A Book on General Image Editing Concepts?

Posted by Cliff on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @06:30AM from the a-firm-grounding-in-the-basic-concepts dept.

halftrack asks: "Someone I know wanted 'Photoshop for Dummies' for Christmas because she wanted to learn how to use it properly (who hasn't struggled trying to draw a simple line?) However, having a strong disliking for any sort of vendor lock-in I went searching for a book that would teach image editing without tying it too strongly to Photoshop (or Gimp for that matter). However, all my searches turned out blank. Thus I was wondering if there exists such a book, or is the field too diverse? The ideal would be a (thick) book that would cover the basic concepts (layers, paths, selections, channels etc.,) before presenting how these concepts are implemented in different applications. Such a book should provide the reader with a portable skill-set and give her/him the ability to objectively choose the right tool for the job, at the right cost. Does this book exist?"

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Photoshop channel chops by neves · 2005-11-30 11:28 · Score: 3, Informative

You asked for a big non-application-specific book. I'll give you a small application specific book that will solve your problem. It's Photoshop Channel Chops. It explains to you some of the most important concepts about manipulating images. It packed with info, not a heavy "bible" book with big type and lots of empty space. It has PS in the title, but it really doesn't matter, since it talks about the underlying processing. Let me cite Pumpkin King Amazon reviewer:
If you aspire to be a hardcore Photoshop user, this book is probably the one you want above all others. It's not a step-by-step tutorial, a mere reference book, or a book that leads you through the tools and various functions of the software. Instead it discusses the fundamental concepts you need to know to use Photoshop to its fullest. ... Most of the book is still applicable since Photoshop today still has channels, alpha channels, paths, layers, and calculations. This book hasn't been updated since it was written in 1998, but it really doesn't need to be. It's not about how to use particular tools and new features. It's about how to think with Photoshop. ...
Unfortunatelly it is out of print:-(