Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It probably says more about me than the book that I found a title which applies to something that surrounds every person provocative.However, it's likely that advanced Photoshop users will find something provocative in this book

The book is aimed at photographers who know the basics of photography, including exposure, and the use of Photoshop including layers and masks.The author's emphasis is on portraits and people photography and how to get the most from photographs of these subjects.Although the author spends a little time looking at hardware like digital cameras and at basic portrait lighting techniques, his main concern is with post processing.

The author's stated aim is to fill the gaps left by other books, like the reproduction of dark skin.And he does this in many ways that I haven't seen before.For example he suggests better skin colors can be achieved by looking at the CMYK readings and applying a rule of thumb.(If you don't know what CMYK is, this book isn't for you.)Varis suggests that for Caucasians magenta and yellow should be of approximately equal value, with cyan a fourth to a third of the value.Images of African Americans should have a higher percentage of cyan and magenta.He then tells you how to make these adjustments.He also shows how to make tone and contrast adjustments for both color and black-and=white images.

The author devotes a chapter to retouching, showing the reader how to ease those wrinkles and even do a little tummy tuck in Photoshop.He also devotes space to special effects, but he emphasizes alteration of the image not to tell lies, so much as to give effect to the photographer's vision.There is also a chapter on preparing output for print.

Most of the techniques that Varis shows are attempts at improvements on simpler Photoshop techniques.For example in the chapter on preparing for printing, he describes a method of improving on the usual unsharp mask sharpening.He does this by adding two additional layers that allow individual control of the prominence of the light halos and the dark halos that are the essence of unsharp mask.

Application of these techniques requires effort above and beyond normal Photoshop processing.How useful they will be depends on the amount of work you are willing to invest in an image, although most of the techniques could certainly be embedded in actions.Equally important is the question of your own ability to envision when to employ a particular technique to improve your work.An alternate consideration might be your willingness to experiment with several techniques to see which will benefit you.

The book includes a CD with the images used as examples in the book.I recommend that you read chapter 9 of the book which discusses these images before any other chapter.Then unzip the folders they come in into a new folder and follow along with the book.Often the changes are subtle and more easily seen on a monitor as they are made than on the printed page.

In summary, this is a book for the experienced Photoshop user, willing to spend the time examining techniques that might enable one to get that slight edge in his or her photographs that would put one ahead of other digital photographers.

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Product Description:
Achieving accurate skin tones is one of the most challenging tasks in digital photography. Master this challenge with professional photographer Lee Varis as he covers a range of skin: women and men, young and old, various tones, in-studio and outdoors, tattoos, and more. His step-by-step tutorials and before-and-after illustrations demonstrate various techniques for topics such as digital-specific lighting challenges and what can and cannot be done in post-process.
A free CD-ROM accompanies the book and contains sample image files to use while following the tutorials, plus equipment recommendations and technical reference materials that enhance and reinforce the instruction.
Order your copy of this practical guide today and get a complete start-to-finish approach to integrating everything from posing models to shooting and retouching candid scenes.

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