Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques Review

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Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques ReviewAfter Effects is an enormously powerful tool for motion graphics and compositing. Some things, though, that it can do can be done more easily in other Adobe programs, such as Photoshop or Illustrator or Premiere Pro. In a nutshell, this book is about how to take advantage of the entire Creative Suite Production Premium software package, in order to enhance motion graphics projects. The emphasis is on using the unique strengths of Photoshop and Illustrator to enhance projects that will be finalized in After Effects and Premiere Pro. It's a topic that interested me because most of the projects I've done in After Effects have used not only video captured with a camcorder but also images that I've first created or modified in either Photoshop or Illustrator. There's also an extended section on working with Soundbooth, and another on designing dvd and Blu-Ray menus in Encore. It's a valuable addition to my After Effects library - since I've used all of these programs, and sometimes in collaboration, but wanted a better sense of how to use them effectively together. Most importantly, I wanted to have a better sense for what is the best tool for each of the different effects that go into a final project, and that's covered quite well in this book.
There's a great chapter here on using Photoshop Extended to stylize video, that explains how and when and why you might want to do that instead of working directly in After Effects. The authors argue, for example, that you have greater flexibility in Photoshop when converting images to Black and White. One very cool idea they offer is that you can automate effects in Illustrator or Photoshop to apply to video by converting the video to an image sequence and then applying the effect in Adobe Bridge. There's a lot of discussion on animating photos in 3d space, that have been first prepared in Photoshop; and a section on how to animate through panorama shots that have been prepared using the photomerge and content-aware fill features of Photoshop CS5.
The authors write clearly, and each section is well organized, taking you through the steps without simply holding your hand. Like the other "Studio Techniques" books that Adobe puts out, this is more for the intermediate user than for the absolute beginner, and does presuppose a reader who has some familiarity with at least After Effects and Photoshop (to get up to speed before starting with this book, I'd recommend After Effects Apprentice for AE, and Photoshop CS5 Classroom in a Book for Photoshop). Obviously, it also presupposes that you have access to at least After Effects and Photoshop Extended and Illustrator and Encore and Soundbooth and Bridge. Although the book mentions Flash, there's very little here on how to take advantage of its animation tools for motion graphics projects - for an excellent guide to integrating Flash and After Effects see the obviously named Flash + After Effects (the emphasis in that book, however, is on using After Effects to enhance Flash projects, rather than the other way around). The included dvd includes all the assets necessary to follow along with the example projects described in the book, and they are organized by chapter. (There are no additional extras, such as the trial plugins or free presets that sometimes come with this kind of book).
A very useful book about how to use the full range of Adobe tools to enhance motion graphics projects.Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques Overview

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Photoshop Masking & Compositing Review

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Photoshop Masking & Compositing ReviewEvery book I've read by Katrin Eismann has been very good. Even so, This one was better than I expected.
Katrin has designed the book so it could be used as a textbook for Photoshop teachers. There are files to go with the book and its lessons available for download over the internet. You can use these files to do the lesson projects she has throughout the book. This was true with her book on photo restoration and retouching, as well.
As the title suggests, she gives excellent information on making masks in Photoshop. She gives you the theory, so you can better understand how masks work, and then gives you lots of techniques for creating masks.
Often, masks are required to extract a person or an object from the background of a photo, so you can composite it into another photo. She gives excellent tutorials on doing this, including how to preserve hair and fine detail. We all know how much more real a composite looks when you are able to capture those stray hairs. It's all about selecting those fine details with out selecting the unwanted stuff. She gives you several selection strategies that you can use in different situations.
She also gives you strategies for using the pen tool to create complex paths and combine paths. And there is a selection technique called the "multi-pass" technique (page 300).
In the compositing section, she devotes the first part to image execution, showing you how to design your photo shots for compositing. And gives some good advice in "Photographic Essentials."
I was blown away by a project she showed in which some books were composited in with buildings, matching perspective to make them fit perfectly. See page 416 for the final result, and read the pages preceding it to see how it was done. I was even more impressed with another project that begins on page 431. In that project, there is an ordinary photo of two people fencing in the woods at a medieval faire. The end of the project results in a dramatic photo with beautiful lighting.
She also covers alternatives for achieving results, such as sharpening a photo with High Pass instead of Unsharp Mask. This is a great book for someone who wants to improve their Photoshop skills. You probably should be an intermediate level user, able to understand all of the basics of Photoshop if you want to use this book.Photoshop Masking & Compositing Overview

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Photoshop Compositing Secrets: Unlocking the Key to Perfect Selections and Amazing Photoshop Effects for Totally Realistic Composites Review

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Photoshop Compositing Secrets: Unlocking the Key to Perfect Selections and Amazing Photoshop Effects for Totally Realistic Composites ReviewI received my book yesterday and quickly sat down to devour it. The first chapter was good for compositing techniques and covered ways Adobe Photoshop CS5 and three different add-on software products (costing from $49 - $199 each in addition to Photoshop) could improve the results of your efforts.
The rest of the book involved descriptions of various composite photos including single image used as background and main photo, series composites of individual shots or action shots, and various was to make cool backgrounds pop. It was all very interesting but in each case (except for a single use of football players in action that was not covered in any detail), the emphasis was on how to light figures in your studio, how many lights, what color backdrop, etc. Chapters on HS Portraits, family pics, advertisements, office pics, etc. all required shooting the individuals in a studio.
I shoot animals in nature and sometimes the background is better changed because of cars, man made structures, or other intrusions. I do not have the luxury of creating lighting and poses just as I want them. Hence, I was greatly disappointed in this book.
If you have a studio and want to composite studio shots, the book is a great tool! It is well written and descriptive.
If you do not have a studio, don't buy the book. The description does say "portrait photographers, designers of all walks of life, and even retouchers" but I didn't read "studio photogs only" in that. My bad; don't let it be yours.
I am giving 4 stars because it is well done, but not for all photographers.Photoshop Compositing Secrets: Unlocking the Key to Perfect Selections and Amazing Photoshop Effects for Totally Realistic Composites Overview

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Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature (2nd Edition) Review

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Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature (2nd Edition) ReviewI'll be honest, Photoshop has scared me to death for quite awhile. I love digital photography, but I always felt the whole post-processing end of it was way too complicated and would take me years to learn. A friend of mine would take photos that I had taken and work his PS magic on them, and I would thank him, not really knowing what he did to correct exposure, color, etc. I picked up Photoshop Elements 6, but I still never really understood the whole layers and masks thing, although I loved the editing aspects of it.
But then I saw an episode of PhotoshopUser TV on the web and was introduced to some of the tips, tricks and new features of Photoshop CS5. All of it explained in detail, with some good doses of humor thrown in, by Matt Kloskowski, Scott Kelby and Dave Cross. They made Photoshop less intimidating and much easier to comprehend.
So I got a copy of Photoshop CS5 for myself, determined to learn this program and start using it to its potential. I was all set to purchase the first edition of Matt's Layers book, but he mentioned that he was revising it with new emphasis on CS5, so I decided to wait and get the newest edition.
Matt has a great style of teaching the use of layers in Photoshop. Another reviewer mentioned that Matt wrote in a "juvenile" style, but I found it refreshing and helped make what can be a dry subject interesting. Watching Matt on the web, or attending one of his seminars, will show you that he writes as he speaks. He doesn't talk down to his audience and makes sure you know the subject matter before he moves on. Several times in the book, while demonstrating a process or procedure, he will instruct you to perform a basic step (whether it's a keyboard shortcut or navigating to a certain toolbar) that he talked about in an earlier chapter, that helps to complete the current project. This is just a simple repetition technique that makes those steps come naturally to you.
The book is logically set up to start off a new user with the basics of layers, and quickly moves into blending layers and the use of layer masks to enhance your images. The book is NOT a Photoshop tutorial showing you what every brush or menu option does. Matt assumes you have a good base of knowledge on how to navigate around the program toolbars and menus. He gives you a good foundation of knowledge in the early chapters that he builds upon as you go through the book.
New to this edition is the "Advanced Layer Blending and Compositing" chapter that Matt has added for this edition. Again, while this is about more advanced techniques, Matt makes it easy to understand, and most of all, fun to learn!
In addition to the information in the book, there is a web link given where there are more video tutorials and pictures that you can download, so you can work on them alongside the turorials in the book.
Overall, I would strongly recommend this book for the person just starting out in Photoshop and who wants to understand how layers are the building blocks of all images that are edited in it. As with any book, some of the more advanced users may not get a lot of new information out of it, but there may be a new tip or trick that they might have not have come across before.
Great purchase!Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature (2nd Edition) Overview

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