Photoshop CS3 Restoration and Retouching Bible

by Mark Fitzgerald

Take years off your keepsake photos or enhance the current ones with Photoshop CS3's powerful tools and the expert techniques and tips you'll find in this comprehensive guide. Using step-by-step instructions and over 500 pages of full-color examples, this book shows you how to clone, blend layers, add contrast, reduce glare, soften wrinkles, rescue torn photos, and more. From portraits to landscapes to architectural masterpieces, fine-tune your favorites...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470223677
• ISBN13: 9780470223673
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Wiley Publishing
• Length: 489 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Fast & Easy reference tool!

Excellent Reference guide, April 8, 2008 I have been a photoshop user for a couple of years, but tend to only edit the obvious such as exposure, color balance, maybe the contrast and/or sharpness and then I'm done. It wasn't until recently that I have been using various layers to enhance my images and im finding that I still lack confidence with the abundance of tools and options CS3 has to offer. I relate these inadequacies to sporadic practice. Like anything, practice makes perfect, and if you don't use it... you loose it. Since photoshop isn't my full time job, I find that I forget minor details more often than not. This is where "The Photoshop Bible," comes in as an amazing resource. First of all the table of contents is written very well. Being able to look up a specific tool or scenario, fast (portraiture, architecture) is vital to a 500 page book of information. This book is relatively new to me and I have already used it several times as reference and im happy I did. Each time I have used the book, I start by scanning the index, after finding the page and reading into it I always find additional information that helps me perform the task more effectively. I also find that his dialogue makes for an easy read that's comprehendible the first time read. I would recommend this book to anyone serious about photoshop, who doesn't have the time to continually practice and learn the new tricks because this author makes it easy! It's easy to find what your looking for and it's easy to read, understand and perform what the author says!

An important resource

Don't be fooled by the "Restoration and Retouching Bible" title because this book offers substantially more for anyone wishing to develop a firm understanding of the post capture phase of digital photography. Starting with a comprehensive examination over all aspects of the digital image (for instance, the value of histograms), as well as how vital a file management system is; the author knows the importance of laying this foundation of knowledge before proceeding with Photoshop and retouching skills. You are fully a third into the book before retouching and restoration is covered and Mr. Fitzgerald does not leave anything out, covering all aspects of working with old damaged photos or problem complexion; there is even a section on architecture. The big plus for this book are the sample images that can be downloaded from a web site to follow along with the work flow examples in the training, so that at each stage the reader can compare their results. Training books are tough to write and keep engaging, but the author's tone and language shows both a strong understanding and deep commitment to the photographic image. He also does not favor Mac world; respecting the growing percentage of Photoshop users on Windows as well. This book will be an important resource for many photographers regardless of their specialty or level of expertise.

A superbly written "How To" with universal appeal

As an architectural photographer, who has been using Photoshop since version 2, I intended this book as merely an occasional reference guide. Due to the title, I anticipated that some areas of the book would have little relevance to me. Not the case. I was delighted to find it was written with universal relevance. When working with a program for as long as I have Photoshop, certain approaches become habit and I at times fail to become familiar with many new program functions without frequent periodic review. This book's author is able to organize and communicate clearly, through examples, the principles behind the program and its new features in a way that all users would benefit. I am not accustomed to writing reviews or recommendations, but I feel it is well deserved here.

Great Photoshop book for beginners and experienced users

I have been a professional photographer for three years and I have made a real effort to learn Photoshop and use it efficiently. I consider myself to be proficient, even with CS3, so when I picked up this book I was simply hoping to skim through it to learn a bit more about the new features in CS3 and make sure I hadn't missed anything. Instead, I found myself sitting down to read each page and I picked up new tips and tricks in every chapter that affect not only how I use Photoshop, but also my basic workflow. I really appreciate that the author takes nothing for granted as far as the reader's previous experience. The fact that I have used Photoshop almost daily for years doesn't mean that I understood exactly how each tool works or why I should choose one over the other. The author does a great job of suggesting which tool to use and why. I think this book is appropriate for first-time Photoshop users and for people with much more experience. I even learned things that had nothing to do with Photoshop, such as how Mac now compares to PC and the best ways to back up data. The author's conversational style and excellent organization make it easy to read this book from cover to cover as well as to refer back to it when seeking specific information about a specific tool. I especially appreciated the "New Feature" and "Tip" boxes. This is a very useful and informative book!

Aswesome Book on Photoshop

Awesome book on Photoshop. The title miss leads you into thinking this book is about the dedicated area of old photo restoration & retouching. This book covers all the fundamentals, into the skills need for photography enhancement and then into skills associated with old photo restoration. You might think photo restoration is of no interest but the skills presented are the very same ones used to improve a normal photography. The book is written with a clear and guiding style. There are numerous tips to get you quickly going with quality results. All the images used in the illustrations are available online. I have numerous books on Photoshop from the various masters and this book will be one I keep for a long, long time. The book is appropriate for the beginner to the advanced user of Photoshop. This book is money well spent. Ron G. Image Reflex