Digital Photography - Expert Techniques, 2nd Edition (2006)

Organization of This Book

This book consists of 12 chapters. At the beginning of most chapters is a sidebar titled "How This Chapter Fits the Workflow," which gives you perspective on what you will be doing and why you're doing it at that stage of the organization. After that, I address common issues that you're likely to face as you move further into that domain. As the title of this book suggests, the combination of these issues form a set of "expert techniques" that you can use to successfully master that task.

Chapter 1, A Plan for Nondestructive Workflow
Puts the organization of the entire book in perspective, so that you know what my concept of start-to-finish workflow is all about, as well as the rationale for the sequence.


Chapter 2, Be Prepared
Tells you everything you need to know about getting ready to start shooting. The chapter covers how to set your camera to be prepared for shots, what accessories are likely to be helpful, what settings are likely to work when you don't have time to think, how to keep the camera steady, and how to freeze action.


Chapter 3, Bridging the Gap
Is all about Bridge; this image management program now comes with any and all the Adobe CS2 Suite applications. In this instance, however, Bridge is discussed primarily in relation to Photoshop and to the myriad ways that it helps to keep your workflow organized.


Chapter 4, Streamlining Camera Raw
Gets into a great deal more depth about streamlining your processing while in Camera Raw and the benefit of doing as much of your processing as possible while you're in this completely nondestructive stage of operations.


Chapter 5, Nondestructive Layering
Describes, in detail, how layers can be used to isolate destructive operations so that they can be carried out without affecting anything else you've done to the image.


Chapter 6, Nondestructive Overall Adjustments
Shows how to use adjustment layers, which are completely nondestructive, to make overall image adjustments. There are tips and tricks for using almost all the different types of adjustment layers. Image adjustments administered by commands that are not available as adjustment layers are covered in Chapter 8, when you've exhausted all the possibilities for completely nondestructive editing.


Chapter 7, Making Targeted Adjustments
Discusses making and using selections, masks, and other means of making adjustments that pertain only to portions of the image. You also learn how to modify layer masks after the basic adjustments have been made to further enhance a portion of the image.


Chapter 8, Repairing the Details
Covers all types of image repair, including retouching. Retouching is always maximally destructive, so you are also taught how to isolate the image to preserve all the work you have done up to this point.


Chapter 9, Collage and Montage
Discusses making one image from multiple images using the techniques of both collage and montage. A collage is an image obviously composed of multiple images and doesn't require doing such things as matching shooting angles, hiding cutout borders, and otherwise attempting to "fool" the viewer into thinking that this is a factual photo. A montage takes the viewer to a time and place that, though it looks real, never really existed as a visual reality...at least not when a camera was present to record it.


Chapter 10, Creating the Wow Factor
Presents the next stage of progressively more destructive editing: special effects. Most special effects are created by filters and plug-ins that respecify every pixel in the targeted portion of the image.


Chapter 11, Special Purpose Processing
Covers "specialized" (for lack of a better, all-inclusive term) image processing. More specifically, it discusses panoramas and enhanced resolution images (including how to shoot them so the multiple images required to make them blend together seamlessly), dynamic range extension techniques, and converting photos to "paintings."


Chapter 12, Presenting Your Work to the World
Contains the most effective techniques for communicating your photographic talents to the world. In other words, this chapter is all about preparing your image for output and then how to use that output to show off your talents in an efficient and cost-effective way.
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