Lab Color is one of the most underused colour spaces Photoshop offers. This book can teach you how to make the most of Lab Color to improve your photos in many different ways - from sharpening to noise removal and adding that spark to your colours.

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Product Description

With a mantra like “There are no bad originals, only bad Photoshop operators,” you know best-selling author Dan Margulis is serious about exposing people to the magic of Photoshop. Nowhere is that magic more apparent than in its LAB color processing capabilities, which can make even the subtle canyon colors of rock, sand, and dirt come to vivid life. However, you may be wary of taming the complex beast. Here’s your guide! In these pages, Dan shows that you can derive enormous benefits from just a few simple tools and techniques. He also demonstrates that you can take these techniques as far as you wish, employing the power-user features he describes in later chapters. Starting with canyons and progressing to faces, you will see just how quickly you can begin improving your images by following the “recipes” included here. Each chapter includes a sidebar with review questions and exercises as well as a “Closer Look” section that examines some of the principles behind the techniques. A CD includes exercise files.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #153968 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From the Back Cover
With a mantra like “There are no bad originals, only bad Photoshop operators,” you know best-selling author Dan Margulis is serious about exposing people to the magic of Photoshop. Nowhere is that magic more apparent than in its LAB color processing capabilities, which can make even the subtle canyon colors of rock, sand, and dirt come to vivid life. However, you may be wary of taming the complex beast. Here’s your guide! In these pages, Dan shows that you can derive enormous benefits from just a few simple tools and techniques. He also demonstrates that you can take these techniques as far as you wish, employing the power-user features he describes in later chapters. Starting with canyons and progressing to faces, you will see just how quickly you can begin improving your images by following the “recipes” included here. Each chapter includes a sidebar with review questions and exercises as well as a “Closer Look” section that examines some of the principles behind the techniques. A CD includes exercise files.

About the Author
Dan Margulis is known as "the experts' expert on the logical and effective ways to make any image look its best" (Design Tools Monthly) and "the father of digital prepress" (Scott Kelby). In 2001, he was one of the first three individuals—and the only writer—to be named as a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame. In announcing this election, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals said, "Dan's ability to reduce complicated concepts to words that users can understand and his insistence on dealing with real-world relevance have made him today's most influential voice in color reproduction."

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Customer Reviews

Brings a new meaning to LAB
When I started this book I found it quite heavy going, due in the main to the constant references to illustrations and curves being either on the previous pages or next page. After a while I found this very frustrating. However, all the frustration has been well worth it as the content is simply awesome!
My previous excursions into LAB were simply to use the Lightness Channel for sharpening. Not any more!! I am now half way through the book again on my seventh read, and suspect it will not be my last, because as I said earlier, it is not an easy read, but it not only brings a new meaning to LAB it puts a new perspective on Photoshop. (of all the books I have on Photoshop, not one goes into any detail on LAB )
As Dan points out several times in the book it is not the answer to all colour problems, but where it is, it really is!! The impressive thing for me is that once you have understood and mastered his techniques it only takes seconds to transform drab, flat uninspiring images into vibrant works of art. Fantastic!!
If you have images which are flat, need colour correcting, need a colour shift, noise removal, better sharpening, blending......... I could go on and on, then this is the book for you. It is packed from cover to cover with examples of various techniques plus of course a CD of images to work along with.
You may find it heavy going to begin with, but stick with it as the rewards are more than you could ever imagine

Limited scope but great great depth.
I've never been moved to write a review here before but this book forces me to make the effort.

This book teaches you how to correct photographs using techniques that are available through LAB mode in photoshop. There are simple recipies to follow which work and full detailed explanations that lead you a great understanding of colour and how to analyse and manipulate it. The examples are clear and beautifully illustrated and the writing is fluent and entertaining. The only photoshop book I've read cover to cover - and I'm now going through it again to make sure I've absorbed it all.

If you don't want leading through the menus but do want some real knowledge, get this book.

Awesome
This might look suspect with only glowing reviews, but really this is a great book. I use photoshop for years and have avoided using lab colors. This book will teach you so much stuff. I just can't put it down. Reading this book will teach you techniques which polish up photos with a completely different approach. LAB seperates contrast from color so you can adjust contrast without messing with the color... and vice versa. If you like photoshop this book will take you to a whole new dimension.