This is Barry Huggins' 5th book on digital imaging and graphics software, and his expertise as an author and trainer becomes readily apparent in delving into the specifically targeted projects he presents in each chapter. His primary intent appears to be to develop and expand skills of the amateur through professional digital photographer that will allow for effective color correction, restoration, and enhancement of images. He dedicates a generous portion of the book to one of my favorite challenges in working with images — lighting effects, where he addresses filters, portrait lighting, creating and removing reflections, and creating night from day scenes. Barry Huggins' training projects in this area make me want to run out and purchase the two books he recently published which specifically address lighting: Photoshop Elements Drop Dead Lighting Techniques and Creative Photoshop Lighting Techniques. The Photoshop Retouching Cookbook provides easy step-by-step methods to readily apply without having to become an expert in all areas of Photoshop. However, being at an intermediate level in using a variety of "tools" through Photoshop CS2, will surely enable you to use the training more effectively and with less frustration as you venture further into the process of photo modification. The step-by-step recipes will guide you through the chapters that will help you with such things as: Exposure Correction (e.g. correcting over- and underexposure, contrast), Color Correction (saturation, color casts), Focus Manipulation (sharpening images, motion blurring, depth of field effects, etc.), Retouching Portraits (skin blemishes/tones, reshaping faces, changing eye color, etc), Retouching Landscapes (correcting perspective, removing unwanted objects, interesting skies, etc.), Color Effects (tinting images, creating black and white from color, emulating filters), Traditional Darkroom Techniques (creating film grain, hand-tinting, posterizing effects, mezzotints, reticulation effects), Processing RAW Files and Photo Compositing Techniques (using Extract command, making selections from channels and fine-tuning). One of my favorite chapters was Photo Restoration, which addressed removing dust and scratches, revitalizing faded photographs, removing moiré patterns from scans, recreating damaged areas and creating antique effects. Strengths of this book are: (a) the effective step-by-step recipes that don't assume that you can fill in any "obvious" omissions, (b) the magnificent, large, visually-explicit color photographs that guide you through the projects, (c) the excellent quality of the paper, and (d) the outstanding glossary that complemented the text definitions. The major weakness of this book, however, irritated me throughout all 174 pages — and that is the poor contrast of the very small, light font (um-m-m similar in size to Times 8 but finer), against the white background of each page. This not only made basic reading difficult but generated visual fatigue and annoyance when shifting back and forth from the computer monitor to the tiny, light text to try to find the next step in making a fix on a photo. For a book that deals so directly with "visuals," this is especially disturbing. Still, I find this book qualifies for placement in a handy spot on my bookshelf and I recommend that you put it on yours if you have an established or evolving interest in digital photography and are intrigued by the magic of Photoshop.

Reviewer: Rochelle Goldman Rochelle is a Pa Licensed Psychologist in private practice in Bala Cynwyd, and is also a PA Certified School Psychologist. She is the author of a children's poetry book, an avid grower of orchids, devotee of classical ballet, advocate for international adoption, and is a NASA enthusiast. She is often glued to her Mac and especially enjoys her developing skills in digital photography and digital video. She is the parent of two adult children — Kevin, who designs advanced Flash websites and sings opera, and Marla, an accomplished ballet dancer and teacher.

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© 2006 by Rochelle Goldman & MLMUG
Posted 07/22/06
Updated 08/11/06