Photoshop Masking & Compositing

Rating:
Summary: A straightforward guide to techniques and applications
Review: Digital photography expert Katrin Eismann presents Photoshop Masking & Compositing, a straightforward guide to techniques and applications that utitlize the fine points of digital imaging software for optimum results. Chapters address how to select and mask difficult elements such as fine hair or translucent objects; mastering the Pen tool; working with layer, channel and vector masks; and much more. Full-color illustrations throughout make the step-by-step guidelines explicitly clear in this "must-have", user friendly instructional and reference resource for dedicated digital photography artists and professionals.


Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive
Review: Ever wonder how some artists create those fancy composite images? Well, Eismann shows how to perform this using Photoshop. While texts on Photoshop as a whole discuss masking and compositing as one of their topics, her book delves solely into it.

She describes how Adobe has developed sophisticated tools that aid you in plucking out subsets of an image. But the book is more than just a recital of tool documentation. She offers you a creative process (a programmer might term this a development cycle) for designing a desired image. A top down approach that, correctly, I think, relegates the Photoshop techniques to a means and not an ends in themselves.

But certainly it should also be said that the description of the techniques is comprehensive and lucid. Some, like the chapter on selecting hair and other fine details, should elicit admiration that such tasks are even possible. If you hail from programming, you can appreciate the amount of coding that must have gone into enabling such tasks.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Techniques Within
Review: Every book I've read by Katrin Eismann has been very good. Even so, This one was better than I expected.

Katrin has designed the book so it could be used as a textbook for Photoshop teachers. There are files to go with the book and its lessons available for download over the internet. You can use these files to do the lesson projects she has throughout the book. This was true with her book on photo restoration and retouching, as well.

As the title suggests, she gives excellent information on making masks in Photoshop. She gives you the theory, so you can better understand how masks work, and then gives you lots of techniques for creating masks.

Often, masks are required to extract a person or an object from the background of a photo, so you can composite it into another photo. She gives excellent tutorials on doing this, including how to preserve hair and fine detail. We all know how much more real a composite looks when you are able to capture those stray hairs. It's all about selecting those fine details with out selecting the unwanted stuff. She gives you several selection strategies that you can use in different situations.

She also gives you strategies for using the pen tool to create complex paths and combine paths. And there is a selection technique called the "multi-pass" technique (page 300).

In the compositing section, she devotes the first part to image execution, showing you how to design your photo shots for compositing. And gives some good advice in "Photographic Essentials."

I was blown away by a project she showed in which some books were composited in with buildings, matching perspective to make them fit perfectly. See page 416 for the final result, and read the pages preceding it to see how it was done. I was even more impressed with another project that begins on page 431. In that project, there is an ordinary photo of two people fencing in the woods at a medieval faire. The end of the project results in a dramatic photo with beautiful lighting.

She also covers alternatives for achieving results, such as sharpening a photo with High Pass instead of Unsharp Mask. This is a great book for someone who wants to improve their Photoshop skills. You probably should be an intermediate level user, able to understand all of the basics of Photoshop if you want to use this book.

Rating:
Summary: fully excellent
Review: I agree with each of the reviews which predate this one. Katrin Eismann has written a wonderful book, the very best on the specialized techniques involved in building photo composites since some much earlier texts which accompanied the debut of layer masks and adjustment layers (in and around about the Adobe Photoshop version 4 era).

A couple of observations of my own are:
1. that the worked examples in the book cover a wide range of potential applications from commercial graphics (for advertising, web design, etc., inclusive of some useful short-cuts) all the way to fine art photographic projects,
2. nevertheless, the author is not afraid to issue a challenge (or two) to some of the "conventional wisdoms" which have firmed-up in the world of digital photography,
3. that the book works well on at least three fronts:
-- the detailed description of many multi-step techniques (including criteria for pre-judging which is the likely best technique for the task at hand),
-- an encouragement for the faint-hearted to just keep going (the possibilities in traveling between original image inputs and satisfaction with the composite output are, after all, truly limitless), and,
-- following from this, that the book is one of the few Photoshop treatises which truly "gets" the foundation that the very best outputs result from some type of pre-visualization (where the reader is encouraged to veer away from working restrictively, either in terms of composing just one photographic input image or of gaining just a specific visual effect from Photoshop, by which she or he will miss the opportunity to have the two activities work in a complementary way).

If I had any criticism at all it would be that in a book of 500+ pages, and priced at $50+, no space could be made to cover the utility of third-party plug-ins for Photoshop (as they could augment the assembly and finishing of photo composite images). But, given the scope of what is accomplished within the worked examples presented throughout the entire book, this is a very minor detraction.

Rating:
Summary: Photoshop Masking & Compositing
Review: I have been stationed with the U.S. Army in Germany and have been trying to teach myself Photoshop for quite a long time. I have bought numerous training tapes, DVD's, and books. One of the most confusing issues to me was masking and compositing. It seemed each tape, DVD, and book explained each briefly and differently to the point it was confusing. I was searching for a training tool which would clairify masking and compositing issues and would include all the related issues together in one single source. I was so delighted when I received Katrin's book. The minute I thumbed through the pages I knew this was the tool I had been searching for! This book covers it all and there would be no reason to purchase any other item to obtain info regarding these subjects. The only thing which could improve on this book would be if Katrin would make DVD's to supplement the book. She provides one of the best explanations I have read regarding use of the pen tool which can be quite intimidating. In addition, she provides an equally excellent explanation of selecting hair and fine detail which can also be quite complex. I have been experimenting with blue/green screen techniques and could never really find a good source of material for this as it relates to Photoshop and guess what, she covers this too! What I really like about her book is that she covers ALL aspects of a particular subject and not just part. I have been so disappointed with most of the other photoshop tapes, DVD's and books but not this one. The book is recommended for intermediate to advanced level but I think it would also be good for the beginner level because he/she would not have to waste a lot of time and money procuring other resources to learn this subject matter. This book is fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn photoshop masking and compositing techniques.

Rating:
Summary: a must have
Review: If you are a serious intermediate (or above) level Photoshop user, you simply have to have this book. Katrin Eismann combines great teaching , writing, and creative skills in this book. It is daunting at 500+ pages but well worth the time. I rank it with Tim Grey's Color Confidence as the 2 best Photoshop books I have read to date and I have read a lot of them. It is not the typical "trick" book but teaches the masking skills we all need to master in depth in order to use Photoshop in any way. Probably way too much for the beginner though.

Rating:
Summary: Advanced Photoshop - Made Easy 101
Review: This book might not be for beginners, but intermediate and advanced users of Photoshop had better get a copy if you plan to create complex compelling designs. Heaven know how many years and books I've been through keeping up with the mix of Adobe software and Photoshop. However, its well worth it, when you run into the likes of Katrin Eisman. Katrin Eisman delves into the advanced areas of Masking and Compositing and breaks down the inner workings of Photoshop's mindset. You get a feel as to what Photoshop is thinking, (which is a prerequisite, if you plan to become a Pro) when you place each object on the workspace and manipulate its numerous attributes on the object, to recreate just what you need to accomplish without being hindered or overwhelmed by the power of Photoshop. The book comes with tons of hands on lessons to reinforce the concepts and even has additional lessons on its website for Photoshop instructors. This is the way to go!

Rating:
Summary: The!, Masking Compositing State of the Art
Review: You CAN judge a book by its cover especially if Katrin Eismanns' name is on it. The verdict like her literary track record will
always be the same - Judged best in the biz by most popular demand. You expect completeness but get far more than expected from Katrin. For example we've all tired from the same instruction searches for advanced but compulsory Photoshop
techniques mainly - complex selections, detailed extractions, specific feathering and seamless recompositing during edits etc., all basic requirements for accurately applying any Photoshop tools and effects processes. These continuing searches are usually fruitless, incomplete, use simple examples useless for complex real world requirements or worst their authors assume a basic familiarity with the very tools or processes of our inquires.(i know you know what I'm saying). But this is why Eismanns' "Photoshop Masking and Compositing" and "Restoration & Retouching" are so popular - together they provide completed!,
actual chronologic answers and are packed with industry standard and innovative specialized techniques for Real World editing tasks. Such as:
- accurately creating specific, complex and non-contiguous selections...
- fine detail extractions like hair, particles, mist, smoke, foliage (or missile exhausts for all us Sci-fi Supa Geeks)...
- applying feather to specific areas for smooth compositions while transforming\editing multiple layered objects...
- converting objects to paths for import into Rotoscoping, Morphing or other softwares requiring paths to affect them...
- extensive coverage of Photoshop RE-Texturing tools - Healing, Patch and Clone stamps and brushes (in PS R&R)...
this lists FEW and my opinion of the most sought after Photoshop answers Ms Eismann provides, along with a playful humor that denotes an obvious joy for her work. I can't do justice to all she answers but a quick glance at the "Masking and Compositing" table of content will. I'll normally find the answers in her books but specific suggestions from Ms Eismann have also been worth their weight in time and quality.

To summarize Katrin Eismann writes in a way many industry peers and pro's will understand, she works with the passion of an Ayn Rand enthusiast and has helped many gain a professional control of Photoshop's capabilities.
Thanks Katrin (you will too!)
Jeff Cottle (Ceo):
GoDeep3D (stereoscopic cinematics)
Linear Logic (cyber&industrial design)