Outstanding books on Photoshop® and Photography

One of the most frequent questions asked by newcomers in on-line forums is, "There are so many Photoshop® books out there. Which are the best?" Everyone who uses the program has a different answer, of course, but those listed below are my favorites.

Categories

 

General Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop® CS4 for Photographers: A Professional Image Editor's Guide to the Creative use of Photoshop® for the Macintosh and PC  

A member of the Photoshop® Hall of Fame, Martin Evening is a renowned portrait and fashion photographer who has worked in Photoshop® for years. This 650+ page guide to everything Photoshop® is in full color and includes a DVD with tutorials, sample images, and an interactive help guide.

Photoshop® CS4 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))  

I know, I know. A Dummies book? Well, hold on a second. Peter Bauer is Help Desk Director for NAAP, and this approximately 400 pp. book is written in an easily understood style that may be just right for the new or intermediate Photoshop® user. 

Photoshop® Masking & Compositing (VOICES) by Katrin Eismann

Like Katrin's classic Photoshop® Restoration & Retouching, you will find this book of value even if you never intend to combine separate images into one. The selections section alone is worth the price—Katrin says the book should really be called "Photoshop® Selections, Masking, and Compositing—as she shows you how to evaluate an image to determine what tool or combination of tools will best get the job done. Her section on using the pen tool will get you to explore this neglected tool. And if you find masks and layer masks daunting, this book will make everything perfectly clear.

Adobe Photoshop® Restoration & Retouching (3rd Edition) (Voices That Matter) by Katrin Eismann, Wayne Palmer

Now in its third edition, this practical guide to Photoshop® endures even though it was written for CS2. Its over 250 pages, most with color examples, over functional approaches to color correction, correcting exposure problems, selections, masks, sharpening, and repairing damage to old images. Even if you never intend to restore an old photograph (and I predict you will after you read this book), the Photo Diva's guide belongs on everyone's shelf.

Outdoor Photographer Landscape and Nature Photography with Photoshop® CS2 (Outdoor Photographers)
by Rob Sheppard

This is an important addition to the bookshelf of any photographer who uses digital imaging in nature and landscape work.  Rob Sheppard, editor of Outdoor Photographer. takes an iconoclastic approach in this book, which is aimed squarely at the nature or landscape photographer, breaking long-held conventions and ignoring tools that he finds of limited use to the landscape photographer.

Photoshop® for Nature Photographers: A Workshop in a Book, by Ellen Anon and Tim Grey

From the Tim Grey Guides, a guide to Photoshop® CS3 written from the standpoint of nature and landscape photography. It ranges from initial decision such as the shooting format used to color management and the use of CS3 tools specific to nature photography. There are sections on creating panoramas, output from web to finished prints to promotional materials, and a section on actions and batch processes. A companion CD contains how-tos.

Photoshop CS3 Layers Bible by Matt Doyle and Simon Meek 

This 700 pp. tome lives up to its name, providing everything you could ever ask about layers, masks, blend modes, and cross-platform use of Layers. The illustrations are, unfortunately, in black and white, but an included CD includes many of the images and files.

Real World Adobe Photoshop® CS4 for Photographers  

This update of the Real World Photoshop® book by David Blatner and the late Bruce Fraser (whose work is taken over in this edition by Conrad Chavez, is focused on the needs of the professional digital photographers. From acquiring images to using an efficient processing workflow to maintaining image quality and final output quality all within the powerful feature set of Adobe Photoshop® CS4 and Photoshop® Extended CS4.

The Photoshop® Channels Book, by Scott Kelby

Like all books by Scott Kelby, editor-in-chief of Photoshop® User magazine, Scott Kelby, the style is light and approachable and the illustrations are lavish. This primer begins by assuming you know nothing about channels and ends up teach you about all there is to know. Channels are a very powerful way to get things done, yet the questions we see in forums suggest that many users neglect them. There are better books on masks and selections. There are better books on color correction. There are more complete treatments on sharpening. But if you want to learn your way around channels, this is your guide.

Camera RAW

Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop® CS4 by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe

An updated version of the original volume published for Photoshop® CS, this is an indispensable guide to the newest tools under the Photoshop® hood, Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Bridge. The late Bruce Fraser shows you what all those tools in Camera Raw do, when it's best to use ACR instead of Photoshop® to accomplish something, and when Photoshop® offers better correction tools.

Sharpening

Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop® CS2 (Real World) by Bruce Fraser

The late Bruce Fraser "wrote the book" on Photoshop® sharpening with his PhotoKit Sharpener tools. Here, he literally writes the book. This fairly technical tome is not about PhotoKit, and you can pit it to use without the product. But if you do own PhotoKit, which I recommend, this amounts to a technical support manual that opens the hood to show you how the product works and then, perhaps, roll your own improvements.

Color management and color spaces

Color Confidence: The Digital Photographer's Guide to Color Management (Tim Grey Guides), by Tim Grey

Are you confused about color? Are you unsure about why or how to profile a monitor? Are you dissatisfied with the results you're getting from image brought into Photoshop® through your scanner or with what you see on the printed page? Not certain which color space to use or why? Mostly, do you wish someone would explain all this in easily understood terms? You've come to the right place. Tim Grey addresses a difficult subject in his usual straightforward style.

Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction (5th Edition), by Dan Margulis

Dan, one of the first three individuals inducted into the Photoshop® Hall of Fame, is the acknowledged guru of color correction. If you're among those who keep avoiding that funny little command called Curves, or think that a Channel is a body of water that lies between England and France, this book is for you. Nearly 400 pp. with many color illustrations and a CD containing examples. The book is directed at pre-press work for professional retouchers, so many of Dan's examples are in CMYK. Still, the book has plenty of meat for those of us whose work is simply headed for an inkjet printer.

Photoshop® LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Color space,
by Dan Margulis

This book has been the subject of more discussion since its publication than any other. Dan takes us through the mysteries of that other color space—the one that's neither RGB nor CMYK. I've used LAB for years since Dan introduced me to it in a seminar he conducted at Photoshop® World a few years ago. It has solved many a problem for me ... and it's caused a few. Photoshop® LAB Color explains how and why to use LAB and when not to. This is not for beginners, but for those with some knowledge of Photoshop, it will help take you to a new level.

Adobe Photoshop® Lightroom

The Adobe Photoshop® Lightroom 2 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers  

Martin Evening was one of the first to publish a book on Lightroom when it first came out, and he has stuck with the tool as it has matured into Version 2. This is the most comprehensive guide to Lightroom available. To those who are new to this tool, there may be more information than you care for, but as you begin to drill down into Lightroom, you'll appreciate the fact that Martin covers everything.

The Adobe Photoshop® Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)

From Scott Kelby, editor and publisher of Photoshop® User magazine, a quick and easy guide to unlocking the power in Adobe Photoshop® Lightroom. Written in Kelby's usual breezy style and filled with full-color examples.

General Photography and Digital Photography

Real World Digital Photography, Second Edition, by Katrin Eismann, Sean Duggan, Tim Grey

This is the book I wish I'd had when I was starting out in digital photography. Katrin, Seán, and Tim are three of the best teachers around, and this nearly 700 page brick teaches it all, from theory through image capture, from special exposure considerations in digital  to the finished print — and even beyond to displaying images on line and archiving techniques.

This book is not just for Photoshop® users—in fact "only" three hundred of its information packed pages deal with digital darkroom techniques. It is for anyone contemplating or already in the world of digital photography.

Photographing the Landscape: The Art of Seeing, by John Fielder

A lavishly illustrated 200 pp. tour-de-force from one of the world's leading landscape photographers. A large format trade paperback that succeeds as both a book of stunning photographs and a course on landscape photography. Includes sections on color, form, movement, perspective, view, composition, light, DOF, Exposure, equipment, and film. Although this was written from a pre-digital perspective, there is abundant information here for all photographers. This remains one of my favorites and has been on the list from the day I put this site together.

Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories, by Glenn Johnson

A complete guide to the art, craft, technique, and business considerations of wedding photography using the latest digital techniques.  From what the shoot, how to shoot it, how to package the final product, and what to charge, Johnson's book is must-reading for anyone contemplating entering this difficult, competitive field.