| 5 star: |  | (27) |
| 4 star: | | (8) |
| 3 star: | | (6) |
| 2 star: | | (1) |
| 1 star: | | (2) |
Author: Vincent Versace
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Vincent Versace is a Renaissance man who has produced the best how-to book of the year! With its subtitle of “A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop” Versace introduces a system for creating images that owes as much to the traditional darkroom as the digital one. Don’t just read the book; study it. The first chapter isn’t called “The Tao of Dynamic Workflow” for nothing and, like the rest of the book, contains Versace’s charm, wit, and wisdom. It’s copiously illustrated with detailed step-by-step examples of techniques that when applied to your own work will turn you from zero to hero. The fact that he’s a heck of a photographer means the book is stunningly illustrated, but it’s also been well designed. It has become a cliché to say that a book could change your life, but this one could." -- Joe Farace, December, 2007 , Shutterbug, Top Digital Books Of 2007; More & Better Digital Imaging Books
Book Description
"Vincent Versace is a Renaissance man who has produced the best how-to book of the year! With its subtitle of “A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop” Versace introduces a system for creating images that owes as much to the traditional darkroom as the digital one. Don’t just read the book; study it. The first chapter isn’t called “The Tao of Dynamic Workflow” for nothing and, like the rest of the book, contains Versace’s charm, wit, and wisdom. It’s copiously illustrated with detailed step-by-step examples of techniques that when applied to your own work will turn you from zero to hero. The fact that he’s a heck of a photographer means the book is stunningly illustrated, but it’s also been well designed. It has become a cliché to say that a book could change your life, but this one could." -- Joe Farace, December, 2007 , Shutterbug, Top Digital Books Of 2007; More & Better Digital Imaging Books
Creating memorable photographs is a process that starts before you edit an image in Photoshop, before you capture the image, even before you pick up the camera. You must first approach the subject with the proper sense of perception, with the ability to visualize the finished print before you commit a scene to pixels, but still be flexible and spontaneous. Master Fine Art photographer Vincent Versace has spent his career learning and teaching the art of perception and how to translate it into stunning images. In Welcome to Oz, he delves into what it means to approach digital photography cinematically, to use your perception, your camera, and Photoshop to capture the movement of life in a still image.
- Adapt your workflow to the image so you always know how best to use your tools,
- Turn a seemingly impossible photographic scenario into a successful image
- Practice “image harvesting” to combine the best parts of many captures to create an optimum final result
- Create black and white prints that have the look, feel and “richness” of traditional silver prints without ever leaving the RGB color space
- Perfect Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: New Riders Press; Pap/Dvdr edition (December 23, 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0735714002
- ISBN-13: 978-0735714007
- Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
- Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,109 in Books
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
This raised me to a new level, February 23, 2007By D. Barrack "RunningHappy" (Atlanta, GA)
I can only thank Vincent for sharing his approach, knowledge, and philosophy. This is not a breeze through, how to book, but rather an approach that will make you think. I have now gone back to tons of photos that I thought were well thought through, applied Vincent's approach, and was so happy with the results. And that just getting through the first 1/3 of the book. This does assume you are very comfortable with PS and already have generally good photos to work with. Just a few thoughts if Vincent is reading through these ...
a) I'm practicing using the techniques but using a Wacom instead. This seems like a great way to go but there's no mention of this in the book.
b) There is heavy use of the render lighting effects. It would be helpful to get into more discussion regarding how to control better this effect.
c) I have tried using multiple lights with multiple subjects (people) in a an image and it's just not intuitive in PS how the lighting behaves. Some discussion about this would be great.
48 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
Look into the Mind of a Master!, December 7, 2006By Peter Bauer "Author, 'Photoshop CS2 for Dummies" (South Bend, IN USA)
Vincent Versace is, without doubt, one of the greatest photographers of his generation. His prints hang in some incredible collections, he's been honored with quite a few awards over the years, and I think so highly of his work I've actually purchased some. This book is direct access to Versace's workflow and techniques. If you're a photographer who wants to take that next step to "artist," buy this book. You'll see how one of the greatest works his magic. Perhaps best of all, the book includes a DVD with the actual high-resolution image files that he uses, so you can follow along, step-by-step, learning by doing. Afterward, once you understand the how and the why of what Versace is teaching, you can apply the same techniques to your own images.
Why should you take my advice on how to spend your hard-earned money? Let's start with the fact that I'm the book reviewer for "Photoshop User" magazine, have written more than a half-dozen books on digital imaging and photography myself, and am considered by many to be one of the leading authorities on Photoshop. Let me say it again: "Buy this book!"
Happy Photoshopping!
Pete Bauer
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
If you like Mr. Versaces work, buy this book..., January 31, 2007By T. Werelius "nullman200" (Woodinville, WA United States)
The book is basically about how to create images similar to Mr. Versace's (not to duplicate his work, but to use his techniques to achieve similar results)
I really love Mr. Versace's images, I have seen them in print on display and am always taken with them.
There are a number of unique things about this book.
First it comes with the images he talks about (full resolution) so that you can try and exactly duplicate his techniques which is very helpful in the learning process.
Second he gives you a idea of why he is doing something and not just how he did it. The approach of the chef vs. the recipe following cook.
Third his approach is one of artistic vision vs. pure representational photography (which in my opinion does not exist) and which I totally embrace.
Fourth he shows you how to use multiple images to overcome limitations of camera gear (dynamic range, depth of field, etc) and how to use Photoshop to add visual flow and direction to produce a final artistic vision.
Fifth he emphasizes what I call just in time pre-visualization with an end in mind. Where many might see an uninteresting subject he can "Fast Forward" through his workflow and pre-visualize a much more beautiful result than just using the camera with its limitations might allow.
Though I love his work, and do recommend this book I can't give it 5 stars since there is room for improvement.
In the book Mr. Versace jumps around at times, repeats concepts just talked about but in a slightly different way (a little confusing) and in general it seems to take most people one or two or three tries to take in what he is explaining.
There are also things I think that need to be expanded upon and others that are distracting. The use of catch phrases "traveling a circle in a straight line" etc. are useful philosophically at times and cute at first, but in my opinion just get in the way of learning overall.
A bit more organization, expanding on some still hazy topics, and cutting down on the eastern philosophy jargon would make it a 5 star work.
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