When Pancakes Go Bad: Optical Delusions with Adobe Photoshop

Rating:
Summary: Too good for words
Review: I've learned so much from this book. I now own 2 copies! I wasn't a beginner, more intermediate, photoshop user. There are tips and techniques I wouldn't have thought of before, or tried, had it not been for this book.

I'm pretty much a layperson when it comes to the copyright laws but after searching the internet I discovered that museums can't hold a copyright and if the artist is no longer alive the copyright doesn't necessarily pass on. In any event, I found most every image to recreate some of the ideas in the book on the sites that are listed in the book. A good review of the copyright laws of the US and the fair use/guidelines listed on any site will give you all the information you need. Besides, many images can be done using a digital camera and some imagination and that is what this book is really all about.

When Pancakes Go Bad has inspired me to try new things, see things differently, play with ideas and images. It's a great learning tool for even more experienced photoshoppers.

I've shown this book to friends and they thought it was great, and funny. I know many of them got inspired too, now they understand how and what I am doing with all those hours on the computer!

Bravo, Mr. Muchnick, I can't wait for the next volume.

Rating:
Summary: FLAT AS A PANCAKE
Review: IF YOU THINK THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER PHOTOSHOP ARTIST YOU ARE SADLY MISTAKEN. THE AUTHOR IS IN DANGER OF BREAKING HIS OWN ARM TRYING TO PAT HIMSELF ON THE BACK. THE BOOK TELLS HOW HE CREATED THE PICTURES SHOWN INSIDE AND VERY LITTLE ELSE. IF YOU LIKE THE PICTURES YOU'LL GET YOUR FUNNY BONE TICKLED BUT IF YOU DON'T CARE FOR WHAT YOU SEE, YOU WON'T CARE HOW HE DID IT. EITHER WAY YOU WILL LEARN VERY LITTLE FROM THIS BOOK.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining effects, there are better learning resources
Review: Kind of fun, wacky ideas, but they are mainly recipes for doing the same thing as the author did. I prefer more emphasis on techniques such as in Scott Kelby's Photoshop CS books or Huggins and Probert's "Surreal Digital Photography". That allows me to use my own imagination better.

Rating:
Summary: Streaching the Limit
Review: The other night I watched part of a show on UFO's. And the show had real life pictures of UFO's. Then I picked up this book. It's a picture book of What Photoshop can do to an image. Based somewhat on the author's web site: Worth1000.com (As in a Picture is Worth ....), this shows what intelligent people, with good software and a somewhat strange mind can do.

I see this book as having three possible uses. First you could simply leave it on the coffee table. It's a lot better than most. Second, as a beginner in Photoshop it will give you a good idea of what can be done, and to a certain extent how to do it as some of the pictures are explained. Third, if you're a Photoshop pro, one of these pictures just may give you the idea you need to illustrate that next ad or whatever it is that your customer or boss want.

Rating:
Summary: From a teacher's perspective
Review: This is a good beginner's guide to Photoshop. I look at books with an eye to using them as references (I teach Computer Graphics and Animation), and this book would certainly interest my beginners who like to create gags and jokes. It doesn't have any photos a teacher would think twice about showing a public high school CG class.

The information is layed out clearly. Some of the illustrations are muddy and a professional will notice a few technical errors in the finished artwork, but the actual lessons are OK.

Another problem I have (and most readers will think this is petty) is that none of the illustrations that use famous paintings (G.Wood's "American Gothic" for example) have the paintings properly cited. Museum, painting title and other copyright information is totally ignored; it's not even in the index or bibliography. When you're teaching students about copyrights, it's not useful to promote a book that doesn't properly cite. Also, I'm pretty sure Michaelangelo painted more than one painting.... if I want to repeat an exercise I'd have to search Michaelangelo's entire catalog visually to match the author's sample.

Over all, it's a fun book, and a good addition to any library. If you're a professional CG artist you'll already know the techniques illustrated and for your purposes, there are better books out there.

Rating:
Summary: This is worth 1000 of the other photoshopping books!!
Review: This is a great book for the Photoshop illiterate as well as the very experienced. It is definitely a fun book, just to see the wonders of digital manipulation.