Regardless of the steps you take to correct color cast or white balance, or to set white and black points the principles remain the same. Lee shows you how to handle both routine image correction and touch up as well as dealing with difficult image problems.

This book is not a basics of Digital Photography or Photoshop book. It assumes you have a modest level of understanding of both. Lee starts out with a basic chapter describing the tools and technology but quickly moves into setting up Photoshop and creating a custom camera calibration. (Side note: You can download the beta camera profiles and editor from Adobe).

The book then covers some basic lighting and lighting equipment for portraits with example lighting setups.

The real meat of the book and what Lee explains so well begins with the chapter “The Color of Skin”. I have yet to see an image that can’t benefit from some attention being paid to color correction. The chapters on tone and contrast and image retouching pull the entire workflow together.

The remainder of the book then goes into altering focus, special effects, and color manipulation to really make your images special. Finally one of the most useful sections of all, “Preparing for Print” getting that image off the screen and onto paper. I’m always looking for ways to streamline the output side of the workflow and getting my prints to look as good as what I see onscreen.

The companion CD has the files that Lee works on so that you can follow along if you want.

Great book, I should have bought it earlier. You can buy it right here.

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I call Adobe and get a customer service rep whose accent was so thick I could barely communicate with him. I am told that my order is pending and will be shipping next week.

Next week goes by, no CS4. Call again, same situation. I can’t hardly understand the service rep,…I’m told I’m good to go, shipping next week. No answer as to what happened to shipping last week.

Another couple of weeks no CS4. Call again, this time I insist on talking to someone I can understand. I’m connected after a long wait to someone in the U.S. I know because I asked. I’m told that my original order wasn’t setup correctly in the first place and that’s why I haven’t received my upgrade. But the good news is that it’s now corrected and I should receive it in 3-4 weeks.

WHAT? No way, unacceptable let’s review. Supervisor is consulted and authorizes the shipment to be sent next day.

Next day, no CS4. Ok I’ll give them one more day. No CS4. I call and am told that it was delivered and signed for the day before. What address did you send it to? They of course sent it to an old address that had not only been properly updated but that I had specifically verified when I placed my order.

Luckily I still had access to that mailing address and was able to pick it up. I’ve been an Adobe customer for years and have never had this experience before so I guess I can’t complain too much. Photoshop CS4 more than makes up for the aggravation so all is now forgiven.

However the use of foreign call centers where English is a second language and typical accents are heavy is not a trend that I agree with. Certainly Americans of all nationalities employed in customer service jobs can also have this problem. That is why it is imperative in your business that you choose carefully those who will represent you. Pick someone with good communication skills, who is articulate, empathetic and who genuinely  wants to serve your customers.

Watch for an upcoming review of what I like about Photoshop CS4.

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