Real World Compositing with Adobe Photoshop CS4 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is really an instruction manual on how to sell a book with a misleading title and virtually no useful content for a hefty price. I kept waiting for the authors to quit wasting time and actually get to the "Industrial-strength Imaging Techniques" promised on the cover. It never happened. After 200 pages of filler, there are a few actual examples of compositing, but nothing you couldn't readily find online for free. A complete disappointment, especially considering it's published in association with Adobe Press. Some free advice for Adobe Press: before you put your name on it, try passing it by one of your editors, eh?


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In Real World Compositing with Adobe Photoshop CS4, Photoshop experts Scott Valentine and Dan Moughamian explain the key elements involved in planning and executing a composite imaging project. Readers will learn about the importance of the planning process, including tips on how to develop creative ideas and stay organized as their project evolves. In addition, they will pick up vital techniques for acquiring and perfecting source images in Photoshop CS4, before bringing them together as a seamless composite. The powerful new 3D features found in the Extended edition are also discussed as part of a 2D-3D workflow.Serious photographers and digital artists wishing to produce photo-realistic imagery or surrealistic artwork by blending—or compositing—multiple images and light sources can learn all they need to know right here. Building from the reader's existing skill set of Photoshop fundamentals, the authors provide detailed examples and explanations that cover the newest features in Photoshop CS4 and also utilize a variety of tools and software applications.More than just a Photoshop guide, this book takes a holistic approach, instructing readers on photographic planning and techniques, key design concepts, visual perception, and robust image editing techniques. This is an increasingly popular approach which requires the digital artist to become more involved in the presentation and concept of their images. Real World Compositing with Photoshop CS4 delivers the information readers need, to produce the best possible composite imagery.

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Digital Photography Digital Field Guide Review

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(More customer reviews)Former professional photographer Harold Davis has written a top notch book that peels back all the complexities of digital photography and puts world class photo tips in layman's terms.
You're probably reading this review because you're considering buying this book and you want a bit of insight into its value.
Well, if that's the case, here's why you should:
1) The explanations and directions on how best to use ISO, aperture, and shutter control are written in very simple straightforward text that is so much easier to understand than those complicated instruction manuals that come with so many cameras. Hey, you've probably spent several hundred dollars on a nice camera....and here's a guide that tell you actually how to use that same camera to take better shots.
2) There are a series of practice lessons that guide you through the best vantage points, the best focal points, even the best time to take photos - whether landscape, portraits or floral shots. Mr. Davis not only helps you set up a shot with this guide, but he'll tell you what the best exposure would be for the shot itself. Now that's helpful when you're out in the field trying to figure out how to capture nature better than through a simple snapshot.
3) Mr. Davis also covers what I would call targeting learning. He takes a subject (sunsets or water for example) and tells the reader the best settings that will produce the best outcome. He also talks about variations on themes, and I found those chapters to be compelling reading.
4) Finally, this volume has a whole section on editing and improving photos after the shot. Again, it is in an easy to read - and easy to use - format that explains the concepts and usage without complicating things.
In essence, this book is about two things. Speed of use and speed of improvement. If you want to know how to use your camera to take better photos....and you want to know how to do it without reading dozens of pages about arcane photographic terms, then this is the book for you.
This book is one you'll use over and over in your photographic journey.
Highly recommended.

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The digital camera has revolutionized photography. Sporting events, breathtaking landscapes, the mood of the sea, or a child's eyes as a present is opened-capture whatever fascinates you. Learn touse your images in ways only highly skilled professionals could manage a mere decade ago. With this practical guide in your camera bag, you'll have professional advice at your fingertips to help you get great shots, use all your camera's features, download and enhance your photos, and share them in dozens of creative ways.* Understand digital camera basics* Learn the secrets for getting a good close-up* Find out when and why to use RAW format* Explore dozens of formulas for shooting a variety of scenes, including suggested lenses, settings, and lighting options* Rid your pictures of red-eye and other imperfections* Create a slide show, prints, or e-mail- and Web-ready images* Make the most of your camera's abilities with filters and other accessories

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David Busch's Quick Snap Guide to Photoblogging with WordPress: An Instant Start-Up Manual for Creating and Promoting Your Own Photoblog Review

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(More customer reviews)If you are not myopic before starting at page 1 of this book, then any reader will be so shortly thereafter. Full screen's worth of information from the WordPress dashboard are repeatedly reproduced as images barely 2 inches in height. No full photograph reproduced in the book is any more than the same 2 inch "standard" size. (Only the chapter title pages will give you any relief - there the typography is huge; four or five words fill a full page ....) As a result, it's very hard to judge how a particular WordPress Theme and/or pictorial layout will actually look based upon the examples covered in the book. Moreover, there's no coverage dedicated to slideshows. The word "Slideshow" doesn't even appear in the index. Altogether very disappointing.


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Photoblogs have become a very important tool for advanced photographers and professionals who want to market their work, as well as a popular forum for casual photographers to share personal photos. "David Busch's Quick Snap Guide to Photoblogging with WordPress: An Instant Start-Up Manual for Creating and Promoting Your Own Photoblog" is a complete start to-finish guide on how to create a photoblog using WordPress, the most popular blogging software among photographers that allows you to create a blog site for free, hosted on WordPress.com. This guide explains the purpose and function of all the features and capabilities of each WordPress tool, how to use them, and why. Laid out in clear, well-illustrated two- and four-page spreads, each step-by-step explanation includes images that show the results after using each feature. All the basics of creating a WordPress account, setting up your photoblog, uploading your first photos, and sharing them, are presented in an easy to browse format. Perfect for professional photographers, avid amateur shutterbugs, and even non-photography bloggers who want to include photos on their blog sites, "David Busch's Quick Snap Guide to Photoblogging with WordPress" will help you get up and blogging quickly and easily.Inside the Book: Sample Screenshots Fig. 5.12."You can see what your blog will look likein the Preview window--this gives you achance to see it without having toenable it on your live site first."

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Inspired Photography: 189 Sources of Inspiration For Better Photos Review

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(More customer reviews)When practicing any profession or hobby especially those depending on creativity, it's easy to hit that brick wall after a while when trying to create something new. The ideas are flowing one day and the next, they're simply not. As a means to reach an end, The Editors of Photopreneur put together a book to jumpstart your creative side entitled "Inspired Photography: 189 Sources of Inspiration For Better Photos". A quick glimpse through the pages of the book reveals a few obvious choices such as unveiling the power of Photoshop or asking for advice from those that are or have been in your shoes before, but there also many things suggested that you may have never considered before. Ever wonder what would be captured through a child's eyes? How about
The presentation of each idea is straight forward offering the suggested source of inspiration without a lot of unnecessary flourish but then it goes a step further in showing a few ways in which that idea could actually be utilized...quite handy in my opinion. A great tool to add to any photographer's bag of tricks....from the beginner to the professional there is something for everyone in here.

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Inspired Photography is packed with creative ideas to enable any photographer - from enthusiast to professional - to push their work in new directions. Divided into actions, city scenes, the great outdoors, inspiring images and photographic subjects, the book describes 189 sources of inspiration that stimulate creativity and help photographers get more from their passion. Discover:
New subjects to shoot in the city, the countryside, the center, and the suburbs
Original ideas to build on and personalize
Long-term projects that will generate inspiration and new ideas for months
Quick ideas for instant photographic fun
Dozens of new concepts, styles, approaches and techniques with suggestions to get started and resources for further research
Filled with practical suggestions and exciting ideas, Inspired Photography helps to keep any photo enthusiast's artistic explorations in photography fresh, challenging and always creative.

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Computer Concepts BASICS, 4th Edition (Basics Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)A good primer on computers. I am using the book for IC3 (Computer Basic Knowledge} certification review.


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This best selling book from our BASICS Series has been thoroughly updated with the latest information your students need to know. COMPUTER CONCEPTS BASICS, 4E covers the most important computer literacy topics including computer hardware and software, application skills, keyboarding skills, the Internet, Web page creation, computer ethics and more. Students will gain a strong understanding of the basics of computers, how technology is changing the world in which we live, and the importance of the Internet.

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The Fast Track Photographer Business Plan: Build a Successful Photography Venture from the Ground Up Review

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(More customer reviews)Unlike any other, this book is about fitting "YOU" to the market place! Sub Titled Build a Successful Photography Venture from the Ground up by Dane Sanders. I consider this a Revolutionary and much needed book in the Photography Industry with these ever changing current times of internet and social media.
As Dane says in this book there is, "no one size fits all business plan". Emphasis is on defining your business vision and having it tied to a sound business plan of which he details through out the book. Included are step by step exercises and charts to help one get clear with their business goals.
What I really like about this book is that Dane starts the first 3 chapters on vision alone. And how important that is! I needed this book as I sometimes get side tracked from looking at the "Big Picture" as I am constantly dealing with the ever increasing technology that is now available for my photography business. Its practically a full time job in itself! I have many books on how to be a specific photographer but currently have been changing my goals, and needed a book that does not presuppose a direction. This book fills the bill!
Along with Vision Dane introduces new concepts in, Finding your Sweet Spot, Sales and Marketing, Focusing on your Strengths, Systematizing your work, Creating the right team and much much more! All the nuts and bolts of how to figure the numbers and creating an actual business plan that fits you are included.
On the back inside cover of the book is a code that you can punch into his web site to take a Business Stress Test (BST) test for free (which is normally $15.00). I'm looking forward to taking that test to see how my business shapes up!
CONCLUSION:
I highly recommend this book to anyone, photographer or otherwise, that is interested in starting, or restarting, a service based business!
Thanks Dane!
Dave Likes
L. David Likes Photography

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NEW RULES FOR A NEW BUSINESS WORLDThinking about starting a photography business? The first thing you need to know is that the rules have changed. Yesterday's business models have collapsed. Creating a successful business in today's "Digi-Flat" era requires a sharp new approach, one that Dane Sanders has practiced successfully and taught at Fast Track workshops and seminars all around the world. Some of the things you'll learn in this book:How to turn the very technologies that are "killing" professional photography—such as the Internet—into your tools of success-How to lead your business, not let your business lead you -How systematizing, scaling, and outsourcing are critical concepts even for a one-person business-How to radically rethink marketing, sales, and customer service for the 21st century-How to hone a creative vision that works—the most powerful step you can take as a businessperson The Fast Track Photographer Business Plan is not about building a "traditional" business plan that looks good on paper and impresses investors. It's about creating a vibrant, living business plan that will help you thrive in today's digital "Wild West," where creative content is freely distributed, where no one plays by the rules anymore, and where customers have unprecedented freedom in choosing what to buy and whom to hire. It's a groundbreaking look at running a creative business. Whether you're an amateur looking to go pro or a professional whose business has stalled, Dane's practical, on-the-ground advice will launch you on the fast track to business success. Includes free access to Dane's online "stress test" to diagnose your business's strengths—as well as where it needs help!

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Taking Stock: Make money in microstock creating photos that sell Review

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(More customer reviews)I read this book once and resold my copy. I rarely sell my books, but I could not envision ever rereading this one. Part of my problem may have been all the glowing reviews here that the book did not live up to. That aside, I can objectively say that I found the book to have little useful content. At least not useful to me.
Contrary to the implications of the product description and of many of the reviews, this is not a book about selling photos. It is a book about the techniques and workflow needed to get your photos accepted by a stock site. The author shows that the secret to getting your photos accepted as microstock is knowing that the decision is made by quality control inspectors who reject photos for obvious technical errors or for overprocessing. As far as I could tell from the book, and the author never discusses it, the inspectors have zero interest in content, composition, sales potential, or anything else other than technical quality. The author spends a great deal of time detailing the workflow in Lightroom. Not having Lightroom, I quickly read through that material and saw nothing that would not be contained in any good book on workflow or in any good manual for your particular software.


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The ultimate insider guide to creating stock shots that sell from a veteran iStockphoto inspector An iStockphoto inspector since 2002, author Rob Sylvan has spent nearly a decade as part of the team that decides which photos get sold on one of the largest, most popular microstock sites in existence. He's also made tens of thousands of dollars off of his own microstock photography. As a result, no one knows better than he does what it takes to get your photos accepted to stock sites—and what to do to make those photos sell. In Taking Stock, Rob shares his hard-earned insider knowledge on how to shoot, edit, and tag photos so you can earn while you learn, regardless of which microstock agency you're using. In this book, you'll learn how to look at the world through the eyes of designers, photo editors, and stock photographers. You'll also learn the importance of focusing your energy on creating stock content that resonates with your passion for photography. But we all know time is money, which is why Rob explains how to set up an effective digital workflow—the real key to making money in the high-volume, low-cost microstock market. By the end of this book, you'll look at your work with new eyes, enabling you to make more money doing exactly what you love: shooting photos that sell. You will learn:
How to license photos as stock
What photos are in demand
The components of a successful digital workflow
How to use titles, descriptions, and keywords to give yourself an edge
Specific tips for shooting food, people, places, nature, objects, animals, and more
Editing techniques that will make your shots sell

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The Linked Photographers' Guide to Online Marketing and Social Media Review

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(More customer reviews)Over four hundred million people have accounts on Facebook. Thousands, if not millions, of tweets are sent each day. Personal web sites are common. With all this traffic flying over the Internet, it's easy to see why some photographers believe that there has to be a way to turn all these electronics signals into dollars by selling their images online. "The Linked Photographers' Guide to Online Marketing and Social Media" attempts to tell photographers how to do this.
After a brief introduction to social networking on the Internet, the authors discuss some fundamentals of social network marketing, including preparation of a plan, branding, creation of websites and blogs, search engine optimization and analytics, and the use of ads. The third part of the book describes most of the major social media sites and the authors' suggestions on how to use them. The book concludes with descriptions of how the authors and other photographers have used social networking for marketing.
My first impression of the book was that it seemed rather general and did not provide enough specifics on how to use particular social media sites. Then, when I went on line with the book in hand, I found that the authors had provided more information than I noticed at first. For example, while I was familiar with Google analytics, which allow you to examine the nature of the traffic to your website (presumably so that you can improve your marketing), I was unaware that Facebook also provided its own analytics until the book led me to them. On the other hand, you won't learn how to design a good website in this book.
Even though I recommend this book for those interested in online marketing, I do have some quibbles. For example in their discussion of web sites the authors ignore the capabilities of software like Photoshop and Lightroom to create web sites quickly. It is true that these websites follow templates that are not designed for marketing, but photographers willing to spend a little time learning to use software like Dreamweaver can quickly customize the web sites created to make marketing web sites.
In the chapter on blogs the authors tell us that photographers' blogs should be tailored to their audience, but then go on to describe blogs that discuss primarily photographic technique and activities. That makes sense for individuals trying to sell to photographers but not for those trying to market their photographs or services to the public.
One area that is ignored is the question of how effective online marketing actually is for most photographers. It seems to me that the biggest problem photographers trying to sell their work encounter is one of too much supply and too little demand. I realize that these economic questions are beyond the scope of this work, but photographers should be warned that even if you follow all of the advice in this book, there will still be more marketing to do.
For the photographer interested in marketing through social networking, this book will provide a good introduction. No one should expect that merely following the advice in this book will result in the sale of a single image.


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"The Linked Photographer's Guide to Online Marketing and Social Networking" is a complete resource for photographers looking to improve their business through social media. This book provides a step-by-step process for getting a photographer's business online, and acts as a reference guide for the variety of online marketing options on the web. This one-of-a-kind guide is the key to making social media work for the photographer to improve their business!

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Real Estate Photography Company Review

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(More customer reviews)This is simply the best business planning guide on the market. I am a professor of entrepreneurship courses and I have all my students complete a business plan for their final class project. I have started recommending all the business plan books by Upstart Business Consulting Group because of their step-by-step approach to business plan writing. One of the features I like about this book is the Excel templates for generating the business plan's financials. The best part, the templates are FREE...something my students appreciate. A great book for the price.

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Upstart Business Consulting Group creates comprehensive business plan kits for a variety of businesses and industries. When you purchase one of our business plan kits, you will have access to the tools that will allow you to be an entrepreneur. We only create business plan kits for businesses that can capitalize on current trends and consumer demand. All businesses we cover require an initial start-up capital investment of $1,000 to $10,000. Although the required start-up capital is relatively small, you will have the potential for substantial cash flow and a high return on investment. The format of the business plan kits are modeled after business plans that have been used in successful start-up companies. These business plan kits are for those individuals who want a better work/life balance, want the flexibility, pride, and fulfillment that comes with being an entrepreneur, and want to earn extra income.

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Computing for Seniors QuickSteps Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great resource for my generation (over 70 years old), especially the photography section. I've been totally overwhelmed with trying to manage the masses of my photos and Computing for Seniors QuickSteps is helping me make sense of it.

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Step-by-Step, Full-Color Graphics!
Take advantage of your computer's features and tools right away--the QuickSteps way. Color photos and screenshots with clear instructions make it easy to accomplish everything you want to do. Follow along and quickly learn how to navigate the Windows operating system; get online; use core programs such as Word, Excel, and Quicken; and secure your computer. Fun activities, such as genealogy, photo editing and management, social networking, and online dating are covered, plus you'll get tips for enjoying music, ebooks, and videos. Written by seniors for seniors, this practical, fast-paced guide helps you get the most out of your computer.
The unique, oblong layout of the QuickSteps series mimics your computer screen, displays graphics and explanations side by side, and lays flat so you can easily refer to the book while working on your computer.
Use these handy guideposts:
Shortcuts for accomplishing common tasks
Personal insights from other seniors
Need-to-know facts in concise narrative
Helpful reminders or alternative ways of doing things
Bonus information related to the topic being covered
Errors and pitfalls to avoid

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