Product Description
Achieving accurate skin tones is one of the most challenging tasks in digital photography. Master this challenge with professional photographer Lee Varis as he covers a range of skin: women and men, young and old, various tones, in-studio and outdoors, tattoos, and more. His step-by-step tutorials and before-and-after illustrations demonstrate various techniques for topics such as digital-specific lighting challenges and what can and cannot be done in post-process.

A free CD-ROM accompanies the book and contains sample image files to use while following the tutorials, plus equipment recommendations and technical reference materials that enhance and reinforce the instruction.

Order your copy of this practical guide today and get a complete start-to-finish approach to integrating everything from posing models to shooting and retouching candid scenes.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 54 reviews)

Thick book... tiny content

I did read all these great reviews and finally decided to buy this book.
To summarize - its rather disappointing.
Lighting? Not so great on it. Retouching? Beauty retouching technique (yes, no plurals) is pretty much "blur + brush".. With some texture to throw in. Sharpening technique (yes. No plurals again) - well.. not a lot of use - could be better done with LAB space. Most of colour discussion is about RGB space. Excuse me, what happened to CMYK and Lab? Bits about calibration - yes, nice, but not a lot of details. Its almost like someone thought up an idea for book, wrote few chapters then got sick of it, and started to throw in random thoughts and ideas just to fill up space.

I woulnt recommend this book to anyone who ever read Welcome To Oz! or any other decent book on photoshop.
October 06, 2008

skin

I'm floored by this book, there are things I never would have thought of! lots to learn and it's going to take a while... I'm really happy that he offers tips for older editions of ps b/c I don't have cs3 but I can still do everything he talks about b/c he explains how to do it with older editions too.... fabulous book, must have!!
August 26, 2008

Insightful

I haven't read all the chapters yet, but so far the book has surpassed my expectations. It's easy to understand but aimed at those who want a deeper understanding of photography. I bought it for the purpose of learning more about accurate skin color in digital photography, but the book has much more in content, such as a good chapter on lighting and photographing people.

August 11, 2008

Solid but nothing special

I really don't get all the gushing 5-star reviews for this book. Some of the chapters are solid, but its full of filler [the tattoo chapter????], and final images that are frankly embarrassing. Kevin Ames' book [photographing Women] is WAY better [and more interestingly written]. You should also check out Chris Orwig's retouching stuff on lynda.com - also more valuable.
August 09, 2008

one of the best

I have worked in a pro photolab for 12 years. Photography and Photoshop are always a main topic in conversations at work.
This book is not an "intro book", if you want to learn photoshop or photography basics, I recommend looking somewhere else (try the digital photography book vol 1 or vol 2 {they're both excellent but different} by the author scott kelby). What this book is, however, is one of the best all around books on intermediate portraiture skills that I've read. It has a broad spectrum of topics all relating to making skin look like you want it.

The book covers:
physical characteristics of digital capture and lighting
positioning of the lights and camera (a couple are a little over the top)
monitor calibration
retouching for flawless skin
other miscellaneous photoshop tricks and techniques
July 23, 2008

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