 "Photoshop Raw - M.Aaland" | 2007-01-29 |
| - Reviewed By User: AFGG9PTSZXELZ |
| Minimum text balanced with excellent sidebar explanations, examples and illustrations made the book easy to read and understand, and to fully exploit the many features or RAW. Of particular interest was the coverage of colour balance, High Dynamic Range and Black and White conversion in RAW |
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 "Photoshop CS2 RAW" | 2006-08-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1UIWUNTTXZ756 |
I must admit, I took a long time switching to digital for photo work, and then I thought I was set. It appears that not only do a I have to master the camera for settings, but in those instances where the money talks, I have to learn about RAW format rather than the high res JPG format I thought was dealing me a good deal.
If you shoot professional photography in digital format, you best scurry on down to the local bookstore for this one (or order online d'oph).
RAW gives you the ground base to build and perfect the data that results in great photographs. Of course you have to be a great photographer to begin with, so that said, this is why professional photographers need this. Alright, its important for photo illustrators too, but if you photographers do not understand why its important to shoot RAW, then the illustator, or yourself cannot do diddly with the jpg in terms of coverting to RAW again.
Must for professional digital photographers and illustrators. Handy for designers dealing with photos. Not relevant to non photo centric people. Printers will have an intrest in this as it relates to client work. |
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| "Too much graphic art - too little substance" | 2006-08-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2B9TZ9J05AALQ |
In the field of digital photography, capturing and developing "RAW" files is a hot topic, largely because this is usually the route to the highest image quality attainable. The subject can be a bit opaque because each manufacturer mechanizes in-camera RAW files differently. Also, there are many different RAW converters (software packages for developing the RAW files into optimized images) from both the camera manufacturers and third parties. One of the most popular RAW converters is Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), originally released by Adobe as a plug-in for Photoshop 7 and Photoshop Elements, and now integrated into both products.
Adobe Photoshop is the undisputed king-of-the-hill in digital image editing software and has spawned an entire industry of "how-to" books. The subject is so vast and so technical it's nearly impossible to put it all in one book that is actually readable, though many have tried.
In this case I believe the author tried to accomplish too much in too little space. To thoroughly cover the topic of digital RAW would require many more pages, and would be better served, in my view, by taking a more narrowly focused, more studious approach to presenting the information. The target audience is questionable too: too much complexity for beginners; too little real meat for advanced users.
I also found the layout of the book disconcerting. It's bright and colorful with lots of white space, and is visually attractive from a graphic artist's perspective, but primary topics are presented as snippets of information followed by a host of screen shots and illustrations and sidebars with explanations. This disrupted the continuity of the ideas and I had to keep backtracking to pick up the main thread.
There's no doubt that the author knows his stuff, but the book left me unsatisfied. If you're really looking to understand and use Adobe Camera Raw to its fullest capability, there are better texts available.
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| "A nice introduction to RAW" | 2006-05-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: A732ZIAYKZ1V8 |
I bought this book after reading the other 5-star reviews, so I thought Wow! This must be it! Well, it's almost 'it'. The book gives a well-written and useful explanation of what RAW is all about, and also shows some good examples of what you can do with RAW. It also helps you to decide when to shoot in RAW or when you'd better just switch to JPG.
Unfortunately, the images used in the book are of poor quality, both in terms of press and art. Actually they are just ordinary snapshots, for which JPG would be enough. The photos don't contribute so much to the text, because they are quit messy. Often it was not very clear what a certain change in Photoshop really does with the picture. The images are quit dull and smudgy.
Text however is clearly written, and after reading this book you have a very good impression about the power of RAW and how you can greatly enhance your photos by using Camera Raw and PhotoShop CS2. It gives you enough starting material to go on. Too bad the author didn't use more appealing pictures to show what awesome things you can do with RAW. From a award-winning professional, I expected high quality images and print.
Nevertheless I can recommend this book to anyone who wants to use RAW and who can work with Photoshop. You are able to master several important techniques with this book by your side. Then proceed to the next step: enhancing your finest pictures to exceptional pieces of art. |
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| "Good for Starters" | 2006-05-22 |
| - Reviewed By cobregon1@cs.com |
This is another entry in the Adobe Camera Raw ("ACR") sweepstakes. These are the books that tell you how to use ACR, which is the front end of Adobe Photoshop, and which is used to process digital photographs taken utilizing the RAW format. This is the format that provides more information and opportunities to control the image than the JPEG format, but also requires more manipulation to get the photograph from camera to final output. There is other software that can be used to process RAW images but Photoshop, with good reason, dominates the market.
Aaland's book is clear and understandable and provides the information that people need to use ACR, particularly if they can't get a handle on Adobe's rather bare-boned and non-linear instructions contained with Photoshop. After a brief discussion of RAW as a format, Aaland starts with a discussion of Adobe Bridge, which is a picture management program provided with Photoshop, the knowledgeable use of which will contribute to effective processing in ACR. He then discusses each of the tools available in ACR and tells you how they work. Where there are similar tools available in both ACR and the main Photoshop program, such as sharpening and noise correction, the author compares them and presents arguments as to when each of the similar tools is best used. He discusses using RAW for generating black and white pictures (although he did not convince me that this was a better approach then creating them in the channel mixer facility of the main Photoshop program) and using the Adobe DNG file format. He finishes up with a brief tour of multiple picture processing and automated functions like actions, contact sheets and web gallery creation.
Other than as mentioned above, there is no discussion of processing in the main Photoshop program.
There are other books that deal with the ACR function. Like Aaland's book, John Canfield's "Raw 101" is aimed at the beginning ACR user. It seemed a little skimpier, and didn't cover all of the non-ACR functions that Aaland covered, but it also addressed Photoshop Elements, although not in
elements' latest iteration. Rob Sheppard's "Adobe Camera Raw for Digital Photographers Only" is limited to ACR in Photoshop only, is much more detailed then either Canfield or Aaland, emphasizes the artistic use of ACR, and might prove just a little daunting for newcomers to Photoshop.
My own feeling is that no one who realizes the capability of Photoshop and wants to employ that capability will feel content reading just one Photoshop book. Each additional book will show how to get more out of the software. Aaland's book will be a good start, but it shouldn't be the end of the educational process. |
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| "RAW and Beyond" | 2006-04-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: AF5DBIQ7WIDH |
| I believe that the title of this book should be "Photoshop CS2 RAW and Much More" because the author not only explains the usage of Photoshop RAW in detail, but he also shows many new creative ways how to integrate it with your work in Photoshop. I in particular liked the chapter on B&W photography which challenged my entrenched ways on doing things (channel mixer, two hue/sat layers with one set on luminance...) . Everything is tested, well documented with screenshots, and easy to follow, yet the author doesn't pontify and doesn't insist that his is the only way, but he encourages the reader to try for him/herself and see. A great book and much more than just "how to" in Camera Raw. |
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| "Excellent Book on RAW" | 2006-04-20 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3N4414GP2X0FH |
| I highly recommend this book for any digital photographer who wants to take full advantage of RAW capture. Mikkel does a great job of explaining very clearly, with lots of great images, how to make the most of RAW both in capture and in processing. Whether you're just starting out using RAW or have been capturing in RAW for years, this book will help you learn everything you need to know to take advantage of all the benefits RAW capture has to offer. |
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| "The Best book on the subject" | 2006-04-17 |
| - Reviewed By dave_from_austin |
This full-color book offers clear and concise instruction that takes you step-by-step through the process of using the Camera RAW plug-in in Photoshop as well as the related sections of Bridge and CS2. The author not only explains how to use the settings but devotes entire chapters to some of the problems that can, and often do occur - like dealing with digital noise. I appreciate the fact that he doesn't treat the Camera Raw plug-in as the be-all, do-all tool in Photoshop but rather presents equivalent tools in CS2 that many times are a better choice for particular lighting situations. The layout and organization of the book reminds me of one of Scott Kelby's books; the two major differences being the author doesn't include rambling witticisms throughout the text and unlike the aforementioned books, I think that he thoroughly covers the topic rather than just the highlights. The book's organization allows you to quickly find the desired topic (or in my case, problem area) and read a brief description and ways to either perform the action or resolve the problem. To date I have read three books on the topic of working with Raw files using the Camera Raw plug-in filter and this book is far superior to any title I have reviewed. If you are a photographer shooting Raw images this is the only book you will need - period.
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