The Devil’s in the Details

This format and the extensive index are the book’s strong points.  However, I found covering both CS3 and CS4 distracting.  While the extensive sidebars add lots of detailed information, I also thought that the sidebars were over used and in some cases distracting.   The Photoshop CS3/CS4 WOW Book could make an exciting interactive e-book if done properly.

Detailed Desk Reference

In 11 chapters, 4 Appendices, and multiple lessons/projects for each chapter, The Photoshop CS3/CS4 WOW Book covers a wide variety of techniques for both photographers and graphic artists. With many examples geared to the graphic artist, the book may be more valuable to the graphic artist.  The first third of The Photoshop CS3/CS4 WOW Book – chapters 1-4 – cover basic Photoshop skills.  These sections are intended more for the beginner, but are a good review for more experienced users.

Other chapters cover:

• Enhancing Photos
• Painting
• Type and Vector Graphics
• Special Effects for Type and Graphics
• Putting It All Together (Composition, Layers, and Compositing)
• 3D, Video, & Animation
• Measurement & Analysis

The Photoshop CS3/CS4 WOW Book is a good book that provides extensive coverage of Photoshop.  If you are using Photoshop CS4 or CS3, this book makes a solid desk reference.

Contact: Peachpit Press

Cost: $59.99 US, $65.99 CAN

However, the quizzes located on the DVD are the book’s sole weak spot.  For example, the quizzes could be improved by referencing the page where the correct answer may be found.

Essential Techniques

In sixteen chapters, 54 video segments, and multiple lessons/projects for each chapter, Richard covers the essential techniques for both photographers and graphic artists.  The book starts with a chapter on Digital Imaging Fundamentals to make sure the basics are covered.

Other chapters include:

• Selection Tools
• Masking
• Compositing with Layers
• Color Correction and Enhancement
• Maximizing Filters

Appropriately, the last chapter covers Output – Printing, PDF, and Specialized Output.

Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS4 is an excellent book.  I look forward to reading and reviewing more books by this author.  If you are still using Photoshop CS4 or earlier, I  would recommend taking a look at this book.

Contact: Peachpit Press

Cost: $49.99 US, $54.99 CAN, £31.99

New For Eye Candy 6

• Rendering engine -  Filters are much faster and can run on much larger images than before.
• Adaptive mode -  Adaptively scales filter effects to the current image size.
• Settings - Over 1500 carefully designed factory settings that handle a wide range of common design tasks.
• Fire – Fire filter now looks more natural. Sharp edges have been smoothed to look more like realistic gaseous flames.
• Panels – Photoshop CS4 panels are provided for starting Eye Candy filters with a single click and for quickly creating attractive buttons.
• Non-Destructive Editing – All filters have the option to draw their output on a new layer and can work as Smart Filters when applied to Smart Objects.
• Professional Features – Works with the 64-bit version of Photoshop.

Start with Settings
Each filter opens in a clean user interface, similar to the interface used in other Alien skin plug-ins that were discussed in previous posts.  The filter has tabs or buttons for at least “Settings” and “Basic”.  Under the “Settings” tab, try a variety of factory preset settings to obtain a desired look. The presets provide a great place to start, and often need little, if any fine tuning (saving time and money).  Fine tuning is easy using the :Basic:, and other tabs provided for each filter.

Efficient Panels
Enabling the two Photoshop panels provides one click access to the Eye Candy Filters and button tool.  Place the panel or panels in the Photoshop desktop to enable quick and efficient access.

Nondestructive Editing
Photographers and graphic artists often use layers for a nondestructive work flow.  Eye Candy 6 complements this work flow by creating a new layer for the filter output.  In a typical layer, the filter’s settings can not be changed.  However, when the layer is a smart object, Eye Candy 6 can output a smart object.  The filters settings can be changed as often as desired.  A very powerful feature.

Pros

• 1500 factory presets save time
• Panels save time
• Smart filters and output to a new layer enable risk free experimentation

Cons

• None noted
  

Host Requirements
Eye Candy 6 is a plug-in and requires one of the following host applications:

• Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 or later on Mac OS X
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or later on Windows
• Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2
• Adobe Fireworks CS4

System Requirements: Microsoft Windows users must have at least a Pentium 4 processor or compatible and Windows XP or later. Apple Macintosh users must have a PowerPC G5 or Intel processor and Mac OS X 10.5 or later. A monitor with 1024×768 resolution or greater is required.
Contact: www.alienskin.com
Cost: $249 USD. Owners of any version of Eye Candy may upgrade for $99 USD

Layer Master
Richard Lynch provides a structured, dare I say layered, approach to mastering Photoshop layers.  The Introduction provides a concise overview of the book and how to extract the most from the book.  Chapter 1 is a simple, yet powerful, introduction to layers and work-flow.  Do not skip chapters , as each chapter provides a stepping stone to the next chapter. After completing all the lessons, you will be able to use layers like a pro.

Easy to Read
The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Layers Book is well laid out, easy to read and informative.  Richard Lynch provides excellent explanations in each lesson.  A CD is included that practice images for the lessons and a library of practical actions based on techniques from the book.

Contact: www.focalpress.com

Cost:$39.95; £22.99

The image color is great, but if an image fails to convey the mood or emotion, the story behind the image falls flat. One of the filters in Color EfexPro 3.0 may be just the tool for adding just the right effect to enhance the image’s story power.

Nik Software’s U Point® control points in Color Efex Pro provide the tools of a color darkroom without messy chemicals, red lights, or working by brail.

New for Color Efex Pro 3.0:

• User Interface
• U Point – powered control points
• Selective tool interaction
• New filters: Bleach Bypass, Cross Balance, Film Effects, Film Grain, Glamour Glow, Low Key, High Key, Polaroid Transfer; and Tonal Contrast

User Interface

Color Efex Pro opens in an interface that is similar to the rest of the Nik Software plug ins.  Preview and Loupe views are available to review the effect on the image. A tabbed list of the 52 effects (filters) can be displayed on the left side of the preview window.  The tabs allow quick access to effects groups typically applied to an image or effect category e.g.  Favorites, All, or four user selected categories.  The user can select four tabs from Artistic, Landscape, Nature, Portrait, Stylizing, Traditional, or Wedding.

On the right side of the preview window are the following:

• Sliders for controlling specific aspects of the selected effect;
• shadow and highlight sliders; and
• a control point section that provides for managing control points includding adding  control point buttons

Color Efex Workflow

Open an image in Photshop and select Nik Software and then Color Efex Pro from the Filters menu.  Alternatively, access Color Efex Pro in Aperture (Images -> Edit With -> Color Efex Pro) or Lightroom (Photo -> Edit In -> Color Efex Pro).

After the user interface is open apply one of the effects on the left that is closest to the desired look.  Then fine-tune the image with the effect controls and control points on the right.

Images

To illustrate the abilities of Color Efex Pro, an two images was selected from photos taken with a Nikon D200 (10 MP sensor).  The images were processed in Photoshop CS4 using Color Efex Pro.  The original and processed images are presented below.

Original

Glamour Glow

As seen in the above images, the Glamour Glow effect provides a nice warming effect to the skin tone.

Original

Bleach Bypass

In the above image, the “Bleach Bypass” filter was selected to enhance the image. The image was also cropped.

The above images illustrate two of the new filters in Color Efex Pro 3.0.  These two examples, however, barely scratch the surface of Color Efex Pro’s powerful yet easy-to-control color effect tools.

Pros

Powerful color effects

Excellent video training

Cons

None noted

Training

• Training videos
• Webinar schedule
• Archived webinars

System Requirements:
Windows:

• 32-bit version of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista
  (64-bit operating systems with 32-bit host application)
• Pentium III 1GHz or better
• 1 GB RAM
• Adobe® Photoshop® 7 through CS4, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 through 7.0; other Adobe Photoshop plug-in compatible application**
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® 2.3 or later

Macintosh:

• Mac OS 10.4 and later
• G4, G5, Intel® Core™ Solo, Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Xeon®
• 1 GB RAM
• Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 through CS4, Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 and 6.0; other Adobe Photoshop plug-ins compatible applications**
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 or later
• Apple® Aperture™ 2.1 or later

** Nik Software product filters are developed to integrate seamlessly into many popular image editing applications that support the Adobe plug-in architecture and there are numerous software applications that accept Adobe plug-in compatible filters. Please consult your image editing application’s documentation for compatibility and installation instructions for 3rd-party plug-ins.

Contact: Nik Software

Cost: MSRP Standard Edition $99.95 (15 filters); Select Edition $159.95 (35 filters); and Complete Edition (52 filters).

Nik Software’s U Point® control points in Silver Efex Pro provide the tools of a black and white darkroom without messy chemicals, red lights, or working by brail.

User Interface
Silver Efex Pro opens in a clean, professional interface.  Preview and Loupe views are available to review the effect on the image.  When displayed, the style browser provides thumbnail views of 29 preset styles and any user created styles.  The extensive image enhancement tools are on the left of the preview image.  These tools include:

• Brightness, contrast and structure (amount of detail) sliders;
• Add a control point button;
• Shadow and highlight sliders;
• A control point section that provides for managing control points;
• A color filter section that provides 6 preset color filters and a details subsection that enables fine tuning the filter’s hue (color) and strength;
• A film types section that provides a pull-down menu with 18 simulated films and subsections that include tools for adjusting grain, color sensitivity, and the tone curve;  and
• A stylizing section providing subsections with tools for adjusting toning (simulate traditional darkroom toners or create a custom toner); vignettes; and burning edges.

Silver Efex Workflow
Open an image in Photoshop, select Nik Software and then Silver Efex Pro from the Filters menu.  Alternatively, access Silver Efex Pro in Aperture (Images -> Edit With -> Silver Efex Pro) or Lightroom (Photo -> Edit In -> Silver Efex Pro).

After the user interface is open, apply one of the styles from the style browser that is closest to the desired look.  Next, fine-tune the image with the enhancement tools.  While the enhancement tools can be used in any order, for best results, Nik recommends starting with brightness, contrast and structure.  Add one or more control points.  Continue working down through the section menus and tools – color filters, film types, and stylizing.

Images
To illustrate the black and white control abilities of Silver Efex Pro, an image was selected from photos taken with a Nikon D200 (10 MP sensor).  The selected image was processed in Photoshop CS4 using Silver Efex Pro.  The original and processed images are presented below.

Original photo

Silver Efex Pro

In the above images, the blue sky was de-emphasized by placing a control point in the sky and reducing the brightness.  And blue filter was added from the color filter section.  The image was then burned along both sides and the top.

Second Example

Original photo

Silver Efex Pro

In the second set of images, the “Wet Rocks” style was selected from the style browser.  The image was further adjusted by using a control point to reduce the sky’s brightness.

The above images barely scratch the surface of Silver Efex Pro’s powerful yet easy-to-control black and white tools.

Pros: Powerful black & white control; Excellent video training

Cons: None noted

Training

• Training videos
• Webinar schedule
• Archived webinars

System Requirements:
Windows:

• 32-bit version of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista
  (64-bit operating systems with 32-bit host application)
• Pentium III 1GHz or better
• 1 GB RAM
• Adobe® Photoshop® 7 through CS4, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 through 7.0; other Adobe Photoshop plug-in compatible application**
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® 2.3 or later

Macintosh:

• Mac OS 10.4 and later
• G4, G5, Intel® Core™ Solo, Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Xeon®
• 1 GB RAM
• Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 through CS4, Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 and 6.0; other Adobe Photoshop plug-ins compatible applications**
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 or later
• Apple® Aperture™ 2.1 or later

** Nik Software product filters are developed to integrate seamlessly into many popular image editing applications that support the Adobe plug-in architecture and there are numerous software applications that accept Adobe plug-in compatible filters. Please consult your image editing application’s documentation for compatibility and installation instructions for 3rd-party plug-ins.

Contact: Nik Software
Cost: MSRP $199.95

Color control is vital to making a subject pop.  Nik Software provides a powerful color control solution with Viveza.  Nik Software’s U Point® color control points provide Viveza with exceptional color control precision.

Color Control Workflow
Open an image in Photshop, select Nik Software and then Viveza from the Filters menu.  Alternatively, access Viveza in Aperture (Images -> Edit With -> Viveza) or Lightroom (Photo -> Edit In -> Viveza).  Viveza opens in its own user interface that includes preview, loupe, and filter control areas.

Simply select “Add a Control Point” from the filter control area.  And then select the area of the photo to adjust.  Adjust the sliders on the control point to achieve the desired effect.

Images
To illustrate the color control abilities of Viveza, an image was selected from photos taken with a Nikon D200 (10 MP sensor).  The selected image was processed in Photoshop CS4 using Viveza.  The original and processed images are presented below.

Original Photo

Viveza with 4 Control Points

The above image illustrates the powerful, yet easy-to-direct color control capabilities of Viveza.  To draw the eye to the flower, the first control point was placed on the crocus flower and adjusted to add brightness, contrast, and saturation.  To improve the contrast between the flower and the green leaves, the second control point was placed on the green tulip leaves to reduce the brightness, contrast and saturation.  To de-emphasize and darken the background, particularly the red tones, two control #price points were added.  The third control point is above and to the right of the flower.  The fourth control point is slightly below and to the right of the flower.  Both the third and forth control points reduced the brightness, contrast, saturation and red tones.

These simple to implement color adjustments, made a tremendous improvement to the image.  Now the crocus really pops.

Nik Software has announced that Viveza 2.0 will be available in December 2009 for MSRP $199.95.  This is a free upgrade if you purchased Viveza 1.0 after September 22, 2009.  Thus, if you buy Viveza 1.0 now and get the free upgrade, you will save $50 over the MSRP of Viveza 2.0.

Pros

• A joy to use – great tool
• Powerful color control
• Excellent video training

Cons

• None noted

Training

• Training videos
• Webinar schedule
• Archived webinars

System Requirements:
Windows

• 32-bit version of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista
  (64-bit operating systems with 32-bit host application)
• Pentium III 1GHz or better
• 1 GB RAM
• Adobe® Photoshop® 7 through CS4, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 through 7.0; other Adobe Photoshop plug-in compatible application**
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® 2.3 or later

Macintosh

• Mac OS 10.4 and later
• G4, G5, Intel® Core™ Solo, Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Xeon®
• 1 GB RAM
• Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 through CS4, Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 and 6.0; other Adobe Photoshop plug-ins compatible applications**
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 or later
• Apple® Aperture™ 2.1 or later

** Nik Software product filters are developed to integrate seamlessly into many popular image editing applications that support the Adobe plug-in architecture and there are numerous software applications that accept Adobe plug-in compatible filters. Please consult your image editing application’s documentation for compatibility and installation instructions for 3rd-party plug-ins.

Cost: MSRP $149.95
B&H Photo Video

Contact: Nik Software

Powerful Workflow Tools
The Nik Software Complete Collection provides a powerful end-to end digital workflow solution. The Complete Collection includes:

• Dfine 2.0 - Noise Reduction
• Sharpener Pro 3.0 – Raw Pre-sharpening & Output Sharpening
• Viveza – Color and Light Control
• Color Efex Pro 3.0 – Image Enhancements
• Siliver Efex Pro - Black & White Conversion and Black & White Enhancements

Workflow
While these tools can be used in any order, for consistent results it is best to apply noise reduction before changing the image. Otherwise the noise may be altered and become difficult to remove. A clean image without noise is easier to edit and enhance. Next apply presharpening if desired. A sharp image is also easier to edit and enhance.

Adjusting color, light and adding enhancements can be done in any order. NIK Software recommends adjusting light an color prior to enhancing the image. When the image is ready for prime time apply output sharpening.

User Interface
These five tools all share an intuitive, user-friendly interface that enhances workflow productivity. The user interface was part of the new features for Dfine 2.0; Sharpener Pro 3.0 and Color Efex Pro 3.0. The user interface remains the same when accessing the plug-in from Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture. The ability to use all five tools from these different applications promotes workflow flexibility.

Training
NIK Software provides the following training resources:

Training videos

Webinar schedule

Archived webinars

System Requirements:
Windows
• 32-bit version of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista
(64-bit operating systems with 32-bit host application)
• Pentium III 1GHz or better
• 1 GB RAM
• Adobe® Photoshop® 7 through CS4, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 through 7.0; other Adobe Photoshop plug-in compatible application**
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® 2.3 or later

Macintosh
• Mac OS 10.4 and later
• G4, G5, Intel® Core™ Solo, Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Xeon®
• 1 GB RAM
• Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 through CS4, Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 and 6.0; other Adobe Photoshop plug-ins compatible applications**
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 or later
• Apple® Aperture™ 2.1 or later

** Nik Software product filters are developed to integrate seamlessly into many popular image editing applications that support the Adobe plug-in architecture and there are numerous software applications that accept Adobe plug-in compatible filters. Please consult your image editing application’s documentation for compatibility and installation instructions for 3rd-party plug-ins.

Contact: Nik Software
Cost:

$299.95 US Lightroom & Aperture Version

$599.95 Phot0shop, Lightroom & Aperture Version

Bokeh creates an intentional and visually distinctive out-of-focus area within a photograph. The eye is naturally attracted to the focus subject. A photographer creates out of focus areas through lens, aperture (f-stop) and distance from the subject. Sometimes, the photographer doesn’t have this control, which is where Bokeh can be applied.

Highlights of Bokeh:

Clean & Easy Interface
Bokeh opens in an intuitive, clean, easy-to-use interface that provides factory and user defaults, and the power of custom adjustments. This interface, by selecting “Settings” tab, provides a large selection of factory preset settings. Custom settings can be saved and reused enhancing efficiency. The default and custom settings can be adjusted with sliders after selecting one of the two adjustment tabs: Bokeh and Vignette on the user interface.

The focus region selection enables control over the how the filter is applied on the image. Typically, a radial focus region is placed over the subject, or portion of the subject to preserve important detail. In contrast, the planar focus region provides a gradient and direction for the out-of-focus effect.

Images
To illustrate Bokeh’s effects, an image was selected from photos taken with a Nikon D200 (10 MP sensor), and processed in Photoshop CS4 . The original and processed images are presented below.

Original Photo

Bokeh with radial focus region

Original photo

Bokeh with one planar focus region

Bokeh with two planar focus regions

The above images are just the tip of the iceberg. Select one of the presets to create an out-of-focus effect. Then employ the controls in the adjustment tabs to fine tune the image with the full creative power of Bokeh.

Pros: Easy to use interface, Powerful out of focus controls

Cons: None noted

System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 with PowerPC or Intel processor (Adobe Photoshop CS2 9.0.2; Photoshop Elements 4.0.1; Fireworks CS3); Windows XP with Pentium 4 processor (Adobe Photoshop CS2; Photoshop Elements 4.0; Fireworks CS3; Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI)
Contact: www.alienskin.com
Cost: $199 US Full Version

Alien Skin provides a Photo Bundle offering a range of plug-ins:

• Blow Up
• Bokeh
• Exposure
• Image Doctor
• Snap Art

Blow Up 2.0.3
Alien Skin recently released Blow Up 2.0.3. Blow Up is a one stop, Photoshop output plug-in. As expected from the name, Blow Up enlarges images. Blow Up also crops, shrinks, removes compression artifacts, and sharpens for output. This plug-in prepares an image for output on a monitor or as a print. Why use Blow Up? Blow Up provides a sharper enlargement than Photoshop CS4 when using the Image Size tool (Image -> Image Size).

New features for 2.0.3 include

• Running Blow Up from the Filter Menu
• Blow Up 2 Startup Panel for Photoshop CS4
• Gallery Wrap Panel for Photoshop CS4
• ISO paper sizes in the Settings Tab
• Performance slider.

Efficient Workflow
Providing quick and efficient access, Blow Up 2.0.3 can be opened from the Filter drop down menu, the Blow Up 2 Startup Panel, or the File -> Automate menu. Including Blow Up in the Filter drop down menu improves efficiency as all the photo workflow plug-ins are now in the same drop down menu. Blow Up can still be found in the File -> Automate menu, as found in previous Blow Up versions. The Automate menu also provides access to the Blow Up 2 Batch (new in version 2.0), which processes an entire folder of images.

Quick Draw – One Click Access
From the Photoshop desktop, the Blow Up panel provides one click access to Blow Up and a selection of pre-set size and media selections (screen choice, plus three paper selections for printing). Using the pre-sets saves time, since the image is processed without opening the user interface. However, if custom adjustments or cropping is desired, open Blow Up.

Clean, Easy Interface
Blow Up opens in an intuitive, clean, easy-to-use interface that provides intuitive defaults and the power of custom adjustments. This interface, by selecting “Settings”, provides a selection of factory default output settings based on output media and size. Custom settings can be saved and reused to enhance efficiency. After selecting “Controls” on the user interface, the default and custom settings can be adjusted with sliders.

Image Test
To test Blow Up’s image quality, two images were enlarged for this review. These two images were photos taken with a Nikon D200 (10 MP sensor). The selected images were cropped (reduces processing time on a Mac Pro G5) and then enlarged by 400 % (four times), using both Photoshop CS4 and Blow Up. In the Photoshop Image-> Image Size dialog, Resample Image was set to “Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargement)”. After enlargement, the images were cropped to 300 X 300 pixels. Two sets of images are presented below.

First Image Set

Photoshop image

Blow Up image

In this first set of images, Blow Up provides a crisper enlargement that preserves the well defined edges and metal luster. Note on the right side of the image, this improvement is particularly noticeable in the stainless steel rod (part of the standing ringing for a sailboat).

Second Image Set

Photoshop image

Blow Up image

In the second set of images (crocus with water drops), Blow Up’s improvement over Photoshop is visible, but not as obvious as in the first image set (sailboat rigging). From using Blow Up, the image improvement is easiest to see where the crocus petals overlap near the center of the image.

Additional comparison images may be found on the Alien Skin website at Alien Skin Examples, or on the Macworld Alien Skin Blow Up review: Alien Skin Blow Up 2.0.

Conclusion
Pros:

1. Blow Up is a great enlargement tool that uses a vector based enlargement algorithm that out performs Photoshop’s bicubic enlargement algorithm.
2. Blow Up does an excellent job of preserving well-defined edges during enlargement resulting in an obvious improvement over Photoshop. For softer edges, the improvement is subtle, but visible if you look for it.
3. Blow Up enhances workflow efficiency by combining output sharpening with enlargement.

Cons:

1. Only available as a Photoshop plug-in. For those that use Lightroom or Aperture, a plug-in compatible with these applications would save having to open or edit the image in Photoshop.

Examples and video demos are available at Alien Skin Tutorials. Download demo versions at Alien Skin Demos.

System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.11, Windows XP
Contact: www.AlienSkin.com
Cost: $249; Free upgrade if you own Blow Up 2.0; $99.00 if upgrading from Blow Up 1.0