Product Description

Still photography doesn't have to mean static images,a fact nobody understands better than well-known photographer and Photoshop Hall of Famer Vincent Versace. In this book, Vincent details his cinematic approach to evoke time and its passage in still photographic images, and provides a wealth of practical and artistic guidance for anyone with a serious interest in digital photography. For this new edition, the author has added two completely new chapters and substantially expanded the already amazing chapter on black-and-white imagery. Whether readers are looking to enrich their Photoshop skills, broaden their understanding of conceptual and aesthetic principles, get a handle on lighting and color theory, or simply inject some life into their still digital images, they'll benefit from Vincent's unique approach to the art and craft of digital photography. Offering advice and instruction on everything from creating lighting in Photoshop to setting up printers, taking advantage of color management, converting RGB files to black and white, making digital images look like silver prints, capturing movement, and more, this beautifully illustrated guide conveys the unique vision of a singularly successful fine-art photographer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2243412 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 312 pages

From the Back Cover
Still photography doesn't have to mean static images,a fact nobody understands better than well-known photographer and Photoshop Hall of Famer Vincent Versace. In this book, Vincent details his cinematic approach to evoke time and its passage in still photographic images, and provides a wealth of practical and artistic guidance for anyone with a serious interest in digital photography. For this new edition, the author has added two completely new chapters and substantially expanded the already amazing chapter on black-and-white imagery. Whether readers are looking to enrich their Photoshop skills, broaden their understanding of conceptual and aesthetic principles, get a handle on lighting and color theory, or simply inject some life into their still digital images, they'll benefit from Vincent's unique approach to the art and craft of digital photography. Offering advice and instruction on everything from creating lighting in Photoshop to setting up printers, taking advantage of color management, converting RGB files to black and white, making digital images look like silver prints, capturing movement, and more, this beautifully illustrated guide conveys the unique vision of a singularly successful fine-art photographer.

About the Author
Vincent Versace is an award-winning fine-art digital photographer whose work has appeared in museums and galleries throughout the world. In addition, he teaches regularly at Photoshop World and lectures widely at photography and digital imaging conferences and conventions.

Customer Reviews

Great concept, flawed execution
I won't spend too much time describing the basic content of this book since that has been well covered by the previous reviewers.

Things that worked for me were:
- building a workflow around how people read photographs
- analysis of common problems and how to resolve them
- descriptions of genuinely useful techniques and good practice
- inclusion of full 16 bit images as examples to work on.

Things I was less than impressed with:
- a large number of typographical errors (no proof reading?)
- procedural errors, so if you follow along precisely with the text you do not end up with the same result as the book examples!
- the odd, possibly doubtful technique. I am fairly certain you do not want to correct a colour cast by taking a white point reading off of a skin tone?
- a number of plugs for Nik software (a PS plug in). Not sure if the author has a commercial interest here or he genuinely believes they are the best around.

Need to be very comfortable with PS to follow along, not least to make sense of things when an error in the description occurs.

4 stars is, perhaps, slightly generous but I think the intent of the book is excellent, and it did teach me a lot.

Adding taste to your Photoshop work
The cinematography art is marked with the deep concern with the dramatic effect of the shoots, backgrounds, lights...etc. This concern is what makes the strong relationship between the image and the story or idea behind it.

Welcome to OZ book focuses on using the light, shadows and image contrast to produce this effect on images using Adobe Photoshop.

Based on his experience, Vincent Versace shows by example how to enhance images and edit camera shoots in Adobe Photoshop. Each chapter concern of specific effect and explain how to accomplish this effect using Photoshop tools. In his first chapter, Vincent shows how to enhance camera shoots for portrait image with editing the light and shadows and adding depth to the image. His example was his shoot to the actress Challen Cates.

The following chapter adds a new skill, which is practicing shooting multiple images for the same object and compile them to produce a final image. Vincent attached an image gallery to show how these practice affect the images and enhance the output of the normal camera shoots.

The book continues experiencing the skills with each chapter either with adding new skills or shows how to use the skills mentioned in previous chapters in a new way.

The book is great book for all whom concern with adding dramatic and artistic effect to images. I see this book is good for all who work in graphic design, photographers and photo-montage specialists.

Fine Art Photography
Quote from the beginning of this book:
"Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. You first have to practice at practicing." - Vince Lombardi

This is NOT a "How to do it" - much more of a "How I did it and why" by the author, Vincent Versace.

At full price it is expensive [but you do get what you pay for in this life] but even so I feel it is worth the outlay [search for it in "New and Used" though].
It takes one through the thought processes and decisions made by the author and is very well illustrated by the authors finished fine art photographs as well as step-by-step results of a handful of his own images.
Some of these step-by-step processes take up to 40 pages each [although not all use this much space]. Vincent Versace goes into exquisite detail with his use of lighting maps; burning and dodging maps; depth of field maps; advanced monochrome conversion advice etc.

Also included with the book is a DVD containing hi-resolution as well as reduced resolution of the images used in the book [for slower computers].
This is a lush and luxorious book but definately not for the beginner. This book is for the medium to advanced practitioner who will already have a reasonably good grasp of Photoshop as well as photography and who is already capable of pre-visualising the final image before pressing the shutter release and, as such, it is, in my opinion really excellent and well worth checking out.