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 enlarge | Author: Lee Varis
Publisher: Sybex
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $18.15
You Save: $21.84 (55%)
New (38) Used (21) from $17.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 12530
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 7.8 x 1.1
ISBN: 047004733X
Dewey Decimal Number: 775
EAN: 9780470047330
ASIN: 047004733X
Publication Date: October 16, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: All orders ship same business day via standard shipping (USPS Media Mail) if received by 1 PM CST.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great techniques, accurate step by step instructions, excellent results June 27, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have about a dozen books on digital photography and Photoshop. Half of them are quite good, but this one is great. I'm not a professional photographer, rather an avid student (I read Ansel Adams' books the first time 35 years ago). After going digital nine years ago (can you say Mavica?) and finally treating myself to a proper DSLR more recently, I have plunged into the new realm of control that digital opens up.
I have been basically satisfied with my results, but it's kind of hard to screw up the Grand Canyon if the atmosphere is not hazy. After the initial rush of pretty good photos from a good DSLR, I have come to realize that I need to be able to make the people in my photos look good. If I do, the rest of the photo will come along and complement the subject. Skin, by Lee Varis, helps me accomplish this. The lighting techniques are direct and to the point and his explicit and detailed instructions on how he achieves good skin tone and overall color balance are understandable, repeatable, and give excellent results. I'm still reading and rereading the book and always come away with new tidbits that send me to my computer to try in Photoshop.
The book should come with a warning: "Caution, reading may inspire you to abandon your Elements and move up to CS3. I did."
Highly recommended.
Skin, A great resource! A must have for any serious digital photographer June 26, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book brings it all together. It starts with calibrating your camera and meter and then sets up Photoshop to do what you need it to do, if you shoot people.
I have had the opportunity to have one on one instruction from the author and that whet my appetite for the rest of the book. No it does not cover every eventuality, but gives a very firm foundation with lots of options so you can pick how you like your pictures to look like.
 Great Examples June 26, 2007
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
this book has some really good examples of skin retouching and new ways of working with skin.
Great must have book for DSLR owners June 19, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you're serious about getting the most from your DSLR, this book is for you. It offers a wealth of information not found in other photography books. One of the best things about SKIN is you can use the book in total (calibrate your entire digital workflow, etc. ) or just pick different tutorials from the various chapters (like correcting blemishes without using the "healing" brush in Photoshop.To get the most out of this book you will own a DSLR, PC or Mac & Photoshop CS. The retouching info is still quite valuable if you don't have a DSLR, but the sections on using Camera Raw will really make you want to start shooting in that colorspace if you currently shoot JPEGs. One thing I would love to have seen is bullet points or some kind of highlighting (bold type) of the tutorials in the text-- as it is written, they are set in the same type as the other text and if you're a lazy reader like me, you'll find yourself hunting for the "step-by-steps". Also, the author, Lee Varis personally (& quickly) responded to an e-mail I sent him regarding a passage in the book-- quite nice.
This book, along with Exposure and Lighting for Digital Photographers Only, are the best & most useful photo books I've purchased in a LONG time.
First two chapters alone are worth the price of the book! June 16, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Lee has written the best analysis of photographic color I've seen: how to control it, how to get it reasonably accurate (and he explains why perfect accuracy is impossible), and how to alter color to get results artistically superior to technical perfection. I'll also endorse, rather than repeat the details of Conrad Obregon's excellent review of this book, and add another vote for this opinion. Futhermore, the chapter on retouching, by itself, will teach many readers more about Photoshop than most Photoshop books will.
The surprise extra value in this book is Chapter 7, Special Effects. As the lead author of an obsolete special effects book (from the bad old days of film ), I'm surprised at how many ideas I see in this chapter that I never thought of! You will like some of the pictures, dislike others, but learn the techniques to make pictures you very much WILL like.
The only weak chapter is number 3, Lighting, and it's only weak because that material needs a book, not just a chapter. (Disclosure: I'm the lead author of Light - Science and Magic. Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting) But the book would still be worth more than its price if you threw out that chapter completely!
Well done, Mr. Varis!
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