The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing

I saw Harold Davis' photos a while ago and they really caught my eye. The composition, color and artistic qualities are remarkable and I found them much like my own ideas and ideals. Fortunately for me, Mr. Davis is more than obliging in divulging his techniques and concepts.Although "The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing" is a couple of years old, it still remains fresh with the Photoshop examples current. In short, you will get lots of bang for your buck. I am a very seasoned Photoshop pro, but I still found myself saying "aha!" every now and then as I discovered some gem of an approach.If you are a Photoshop novice, this book may seem a bit daunting at first. There are some concepts, such as Layer Masks and the Lab color space, that may be unfamiliar. But stick with it and you'll learn a bit about Photoshop as well as get an in-depth look at Harold's methods.The book offers very clear, approachable (and fun!) step-by-step examples of how to create the images in Photoshop. These range from fairly straight-forward HDR (high dynamic range) to a couple of very artistic manipulations. Harold clearly explains how he goes about achieving each step as well as the principles behind each method used. Additionally, he even discusses how to capture similar source photos to bring into Photoshop, a very substantial bonus! If you like the way he does night photography and star trails, this alone is worth the price.This book isn't for photography purists, nor is it a complete compendium of Photoshop techniques. It is a look at how one extremely creative and talented photographer creates his art. He guides us through his thought processes and goals for each project, without agenda or intimidation, and along the way tickles the reader's inspiration.There are dozens of different approaches, hundreds of books on using Photoshop and thousands of opinions on how to go about executing similar effect. Read them all! Use them! But be sure to add the Harold and Phyllis Davis books to your repertoire. You will explore undiscovered areas of your talent you never knew existed.

I first became aware of author and photographer Harold Davis a couple of months ago through an article he wrote on Selective Sharpening for "Photonet" ([...]). You can review this article on the Photonet Website under the "Learning" tab menu options.There are many digital sharpening processes (that is increasing edge contrasts) available but Harold Davis' selective LAB sharpening is the first I have found which is an easily learned selective sharpening; a way to restrict sharpening to the areas which benefit from sharpening. It is necessary to advoid sharpening areas of soft focus, noise and other artifacts as sharpening these areas will degrade rather than improve the image. With this process, the user maintains fine control over each step.Based on this very well written sharpening article, I researched the author to find that he has published more than thirty computer programming and digital photography books, each to excellent reviews by readers as well as professional reviewers. He is recognized in the digital photography field for his ability to share his expertise through classroom teaching and writting.In The Photoshop Darkroom, he presents several varied processes for improving and applying special effects to digital images in Photoshop. He expands his selective sharpening presentation through screen shots of the Photoshop steps accompanied by concise notes. He follows this format for each of process presented in this book. He simplifies and improves many of the Photoshop processes I struggled with in learning Photoshop. This book will be helpful for those digital photographers beginning Photoshop through to the advanced users.(If interested in digital black and white processing, note that Harold Davis will be releasing a book on this subject in April, 2010. I am eagerly awaiting my copy!)wd

I am an amateur photographer who recently decided to take the plunge into the intimidating world of Photoshop. I read several books including one 600 page tome that was about as boring as reading a phone book. It wasn't until I read The Photoshop Darkroom that everything clicked! Mr. and Mrs. Davis present many of the most useful and powerful Photoshop techniques in an easy to follow step by step manner. All the photos used in the book are available for download making it easy for the reader to follow along. The sample photos are beautiful and the end results are inspirational. This could easily be a coffee table book if it wasn't so darn helpful. Each section begins with an introduction to the featured technique and is followed by step by step examples showing how the technique works. Along the way, each chapter is filled with helpful suggestions and tips about Photoshop and photography in general. Some of my favorite sections include: working in RAW, digital asset management (DAM), working with layers, black and white photos, hand HDR, stacking photos and sharpening. Since finishing this book and working through all the examples, my comfort level with Photoshop has increased tremendously! Speaking as a rookie Photoshop user, The Photoshop Darkroom has given me the confidence to take my photography to the next level. It will do the same for you! Highly recommended!

I am an amateur and need help, these books really do help.

Une présentation agréable et claire. Explications faciles à suivre pour un approfondissement dans le domaine de la photo créative et des chemins originaux pour améliorer ses images. Des scripts/actions sont offerts pour créer 7 versions des canaux LAB.

I have learn a lots of things and order the 2nd one.

Die ist nicht gerade mein erstes Photoshop Buch. Aber das erste das zum Erfolg führt. Harold Davis beginnt gleich auf den ersten Seiten mit seiner lockeren unterhaltsamen Schreibe eine Reise hin zu kreativen Photoshop Welten. Ein normal Scanner wird zum wunderbaren Aufnahmegerät für Blumen. Es folgt ein Workflow von den Kameraaufnahme, importieren der Bilder, Sicherung und Verarbeitung als HDR. Alles mit Diagrammen und hervorragenden Bildbeispielen begleitet. Davis schreibt sehr kurzweilig in leicht verständlichem Englisch. Am Ende der Lektüre bleibt eine klare Vorstellung wie die nächsten Fotoprojekte überzeugender werden. Ich empfehle dieses Buch jedem mit etwas Grundwissen in Fotografie und Photoshop. Kaum ein Deutsches Photoshop Buch kommt hier mit. Klasse.

This is a beautifully produced book by Harold and Phylis Davis with magnificent colour illustrations throughout.The example images used are available for download which is essential as they are demonstrating techniques I have not seen elsewhere.This is a book for the person really interested in Photoshop techniques starting from RAW images and taking their Photoshop skills to a new level - it is DEFINITELY NOT for newcomers to the software.They also include in the download their 'Actions' for some LAB techniques - my only gripe is that this is for a Mac and not a PC - guess I will have to create my own!!A really vibrant and stimulating book

Obviously this isn't designed to be a comprehensive Photoshop manual: there are plenty of weighty books out there that provide that. What it is is a series of project studies designed to give a feel for what you can achieve in post-production, with beautifully reproduced images and detailed instructions and commentaries. Very easy to read and follow, while suggesting infinite possibilities!