our understanding of this process.
If his sentence structure is extended at times, Vincent more than makes up for it with passion and insight his reveries contain.
Vincent's shares more than what he knows about Photoshop. Vincent shares how he's come to see in new ways. He offers many valuable opportunities to you in this book.
See other books I recommend here: http://astore.amazon.com/johnpaulcapon-20
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