Photoshop Workbook, The: Professional Retouching and Compositing Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

This looks to be a compilation of what the author has covered on his youtube channel and website. And as mentioned in another review - no link to them. The book is nice in that it puts all of the author's lessons and techniques into a single point of reference. I'm not 100% sure, but there just doesn't seem to be anything new here and therefore not worth the price I've paid for it, having already been through his youtube videos, and having purchased one of the authors training videos from his website a couple of years back. That very training video is now one of the projects in this book. I got to pay for it twice. Yay. The techniques covered here are addressed in many earlier publications. As an example - the FAD technique I first saw explained by Calvin Hollywood many years back, and also covered in Calvin's own video training is addressed in this book (and surely addressed earlier by someone else). At least he gives credit. No knock on the author and his talents, but I was (and still am) hoping for something new and perhaps a little more advanced. How many times are we going to see these same techniques and base level projects recycled with a new set of photos and a different author? I guess I'm just being a grump because I paid for the same info twice, lol.A more advanced photo compositing and photo manipulation publication that included some start to finish projects like this book sure would be nice. Any suggestions?If you haven't seen any of his videos, or been on Kelby's site, or gone through some other photo compositing books prior (Matt Kloskowski's comes to mind) - well then this is a good one to get started with. But if you have, my opinion is that you would have already seen these techniques and would therefore be disappointed.

This book has been an exercise in frustration due to several problems that could be overcome with a companion website that includes addendums and clarifications. Here are a few of the problems:1. With software companies like Adobe adopting the subscription model, their products are subject to continuous change. Features we've grown accustomed to finding in one place are suddenly tucked away in another menu or panel where we can't find them. Photoshop is famous for this, which the author of this book fails to take into account. For example, on page 4, he writes, "we can now go into Refine Edge to pick up all of those fine flyaway hairs. Click the Refine Edge button at the top of the screen in the Quick Selection options (Figure 1.7). The problem is, the Refine Edge button no longer exists at the top of the screen in Photoshop CC. I finally figured out how to access it, but then the very next step leads into a similarly frustrating issue... and so on.2. Dewis fails to explain the steps he gives to achieve a given objective, he simply lists the steps. In addition, he often pushes us off of a cliff into terminology and concepts that have not been introduced. I suppose he expects us to know this stuff, yet if we did, we wouldn't need his book.By far the biggest problem is that Dewis' instructions include Photoshop functionalities that don't exist or have changed between the version of Photoshop he used to write the book and the latest version from Adobe. For example, on page 14, step 7, he instructs us "in the options bar at the top of the screen, click the Brush Preset Picker icon and choose number 112, which looks like a tiny blade of grass..." The problem is, the brush presets aren't numbered, and one could spend hours looking through the presets trying to find out which brush he's referring to. In fact, I did a Google search on "Photoshop brush 112" and found that the brush is actually from a 3rd party brush presets package by Brusheezy - it isn't even included in the brush presets provided by Adobe in Photoshop - it just happened to be on the author's computer, and he leaves it to his readers to figure out where to find it and how to load it onto theirs.Several other reviewers have commented on the quality of the author's free YouTube videos - that they are better than the content of this book - and I have to agree. After struggling through the first exercise in the book, I followed his video on the same exercise and came away with a much quicker and clearer understanding of the process... he even included steps in the video that he (inadvertently?) left out of the book.These are just a few examples that I've run across where it becomes impossible to progress past an early step in one of this book's exercises. I've bought a lot of books through Amazon over the years, and I've come closer to returning this one than any other title I've ever bought - there's no excuse for this level of ambiguity in a book this expensive. Cut the book's price in half and provide a companion website with corrections and clarifications, then release a corrected 2nd edition... I feel ripped off.

I have taken classes, worn out Youtube and various other avenues to learn Photoshop. With each I come away with the ability to complete a certain task but little on where to go from there. Then I found The Photoshop Workbook by Glyn Dewis. Of course it just came out so I haven't finished it but have learned so much already, I am taking my time because my goal is to master each step so it becomes second nature. Glyn takes you to each new level step by step and doesn't 'assume' you already know how to get there. I like that! I purchased the digital copy and have already spent hours in front of my Mac with my iPad propped open next me, seriously it's like having Glyn right there walking you through until you can do it with out instruction. If you are on the fence about this book go for it, you won't be sorry. Because I like the feel of a book in my hands I will be going back and purchasing the printed copy but for working along side your computer in a sort of class room set up the digital on your pad or tablet is fantastic!

This is a great book, and it has already taken my designing to the next level within the first few pages, I improved my cutouts! And not just that, it answered a lot of questions I had about how to achieve a certain technique that people either could not understand, did not know, or just did not want to tell me. So I indeed had those moments where I'd say to myself "ahh, so that's how its done!" The people complaining on this thread are just those who followed Glyn on YouTube, so they feel like these techniques were nothing new and the book isn't worth the buy. Although I followed, Glyn's YouTube channel I never did study all of his vids because I like to have instructions written out in front of me, and go along with whatever I'm being taught. Of course there were certain techs in this book im sure many people already knew, but however, these common techniques are essential to creating great composites in Photoshop, that everyone and especially newbies should know, in order to grow as a designer. I tip my hat to Glyn for this book and it is worth the money.

As a photographer, I’m a sucker for Photoshop books that can turn my images into stellar designs. This book by Glyn Dewis is one of the best.Glyn Dewis’s book is split into two main sections: Part 1 covers techniques like mastering selections and cutouts; using a 50% grey layer for compositing; and lighting effects. Part 2 contains a set of projects where the author steps you through before-and-after exercises where you start with the RAW file and end up with the finished design. (The book doesn’t come with a DVD: you need to download the project files from the Peachpit web site). Although Part 2 of the book is a little like painting by numbers, I was really quite surprised at how easy it was to follow the instructions and go from the straight-out-of-camera image to a striking design or composite.Based on other Photoshop books I’ve read, I’d class this as an intermediate to advanced text. It’s one of the few books that I’ve worked through from beginning to end, which is testimony to the author’s writing style and also testimony to the projects themselves, which are challenging enough to maintain your interest but short enough that you can complete them at a single sitting.If you feel reasonably confident with Photoshop, I’d strongly recommend this book as the way to take your skills to the next level.

I was looking forward to checking this out, but had a face palm moment when I realised this was published in 2015 and therefore frustratingly out of date. I only realised this when asked to use the 'Refine Edge' tool... the tool no longer exists in present versions of Adobe Photoshop. Had it been in 2015, this might have got 5 stars, but it's past its sell-by date.

There a very few books that explain how to use photoshop usefully. Especially in the area of cutting out and creating montages. It's a very useful book from that point of view. While I have found the instructions correct the set by set format could have been clearer with more images used to explain what to do. It would be difficult for a beginner to follow as a lot of steps are not specifically outlined. There are a few weird quirks in the book. One standout one is P43 to 49 where is goes through a particular image. One of the characters in the image is pixelated out. The author must not have had permission to use their image. Why would you use an image to demonstrate something that you had to pixel out. It's really weird. I've never seen that in a book before. I wish someone would write a detailed book on how to do images and collages you find in Advanced Photoshop step by step. Magazines like that expect readers to have a huge amount of previous knowledge to start with.So overall a good book but prepared to be confused if you are a beginner.

I have bought and used a range of 'Learn Photoshop' texts. This (which I bought in the kindle edition) is the best one I've used for giving concrete and useful exercises that allow you to produce a pleasing result from the very first exercise. I haven't finished the book yet, but I have had lots of fun with it and definitely learned a lot already.So why four instead of five stars?It seems to me that the further I get into the book the more knowledge is taken for granted - and then occasionally something doesn't work as it should. Whether this is an error in the exercise (ie suggesting you should paint your mask with black instead of white) - or the user (who sometimes should read things more carefully) is hard to say at this stage - but it is frustrating when it goes wrong and I can't work out what I'm doing wrong.

This is the most brilliant book if you want to master Photoshop! I have spent a fortune on 'teach yourself' Adobe CS5.5, some better than others but this one definitely is just what I am looking for! I edit the local magazine and need to really get to grips with getting the best out of photographs, selection, cut outs etc. the lesson s in this book really are step by step, easy to follow and you download the files, as shown in the book, to work on. This was dead easy to do following the instructions in the front of the book.The only downside is that the Amazon price varies from day to day. I ordered at £24.79, on Amazon Prime, waited 5 days for delivery, refused delivery, reordered at £15.29 and got it the next day. Have to say Amazon help/ contact us were ace at facilitating this. Today it is on sale at £18 something so just no rhyme or reason! Best wait for a 'cheap day'.