Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One: Read the lesson. Watch the video. Do the exercises.
Coming to terms with alpha channels (or masks) is the most sure-fire way to boost the quality of your work in Photoshop. But masking isn't easy--in fact, the elusive alpha channel has been described as the least understood feature in Photoshop's enormous arsenal.
Now, you can master masking with Deke McClelland's unique and effective learning system--Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One (O'Reilly Media, $49.99 USD). Joined by Tim Grey, regarded as one of the top educators in digital photography and imaging, Deke leads you through step-by-step text lessons, DVD-video demonstrations, and real-world projects. You'll learn how to select and composite highlights, shadows, clouds, fabric, feathers, glass, flame, lightning, eyes, all varieties of hair, and then some. Deke's expert advice and guidance is like working with a personal coach. With this book, you will:
- Learn at your own speed with 12 self-paced tutorials
- Try out techniques and best practices with engaging real-world projects
- Get more than 850 full-color photos, diagrams, and screen shots that illustrate every key step
- See exactly how it's done in real time with five hours of all-new video instruction
- Test your knowledge with multiple-choice quizzes in each chapter
Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One simulates a classroom environment that provides one-on-one attention as you proceed from lesson to lesson. You'll learn to use Photoshop faster, more creatively, and more efficiently than you thought possible.
Tim Grey is the author of a dozen books and hundreds of magazine articles on digital imaging for photographers. He also publishes the Digital Darkroom Quarterly print newsletter and Digital Darkroom Questions email newsletter. He speaks at a variety of events, including Photoshop World as a member of the Photoshop World Dream Team of instructors. Tim takes advantage of every opportunity to photograph near his home in Bellevue, Washington.
Deke McClelland is an electronic publishing pioneer and a popular lecturer on Adobe Photoshop and the larger realm of computer graphics and design. He has hosted Adobe's official "Video Workshop" DVDs that shipped with many versions of Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as hundreds of hours of tutorial-style video training for industry leader lynda.com, with whom his work has won a record-setting eight international awards in the last 12 months. In addition to his video work, Deke has written over 80 books translated into 24 languages, with more than 4 million copies in print. In 2004, Deke created the bestselling One-on-One book series. Published with O'Reilly Media, One-on-One uses video, step-by-step exercises, and hundreds of full-color illustrations to provide readers with the closest thing possible to private instruction from a recognized expert. For more information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bios and samples, see: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596516154
Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One
Deke McClelland and Tim Grey
January 2009, $49.99 USD
O'Reilly Media: http://www.oreilly.com/