Learning to understand and use masks can be one of the most daunting, confusing and overwhelming challenges in Photoshop.
Katrin Eismann, one of the leading Photoshop experts in the world has, (in addition to traveling the globe to conduct sell-out Photoshop lectures and workshops), written the most comprehensive five hundred and nineteen page book on the subject of masking and compositing that one could ever imagine.
Of course this is not just a book about masking and compositing. Rather, it represents the very personal vision that Katrin demonstrates in everyaspect of her life. This extremely talented photographer, photoretoucher, educator and writer basically takes you by the hand and clearly explains everything you need to know about how this astonishing, complex, ever-changing photographic software program works. Along the way she shares her thoughts about creativity, teaches you about digital photography and cameras and shooting Camera Raw, and covers every other Photoshop topic you will need to know more about.
Katrin also makes you laugh. She generously concludes all of the chapters with "closing thoughts" that sound like they were written for you personally, and includes notes and tips on virtually every page that anticipate every question you could possibly have. Where else could you find a Chapter heading like: "Masks Are Your Friends" or find a Photoshop author who offers advice on "Overcoming a Creative Block"?
In this latest of her highly regarded books, Katrin has done a brilliant job simplifying an enormous amount of information. She prepares the reader well for approaching the sophisticated Photoshop techniques provided throughout the book. The hundreds of color photographs and graphics provide perfect examples for every lesson and the images can be quickly downloaded for the reader's use from Katrin's extremely informative website.
This book is a treasure. I study it night and day, frequently show examples from it to my Graphic Design students at Parsons School of Design, and even bought a second copy so I could cut it up and carry separate chapters aound with me.
If you really want to learn Photoshop, you will find this to be the book of your dreams!