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 enlarge | Author: Lee Varis
Publisher: Sybex
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $18.91
You Save: $21.08 (53%)
New (40) Used (15) from $18.91
Avg. Customer Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 5012
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
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! Pap/Cdr. 2006 Paperback.
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| Customer Reviews:
 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!
Skin: Highly Recommended May 19, 2007
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies
I just finished reading Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies, a wonderful book for Adobe Photoshop enthusiasts. Although I would only consider myself an intermediate user of Photoshop, I found Lee Varis' book immensely helpful, and I highly recommend it to all those who photograph people.
Chapter 1: Digital Imaging Basics is a brief introduction to digital imaging basics. It quickly covers chips and pixels as well as dynamic ranges. Furthermore, Varis covers JPEG artifacts, cameras, memory cards, computers and monitor calibration. He finishes the chapter with a discussion on Photoshop preferences.
Chapter 2: Color Management Workflow, and Calibration is as the title suggests. The first few pages provide a high level overview of workflow management. Then Varis discusses color and light calibration. I must admit, he does have a rather funky looking set up of test targets that include the GretagMacBeth 24 patch plus Styrofoam cutouts and black traps. Varis provides a lengthy and detailed discussion on his calibration method. He also mentions that he prefers 8 bit processing as opposed to 16 bit. Moreover, he comments on the popular expose to the right practice.
::::The idea is good theory but bad practice because the histogram cannot tell you where you are placing your tones with any precision, and it can't tell you whether the histogram is appropriate for the subject. (What picture goes with this histogram?) The camera's histogram is only a general indication of the distribution of values in the camera-generated JPEG. It is usually a composite of all three channels. The RAW data has a much wider distribution of tones that will vary in each channel, so you may not know if you are clipping important data in the Red Channel simply by looking at the histogram display on the camera.::::
Chapter 3: Lighting and Photographing People is an overview of lighting. Varis uses different configurations of lights and reflectors to demonstrate various effects. The photographs contained in the book are helpful to understanding the concepts discussed.
Chapter 4: The Color of Skin teaches the reader about proper skin tones. Varis introduces how to use curves effectively as well as how to adjust skin tones by using the CMYK values. He then finishes the chapter with a discussion on cultural and personal preferences. What one group of people might desire, others might oppose. So it is important to understand your audience.
Chapter 5: Tone and Contrast: Color and B+W is an extremely interesting chapter because it discusses how to create B+W conversions and how B+W conversions can create better color photos. The first few pages discuss the channel mixer and split channels to obtain stunning B+W conversions. Next, Varis teaches the reader how B+W image can be used in luminosity blending to darken, lighten, and recover detail. I enjoyed part of the chapter because it opened up new avenues for processing my photos. Last, he discusses hue, saturation and toning effects.
Chapter 6: Retouching is a thoroughly enjoyable chapter. Varis begins with a basic retouching where he uses the healing brushes to smooth away wrinkles. But then he kicks it up a notch by subtly using the dodge and burn tools to make the image just that much better. He then goes on to show how to use Hue/Saturation Repair to address red blotchy skin. I found the before and after pictures were amazing. Varis then walks his readers through an example of an attractive woman in her fifties. The before and after pictures are remarkable. He then shows a similar set of before and after pictures for a beautiful young model likely in her twenties. He wraps the chapter up by discussing some thinning techniques as well as some further skin processing.
Chapter 7: Special Effects provides some useful tricks to generate interesting images. The four main themes of this chapter are soft focus, film grain and mezzotint, cross-processing, and tattoos. A substantial portion of the chapter is devoted to soft focus, which includes depth of field effects. Because photographers often want to create a softer, less harsh image or part of an image, I found this discussion helpful. I am not one for film grain and mezzotint. Similarly, I am not wild about cross-processing where you get unexpected colors in unexpected places. The last section on tattoos was interesting, even though I am not a tattoo fan. I liked the last part of the tattoo section where he described how to use Photoshop to create a fake tattoo.
Chapter 8: Preparing for Print focuses the following key themes: sharpening, color management for print, soft proofing, desktop printing, and creative print finishing. I am going to comment on the first and last items. Varis' sharpening discussion is very helpful. Prior to reading this book, I simply used unsharp mask and was done. Now, when I want to get a sharper picture, I use multiple sharpening layers in luminosity blending modes as well as darkening and lighting blending modes. This technique has the advantage of offering better control of the halos. Creative print finishing provides some options for designing captivating borders or edges to the photographs. In his examples, Varis shows how the edges provide added pizzazz to the already great photo.
Chapter 9: Parting Shots is a short chapter that provides some further high level commentary on workflow. Varis then walks the reader through the companion CD. I suspect most readers have already opened the CD and have been using the files all along, so this information is superfluous at this point. And last, he reminds readers that digital photography is still in its infancy. Much of what we have just learned is likely to become outdated soon. I believe, however, that if we understand and have developed a sense of adventure to experiment, our newly gained knowledge will help us as newer technologies and techniques emerge.
Being an intermediate, at best, Photoshop user, I found Skin to be a valuable resource. I enjoyed learning by working through the examples. I also enjoyed seeing how just some subtle steps make a significant difference. I highly recommend this book.
Skin truly covers the subject...completely. May 18, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book truly did cover the full spectrum of my needs. I work as a graphic designer and use Photoshop on a daily basis. Over the past three years, I have been shooting a lot people pictures for newsletters and other promotional materials using a Canon EOS 20D. This book was an immediate help in "saving" some previously shot images and enhancing others. I am about to purchase some lighting equipment in order to take my skills to the next level. This book covers a variety of lighting setups and has helped me sort out what kind of equipment to purchase.
The techniques in Photoshop are explained in a step-by-step procedure and sample files are included on a CD. All concepts and techniques are illustrated very well. I go back to this book over an over again to try out new things or to review previously tried techniques. As the title indicates this is a complete guide. I have just scratched the surface of what I can gain from this book. It has an extensive chapter (Chapter 2) on color management and claibration which I need to dive into. Once I get the lights, I'll be refering back to it this (Chapter 3) for lighting setups. One of the best how-to books I have ever purchased and I have purchased a few (including Photoshop WOW!).
 Very good overall May 18, 2007
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
The good:
-very useful diagrams of lighting setups
-use of black & non-caucasian models (finally!)
-great explanations of skin-tone characteristics
The bad:
-Confusing explanation for setting up complicated calibration (at beginning of book)
-Portraits did not include photo data (ie, f-stop,shutterspeed,iso, etc)
-Very little discussion of proper camera or flash settings
Fantastic book May 12, 2007
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I think is a very good book I am very interested on this kind of book in my country there arent book about skin retouch that is why I bought.
I am learning a lot with this book thanks for everything.
Mayte
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