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 enlarge | Author: Lee Varis
Publisher: Sybex
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $19.76
You Save: $20.23 (51%)
New (40) Used (16) from $17.79
Avg. Customer Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 7922
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
Condition: BRAND NEW - no remainder mark! See our *OUTSTANDING* RECENT FEEDBACK: 97%!!! We have 10,000+ feedbacks!! FAST shipping! MULTIPLE copies and EXPEDITED shipping available! INTERNATIONAL shipping *may* be available. 100% Satisfaction GUARANTEED! Exceptional, real-person CUSTOMER SERVICE!
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| Customer Reviews:
 The New Color Bible, A Breath of Fresh Air December 31, 2006
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
I went to the book store with a list of 6 photoshop/color books. Skin was not on the list cause I never heard of it. I always go straight to the photoshop section in the hopes of finding a new book. I'm tired of all the other books that talk about the same thing over and over. I needed a solution to color issues. I don't have major issues. I only have very subbtle issues and especially in the skin tones.
This is my new color bible. Wow, thank God Lee shared these secrets. This stuff is a must have for anyone that photographs people. It will solve the subtle problems you didn't even know you had.
I felt like I hit the jackpot when I found this new book. I really felt this book explained a lot of things clearly. I'm high intermediate to advanced in PS CS2. You can not get to the next level without this book. Nothing else I've read solves the problem like this book does.
Thank you Lee for doing this book.
now that I know you're writing books, I can't wait for your next one.
And thank you for personally responding to my email...I know you're busy.
Fabulous Book. No other book like it on the market! December 23, 2006
3 out of 9 found this review helpful
I was at the bookstore last night. I always go straight to the photoshop section in the hopes of finding a new book. I'm tired of all the other books that talk about the same thing over and over...especially tired of "tricks" techniques. I needed something that talks about skin color, calibration, and step-by-step actions.
I felt like I hit the jackpot when I found this new book. I really felt this book explained a lot of things clearly. Since it was $39.99 at the bookstore, I am ordering this book right after I write this review. I haven't tried the techniques yet, but of being an advanced user of photoshop, I notice right away that this book is a gem. The quality of the pictures inside are terrific.
Thank you Lee for doing this book and I look forward to the other books you plan to put out! I appreciate your input on this page and sharing your website.
Book of the Year for people shooters December 18, 2006
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
Photo techniques books have a tendency to rehash things we've seen before. Not this book. It is chock full of stuff that I have never seen in print.
The "focus" of the book (in case you didn't guess) is human skin, and the difficulties of digital capture, development, retouching and preparing for output.
Varis provides an explanation for the tendency of digital sensors to over-emphasize the red component of skin color. Better yet, he provides several techniques to effectively deal with the problem.
One way is a new camera calibration technique that uses a Macbeth color checker and Adobe Camera Raw. What's new about that? His method uses hue and saturation adjustments, which coincide with the adjustment sliders in the calibration tab of ACR. This is quite different, and potentially much easier, than Bruce Fraser's method (Real World Adobe Camera Raw), which requires a series of trial and error RGB adjustments.
Varis points out that "correct" RGB calibration may still have the "skin" block of the Macbeth color checker too red. He offers an alternative calibration that gives "correct" skin color, but may move the red block toward yellow. No free lunches. However, both calibrations can be saved in ACR and selectively used depending on subject matter.
Varis also presents skin correction techniques using Photoshop CS2 Hue-Saturation-Lightness layers. This is another straightforward and effective tool that I have never seen in print.
Varis writes for the professional and assumes some proficiency in Photoshop. However, there is much for the advanced amateur in his book.
Highly recommended!
[..]
Provocative December 1, 2006
86 out of 91 found this review helpful
It probably says more about me than the book that I found a title which applies to something that surrounds every person provocative. However, it's likely that advanced Photoshop users will find something provocative in this book
The book is aimed at photographers who know the basics of photography, including exposure, and the use of Photoshop including layers and masks. The author's emphasis is on portraits and people photography and how to get the most from photographs of these subjects. Although the author spends a little time looking at hardware like digital cameras and at basic portrait lighting techniques, his main concern is with post processing.
The author's stated aim is to fill the gaps left by other books, like the reproduction of dark skin. And he does this in many ways that I haven't seen before. For example he suggests better skin colors can be achieved by looking at the CMYK readings and applying a rule of thumb. (If you don't know what CMYK is, this book isn't for you.) Varis suggests that for Caucasians magenta and yellow should be of approximately equal value, with cyan a fourth to a third of the value. Images of African Americans should have a higher percentage of cyan and magenta. He then tells you how to make these adjustments. He also shows how to make tone and contrast adjustments for both color and black-and=white images.
The author devotes a chapter to retouching, showing the reader how to ease those wrinkles and even do a little tummy tuck in Photoshop. He also devotes space to special effects, but he emphasizes alteration of the image not to tell lies, so much as to give effect to the photographer's vision. There is also a chapter on preparing output for print.
Most of the techniques that Varis shows are attempts at improvements on simpler Photoshop techniques. For example in the chapter on preparing for printing, he describes a method of improving on the usual unsharp mask sharpening. He does this by adding two additional layers that allow individual control of the prominence of the light halos and the dark halos that are the essence of unsharp mask.
Application of these techniques requires effort above and beyond normal Photoshop processing. How useful they will be depends on the amount of work you are willing to invest in an image, although most of the techniques could certainly be embedded in actions. Equally important is the question of your own ability to envision when to employ a particular technique to improve your work. An alternate consideration might be your willingness to experiment with several techniques to see which will benefit you.
The book includes a CD with the images used as examples in the book. I recommend that you read chapter 9 of the book which discusses these images before any other chapter. Then unzip the folders they come in into a new folder and follow along with the book. Often the changes are subtle and more easily seen on a monitor as they are made than on the printed page.
In summary, this is a book for the experienced Photoshop user, willing to spend the time examining techniques that might enable one to get that slight edge in his or her photographs that would put one ahead of other digital photographers.
Excellent resource for people photography November 11, 2006
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book covers it all, from lighting to taking the picture, to fixing defects after the shot is captured. The text is clear and readable, complete, and illustrated with great examples. The accompanying CD is a valuable resource, too. Highly recommended.
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