Product Description

Adobe Photoshop Master Class: John Paul Caponigro, 2nd Edition is no ordinary book on Photoshop. It is a true master class by renowned artist and photographer John Paul Caponigro, in which he shares his insights and discoveries as a visual artist. Although the book contains step-by-step tutorials that deconstruct some of Caponigrorational photographic works, the emphasis is on technique and visual problem solving, enabling you to take the concepts and apply them to your own unique projects. Updated for Photoshop 7, the revised edition of this master class includes numerous new and revised chapters that explain how to achieve color accuracy and extend dynamic range, direct attention through focus, control atmospheric perspective, and more. You don a professional photographer to appreciate and learn from this beautiful and informative bookarts out with a section covering Photoshop essentials before moving on to more advanced artistic techniques.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #596469 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-24
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 504 pages

Amazon.com
The author (the son of Paul Caponigro, a photographer in the tradition of Minor White and Ansel Adams) of Adobe Photoshop Master Class is a skilled art photographer who specializes in intriguing naturescapes that often employ compositing and mirroring. In this book, he shares the photographic wisdom and Photoshop methods that helped create these colorful, mysterious images.

The title is appropriate: the book is modeled after master classes with performance artists; for example, operatic training with Maria Callas. The readers get to see, in detail, Caponigro's techniques and read his philosophies. This demonstration includes Photoshop basics that apply to all types of digital imaging, including calibration, adjustment layers, variations, levels, and curves. It also covers visual principles that are essential to photography in general, like proportion, scale, light, and shadows (including Ansel Adams's Zone system), and--important in the author's own work--reflection and tessellation.

The images, which are generally devoid of the human form, have an otherworldly stillness. Their quiet intensity translates well into book form: the typography and layout resemble a museum catalog, with widely leaded, delicate lines of type. Readers who prefer skimming through how-to books for quick results will be daunted by the level of in-depth attention that this book demands. On the other hand, those who hope to use Photoshop for high-end digital imaging (not just preparing JPEGs for the Web or 600-dpi images for print) will be rewarded by the author's extensive experience and painstaking attention to detail.

Most chapters discuss different issues (e.g., color or shadows) and use Caponigro's images as examples. The discussion is in a narrative form, with quotes and references to artists of all kinds, from Matisse to Goethe. It's like gaining admission to the most competitive graduate seminar, hosted by a renowned artist-in-residence. --Angelynn Grant

Topics covered:

Techniques for using Photoshop (version 5 or higher) on fine digital imaging, including:

• Monitor calibration
• Image resolution
• Applying levels and curves to the Zone system
• Output to print or film

And photographic issues and Photoshop methods used in the author's work, including:

• Photomontage
• Proportion
• Contrast
• Color
• Multiple exposure

Book Info
Acclaimed photographer and artist John Paul Caponigro shares his digital photo techniques in this unique Photoshop guide. Softcover.

From the Back Cover
Adobe Photoshop Master Class: John Paul Caponigro, 2nd Edition is no ordinary book on Photoshop. It is a true master class by renowned artist and photographer John Paul Caponigro, in which he shares his insights and discoveries as a visual artist. Although the book contains step-by-step tutorials that deconstruct some of Caponigro's most inspirational photographic works, the emphasis is on technique and visual problem solving, enabling you to take the concepts and apply them to your own unique projects. Updated for Photoshop 7, the revised edition of this master class includes numerous new and revised chapters that explain how to achieve color accuracy and extend dynamic range, direct attention through focus, control atmospheric perspective, and more. You don't have to be a professional photographer to appreciate and learn from this beautiful and informative book-Caponigro starts out with a section covering Photoshop essentials before moving on to more advanced artistic techniques.

Customer Reviews

Philosophical Photoshop Book
I think few people are writing textbooks which try to teach the philosophy and critical thinking portions of digital editing and retouching, and for this effort, Caponigro should be praised. Unfortunately, the text gets somewhat preachy and self-indulgent in some places. I'm not sure that the author selected a specific audience for this book, and therefore it is hard to suggest the book to anyone.

Not for beginners, but an outstanding book
I have many photoshop books, and this is, by far, my favorite. However, it is not for beginners. The words "Master Class" hint at the skill level required to appreciate the book.

This book will show you how a successful artist uses the application to create composites. It doesn't hold your hand and show you step-by-step examples. Rather, JP talks about how he used the different tools in Photoshop to accomplish something and what his thinking was behind the strategy.

The chapters take time to read (JP does get a little philosophical at times), but you will be rewarded.

Good techniques but mostly about vision and esthetics
I too found the very thin and light type of this book very hard to read. However, after vowing to slog through it anyway, I found the discussions of the techniques to be well done. The problem, which can be viewed as either good or bad depending on your bend of mind, is that the author takes the reader on his personal journey of discovery of digital art. And personal journeys takes a long time and are somewhat boring for anyone else but the person himself. Starting from a photography background, I found the artistic point of view interesting, even educational and inspiring, but too much of a good thing. After a while, I started skimming the main text and reading the 'methods' summary at the end of each chapter which spelled out the techniques in a nutshell.