Artistry is the key word here: When competent doesn't cut it. When what you're going for is museum-quality art prints, high-end advertising effects, and dizzyingly beautiful digitally manipulated images, this is the place to start. Providing a focused approach to the advanced features of Photoshop CS, this beautiful full-color guide tackles complex yet essential topics like color calibration and correction. Along the way, you'll learn how Photoshop's newest features-Photomerge technology (which allows you to create seamless panoramas from multiple images), enhanced Camera Raw support, an improved File Browser, nonsquare pixel support, and more-can aid in your quest for the perfect image. Throughout, the authors emphasize the relationship between Photoshop CS tools and traditional photography to provide essential context for complex tasks. The knowledge is sure to stick as you work your way through the detailed, step-by-step exercises and use the companion CD to view before-and-after images and access masks and tool settings for the book's tutorials.

This series is aimed at professionals who work with digital photographs and graphics, especially those with significant experience in both traditional photography and using Photoshop. The book is set up the same as in earlier editions and with some of the same exercises, now updated to reflect the changes in CS. After an opening section on basics like tools, palettes, actions, and layers, the book discusses more advanced topics in digital imaging, like applying the Zone System, made popular by Ansel Adams, to Photoshop and mastering calibration, color spaces, scanning, resolutions, and histograms (using the new dynamic histogram palette). In hands-on tutorials, readers learn how to use layers and adjustment layers; selections, channels, and layers for compositing; histograms, levels, curves, and Hue/Saturation for color correction; advanced techniques for correcting a bad scan; how to turn yellow flowers orange with Color Range, Replace Color, and Selective Color tools or turn a red car green with Color Match; how to work with duotones; techniques in retouching and restoring; how to combine bracketed captures to increase dynamic range; and much more.

Throughout, the book features text-heavy explanations accompanied by lots of illustrations and screenshots. It's the sort of image-laden book where you can learn so much just by reading the sidebars. An extensive index makes it ideal for troubleshooting. The sample photographs included on the CD-ROM are excellent quality and well chosen to match situations that occur in professional jobs. This book is rich in information. If you're a professional photographer or Photoshop power-user, this book and Adobe Photoshop CS are now essential to your studio. --Angelynn Grant