Creative Photoshop Lighting Techniques

[Pauline]

Does anyone have this book?
Creative Photoshop Lighting Techniques by Barry Huggins?

Is it relevant to Elements, or is there too much that is just for PSCS?
It isn't in Chapters, and is only available by order, and I don't want to order if it's not worth it.

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

I would be interested in knowing about this too ... as it sounds good :)

Wendy

[MikeH]

Pauline,

Here is a link to the publishers website with a detailed list of the contents...

http://www.ilex-press.com/publishing/pages.php?pageid=184

Mike

[Wendy]

Thanks Mike ...

... I just wish that I could get a chance to look inside it before I make up my mind ... I may take a trip to Birmingham and see if they have it there :)

Wendy

[MikeH]

Wendy,

There are some reviews on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1579907601/026-3938558-4592455

... plus this one on ephoptozine:

http://www.ephotozine.com/equipment/bookreviews/bookdetails.cfm?ibookid=208

I haven't seen this book anywhere. I was in Waterstones Solihull again today browsing the photography and Photoshop books... Maybe Birmingham is the place to look.

Mike

[Wendy]

Hi Mike ...

Birmingham is quite good for Photoshop books as there are several large bookshops including Borders, Waterstones, WH Smiths ... and another one whose name escapes me.

I've only looked in Waterstones, Solihull a couple of times but never really seen much there ... did they have much in today?

Wendy

[Pauline]

Thanks Mike. It looks like he has a new book out. The ones I saw on Amazon.ca had the blue cover (there were 2 editions of that one) and now the one you sent for the first link.

Wendy if you do check it out let me know what you think. Looking at the table of contents it looks excellent, but it won't be any good if the techniques can't be performed in elements. The reviews look good, but again, I can't tell from them if it would work in elements. I don't want to throw away $40 if I can't use it, but I really do want to learn more about lighting techniques. I notice a lot of Jodi's challenge images seem to have a look of glowing light and wonder if she uses lighting techniques.

[MikeH]

I've only looked in Waterstones, Solihull a couple of times but never really seen much there ... did they have much in today?

Wendy,

No... not much at all really. I think a trip to Birmingham is on the cards.

Mike

[Wendy]

Hi ...

What you have to watch with books is which version it is ...

The Brown covered one is the UK version published by llex and the Blue covered one is the Us one published by Lark.

More and more seem to be doing this ... and its so confusing. The editions can be quite different ... I had the same problem with Tim Shelbourne's book. Even the number of pages varies so I assume the contents does too :)

Wendy

[Wendy]

Mike ...

Birmingham is quite good but allow a lot of time for browsing :)

Wendy

[MikeH]

Wendy,

I have loads of holiday left to get in before the end of the year, so I can feel a book outing coming on.. just in time for Christmas :wink:

On the subject of different versions, you need to be careful when ordering from Amazon then. Quite often they will list a book which you think is UK but actually is American. I had this recently with a photography book I enquired about in Waterstones. They told me the UK listing on Amazon was actually a US book... but I didn't think that the content might be different.

Has Tim Shelbourne's book come out yet?

Mike

[Wendy]

Hi Mike,

They are now listing it as delivery in 4 to 6 weeks ... my order is still pending and now has a November date :) Good news is that Amazon have reduced the price and they have agreed to reduce mine too :)

Wendy

[Pauline]

I wonder why they would use different covers and different content? It really doesn't make sense to me and I find it frustrating enough when publishers change the covers of novels and I end up buying one I had read, but didn't recognize (not often since I do go to the library, but still!!)


Wendy, when you get your Tim Shelbourne book you'll have to tell me how you like it. It's not out here either, but I have it on my 'wish list'. I am thinking of just telling anyone who asks what I would like that money would be fine, so that I could buy books. Since they aren't readily available in store and are cheaper on the net, it would be better to get them myself.

Mike if you go on your little trip let me know what you thihk of the book. I am past beginner now and I think sitting at intermediate level. Now I prefer to get books that I can gain from, not simple ones.

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

The reason for the different editions is that different publishers have the UK rights and the US rights ... this didn't used to cause confusion. Well not until the internet arrived!!

Will let you know what I think of the book when it arrives ... although every tutorial I have come across by him, so far, I enjoy doing ... and he is so nice. A while back I dropped him a line asking about when the book was due to be published and he sent me a long letter back ... he doesn't live too far away from me either :)

I found one of his paintshop pro tutorials and adapted it for my own images ... I will dig out the result and let you see it :)

Wendy

[alexmaxwell]

I own this book (Barry Huggins), but haven't really played with all the techniques--no time. Most require CS but you could use plugins (Grant's Tools?) for curves, etc. Books are always interesting and you will learn from them, but do you want to spend the money? I would say try to find the book first to look at and see if is what you are interested in or even capable of doing the techniques right now with Elements. I wasn't when I bought the book, but feel I have learned enought now that I could do the techniques. Of course, buying the book will give you some techniques to strive master in the future.

I know this really isn't much help. I have lots of books that I will get around to working through one day, but I view books as an investment and a learning tool.

[Pauline]

Thanks for that explanation Wendy. I did notice that a couple books I have are from Lark, and the authors are from the UK. I don't know know that I'm ready for Tim Shelbourne, but I really did enjoy that one tutorial I did, and even though I couldn't do everything, I did manage to improvise and that is what it's all about.

Alex, I'm also a book lover and consider them an investment. I am also a decorative painter and have hundreds of painting books! I wouldn't part with any of them. I have tried to find the book at Chapters, but they don't carry it, which is why I wanted to see if anyone here has it. It seems to have a lot of explainations in it about various lighting and I have a feeling that it will be useful. I don't want to get books that just repeat the same techniques over and over and I'm really not interested in any more books on 'fixing' up photos. It's creations I'm interested in.

[Pauline]

Well I went into Amazon.ca and there are 3 books listed. The blue cover with the statue on the left, says "completely revised for CS2". It was published Oct. 2005, and I think I should stay away from this one.

There there is the brown cover published March 2004
and the other blue cover with the close up of the face on the left published 2004. The blue cover is $10 cheaper and ships in 24 hours the brown cover is special order. (wonder if that's because it's UK???) Boy this is a pain. Okay. I think the brown one is UK, because they also have a UK price and it's publisher is Ilex Press. The blue cover is from Sterling Publishers. I guess that's why the brown cover is special order.

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

There may be more than two versions as I noticed that other publishers have rights in some other countries :(


Wendy

[Pauline]

there are 3 that I have found!

[Wendy]

Pauline ...

Sorry I meant to say 3 ...

... I found publishers for a French version too !! :)

Wendy

[Pauline]

We can pass that one on to Ray! :lol: :lol:
I'm leaning toward the blue cover older version. It's cheaper and might be easier to follow since it seems that CS2 is quite different from older versions (or that's the impression that I am getting from some posts I have seen)