Photoshop for Video Third Edition DV Expert Series

Photoshop for Video Third Edition DV Expert Series

“…I literally could not put it down…What distinguishes [Rich Harrington] is his eye for high production value.” — Mike Ashcraft, editor, Musicvideoinsider.com

“…one book every Photoshop user should have in their arsenal.” — Aaron Fisher, Creative Cow

…zero fluff and solid information that every NLE owner should have, and every Photoshop user–period–should have access to. — Douglas Spotted Eagle, Digitalproduction.com

4 out of 5 stars! — Peter Bauer, Photoshop User magazine

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars 3.5 Stars: Useful Information, But Needs More Video Workflow
[Updated March 2009 - after reviewing the free bonus chapters on CS3 Extended (which does have a fair amount of video-centric content and the changes to CS4 (which doesn't), I have added a half star to account for the fact that the author has made extra efforts to keep this product updated and provide more insights into where the Extended and CS4 editions might be useful to video editors.

However, I stand by my original observation which is that this book is not tightly focused on video workflows and problem solving, on the whole. It IS a good reference for Photoshop usage and it DOES provide some very useful video-centric information in certain chapters, but I think for future versions, readers would benefit from a stronger focus on how Photoshop fits into the video workflow, and perhaps the exclusion of the chapters which are purely general interest Photoshop tips. Not because they tips aren't useful but because the average reader likely isn't expecting to pay for them in this particular book, IMHO.]

…as a professional photographer and someone who teaches Photoshop (as well as Premiere Pro), this book is really not what it’s cracked up to be. Makes me wonder if some of the reviewers are acquainted with the author in some way. I don’t think someone who is doing a lot of work with video frames in Photoshop Extended could read through this book and not realize it’s 65% general Photoshop techniques (that you would find in a book about editing still images) and 35% video-centric information.

That is not to say that the information given is wrong or unhelpful, merely that much of it is not at all specific to video editing in Photoshop, and many of the examples are not video related either. What would’ve been much better is: “X is a general technique used to complete this type of edit; in the world of video, this is what we would do, using this technique, and here are the before, during and after screenshots.” There is virtually none of that in this book. And in some cases entire chapters look like they might’ve been pulled from any other ordinary Photoshop reference book. The layout and copy reads more like a “tips and tricks” book than anything that focuses on video post-production.

For example; there are over a dozen pages that list and show thumbnails of the various Blend Modes and Creative filters, but with no examples of how you use any of them to solve video-related problems or creative new looks for your video as part of transitions, etc. You could tear these pages out of this book and compare them to pages torn out of a “Learn Photoshop in 24 hours” type book and you wouldn’t be able to tell which is which. Basic descriptions of why layers are important, how to use Levels, how to select things, what a mask is, what erasing is… none of it is “bad” or poorly written… but neither is much of it what I would expect to find in an advanced Photoshop for video “toolkit”. WAY too much basic stuff here for the price, and way too little video problem-solving. There is a section called “Editing Still Images for Video”… in fact, I believe this would have been a more accurate title for the book. I recognize also that a frame of video is technically nothing but a still image, however the workflow is very different and I didn’t see much of that here.

The silver lining: the first two chapters on setting up a system and understanding the differences between DAR, PAR, television color spaces, etc… have a ton of useful info. These two chapters alone give the book two stars and the remaining random tidbits throughout the book (color correction techniques, creating backgrounds, etc.) that focus in on video, give it the third. It is a book worth having, especially if you don’t own any good general Photoshop references, but don’t be expecting an advanced Photoshop video workflow because it’s not here IMHO.

The perfect ending example: there is a page that talks about Clone Stamping, with no mention at all of the Clone Source panel, which was designed specifically with video editors in mind, as well as photographers. The ability to place an overlay of your source frame over the target frame, rotate and scale the cloned pixels, are all extremely valuable to video editors but there is zero mention of it anywhere. There is also no mention anywhere of the new and improved Timeline. This makes me wonder if this was repurposed from CS2 content (where the new CS3 advances didn’t exist yet), rather than a true look at CS3 video tools. Hopefully the CS4 version does a better job with these tasks, as there are even more video-related improvements to CS4 Extended.

5 Stars the world of still meet vdo
you can’t find the book that write the photoshop file for vdo

the name of this book talk itself

you will be the best preparation photoshop file for vdo editing

if you are the vdo editing

the book is the must

5 Stars Easy and thorough
As an “old school” Avid editor from big post houses, Photoshop was used for simple titles and the rest went to the graphics department or our hands were slapped.

The book only goes through the usefulness and purpose of nearly all Photoshop tools and their relevancy to video. It has tutorials showing all common video uses from cutting out photos, lower thirds, backgrounds, creating elements for motion graphics programs like After Effects, uses of masks and alpha channels and the many ways you can create them depending on circumstance and content. In addition, the book points out some of the differences with different versions of Photoshop so you can work through aspects even if you haven’t updated to CS3 yet.

The accompanying DVD not only includes all the elements needed to complete each task, there’s also supplemental “Podcasts” in which Richard Harrington actually SHOWS you how to do many of the key aspects of each tutorial.

This is a must have book for video editors who must now do it all since Photoshop is the Swiss Army Knife of video graphics.

5 Stars Great as a Reference or reading from beginning to end
Great read whether you are a beginner or an advance user of Photoshop. There is always more than one way to skin a cat, but the book offers various ways of using the tools in Photoshop for almost all your needs. Am waiting for the CS4 version.

5 Stars Great resource!
I bought this book since I’m studying motion graphics and compositing/visual effects at college and my Photoshop knowledge isn’t quite at the level I’d like it to be. The nice thing about this book is the techniques are all geared towards those using PS for video related work – an excellent resource and a good companion book to “Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects” by Chris and Trish Meyer…

Buy/More Info