Digital BW, The Print

I am just getting into black and white digital scanning and printing 
after years of traditional darkroom work. I am trying to learn 
photoshop with the Classroom in a Book book. While I am learning it 
this way, I feel like I am spending too much time on stuff that 
doesn't apply to B&W photo work. Can anyone suggest a good book that 
focuses on learning photoshop for photography and preferably black 
and white photography. Thanks. Paula

Hello Paula,

>I am just getting into black and white digital scanning and printing 
>after years of traditional darkroom work. I am trying to learn 
>photoshop with the Classroom in a Book book. While I am learning it 
>this way, I feel like I am spending too much time on stuff that 
>doesn't apply to B&W photo work. Can anyone suggest a good book that 
>focuses on learning photoshop for photography and preferably black 
>and white photography. 

I've never seen a PS book dedicated just to BW work.  But I have
looked at 4 or 5 and the one I like best is "Real World Photoshop".  I
found it to be more useful than the one with "For Photographers" in
the title.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm

Can anyone suggest a good book that 
> >focuses on learning photoshop for photography and preferably black 
> >and white photography. 

Go to amazon.com and in the search field for books enter "photoshop black and white" 
and several good books will pop up. Although I'm not convinced you need books that deal 
specifically with B+W since the same principles apply to color work in PS as well.

I had an earlier copy of the jim Rich book and was quite pleased with it. George Schaub is 
also a noted author on digital B+W. Both have books available on amazon.

As far as general PS books, I have always been very pleased with Bruce Fraser and David 
Blattner's Real World Photoshop series as well as Martin Evening's books.

Michael

This may seem strange but I have learned a great deal about B&W from Dan
Margulis' book "Professional Photoshop" (subtitle: The Classic Guide to
Color Correction).

Dan presents seminars and hosts a Yahoo Group like this one called
ColorTheory.

Many solutions to color problems are directly related to the K (black) in
CMYK printing or by conversion to LAB and making adjustments to the
lightness (L) thereby preserving the color integrity.

For dealing with definition problems it is good to know how each color
channel represents its version via grayscale images.

IMHO B&W makes a lot of sense from this reverse engineering approach.

 

Avery

 

 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Paula writes:
> Can anyone suggest a good book that
focuses on learning photoshop for photography and preferably black
and white photography. Thanks. Paula<

I own and have read a number of Photoshop books, including several on black
and white. By far the best on  black and white is Barry Thornton's book
"Elements of Transition." The subtitle is "From traditional to digital
monochrome fine prints - a concise but complete guide." That describes it
exactly. While it is only 33 pages, it tells you a lot of what you need to
know without confusing you with too much detail. You can read about it at:

http://www.barry-thornton.co.uk/elementsoftransition.htm

(The rest you can learn by reading the postings on Digital BW. :-))

Unfortunately Barry Thornton died a few months ago and the book is not
available right now. If you are interested in the book write to me off-list.

David Lee
david-lee@...

let me second "Real World Photoshop" by Blatner & Fraser as a
reference. No one in their right mind is going to sit down to read and
digest a Photoshop book cover to cover. We just need one that is well
indexed, so we can research the topic we are interested in at that
moment. 

Learning PS is like learning to play golf or tennis. Do it with people
better than you who are open to helping. A little book research and a
lot of actual practice. Consider informal print exchanges. Cultivate a
relationship (on line is fine) with someone who you can just ask how
to deal with any specific problem. There's nothing like a tutor who
can send you a step by step approach to deal with whatever problem you
currently seem to be having. 

Don't dismiss all the discussion of embedded color profiles. They do
relate to black and white as well.

Just keep shooting, developing, scanning and printing. If you're
somewhat analytical, that will do much more than reading. 

Bob Michaels  

  --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "lawprof2001"
<Berg@m...> wrote:

> I am just getting into black and white digital scanning and printing 
> after years of traditional darkroom work. I am trying to learn 
> photoshop with the Classroom in a Book book. While I am learning it 
> this way, I feel like I am spending too much time on stuff that 
> doesn't apply to B&W photo work. Can anyone suggest a good book that 
> focuses on learning photoshop for photography and preferably black 
> and white photography. Thanks. Paula

I am very interested in the Barry Thornton book "Elements of Transition." David Lee 
indicates he can help those interested by writing him "off list." I am new to chat 
groups and I wasn't able to figure out how to write David directly.

Can anybody help me find his email address? Or can anybody give me information 
about the book "Elements of Transition"?

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "David Lee" <david-
lee@s...> wrote:

> Paula writes:
> > Can anyone suggest a good book that
> focuses on learning photoshop for photography and preferably black
> and white photography. Thanks. Paula<
> 
> I own and have read a number of Photoshop books, including several on black
> and white. By far the best on  black and white is Barry Thornton's book
> "Elements of Transition." The subtitle is "From traditional to digital
> monochrome fine prints - a concise but complete guide." That describes it
> exactly. While it is only 33 pages, it tells you a lot of what you need to
> know without confusing you with too much detail. You can read about it at:
> 
> http://www.barry-thornton.co.uk/elementsoftransition.htm
> 
> (The rest you can learn by reading the postings on Digital BW. :-))
> 
> Unfortunately Barry Thornton died a few months ago and the book is not
> available right now. If you are interested in the book write to me off-list.
> 
> David Lee
> david-lee@s...