Photoshop Lab Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace 2nd Edition

Phenomenal text. Clearly written. Humorously written. The first half of each chapter in the first half of the book can be followed by everyone. The second half of each chapter gets into geeky detail that not everyone might enjoy. I found it fascinating, but then, I'm a geek on many levels.I am now getting into the second half of the book after going through the first half three times.The second half of the book seems to be all geekdom. I'm on my second read throughs of Chp 8 and Chp 9.I've amended my photographic workflow enormously based on Dan Margulis' information.I've amended the actions that I had previously created in Photoshop to include LAB workflow. Prior to learning about LAB, the actions I had created primarily were involved with luminosity channels and masking. Now my actions incorporate both.I highly recommend getting this book to anyone working in fine art photography.If you are working as an art professional, chances are you know this stuff already.As with most things, I'm late to the party, but having one heck of a good time trying to catch up!

Those who are unfamiliar with Dan Margulis’ knowledge, experience, and writing skills are likely to be misled by the titles of his books. Dan’s writing is unique. Once the reader understands the points he’s making—it’s not easy to do that with only one or two readings--it will be obvious that his books are a goldmine of color correction information.With almost 20 years of freelance color correction experience behind me, I look forward to reading anything he writes even though I still use Photoshop CS3 and rarely need or use LAB. This means that there is very little in his books for me if I’m just looking for recipes. The most valuable of his books, at least for me, was probably his “Modern Color Correction Workflow” even though I’ve never even seen an Adobe Creative Cloud version of Photoshop. Whatever the subject matter or the titles, Margulis’ books are a must-have simply because they are a better Photoshop learning resource than anything on the book market or even on the Internet.My suggestion would be to get copies of all of his books before any of them go out of print. And, no, Margulis is neither a friend of mine nor even an acquaintance.

Lab color is not difficult. It's just very different than RGB. Once you understand how it "thinks", it's no more difficult than RGB. It will, however, completely change how you think about and process color in your photographs. Your colors will be truer, if that's what you want. In my case, I try to create an emotion with my color, and Lab allows me to do that; I struggled to do that under RGB.This book clearly explains how Lab color works and how to use it. It gives practical strategies and approaches to processing color and getting the look you want.There is a surprising lack of information about Lab color on the internet. What few articles there are only deal with the basics. This book goes far beyond the basics and helps you achieve mastery.

If you are comfortable with the ins and outs of the Photoshop curves adjustment layer and want to be exposed to a seriously in-depth exposition of Photoshop color and how to manipulate it, this book is a must-read (and re-read, and work through the examples, and observe and think about what you're doing.) This is NOT a beginner's reference or a casual introduction. It will take some work on your part to comprehend what Dan is presenting. But it is so worth the effort. Dan's material treats developing an artist's sensibility about color as just as important as mastering specific manipulation techniques. But if all you take away is a comprehension and mastery of the basic techniques presented in the first seven chapters, you will take your understanding and manipulation of color in Photoshop to a new level. I highly recommend this book to anyone serious about using Photoshop to create beautiful and compelling digital images.

It's a book for serious students of Photoshop, but so many absolutely useful techniques. Let alone the the automated workflows that are available for download. While it is mostly about coolr and "color correction" (let's say rather "color enhancement"), the chapter on Sharpening will even dramatically improve your Black and White efforts. When you really understand what you are doing. Some other authors do talk about what is essentially "low frequency" and "high frequency" sharpening, absolutely not possible in Lightroom. The Lightroom Adjustment Brush is an absolute CPU pig if used for extensive local adjustments and doesn't have the classic "unsharp mask" techniques available anyway. As a generally useful technique, it is perfect for Photoshop CC layers, blending modes and layer opacity.It's not an "easy" book for sure, difficult sections are not glossed over, but once you "get it," WOW! And the general PS tools available for download, worth the rather inflated price, three times over.

I have bought very, very many books on Photoshop. and the books by Mr. Margulis are head and shoulders better than the others.First, there is a theory, vs a mindless push this vs that button. Second, there is are lots of first class (and very expensive to print) photos in the book to see (!) how the application of the theory works, or not, as the case may be. Third, Mr. Margulis writes with a first person immediacy that is very motivating.Having said all these good things, this book gives back in proportion to the time and attention put in, and this is not the deal that lots of people are looking for. If you are serious, you cannot do better.

My first career was in a professional photo lab, so I found Mr. Margulis' techniques at getting to good color balance a bit difference than I'd use. But for someone without the "Cyan Magenta and Yellow" color correction, this book will get you there. The sections on changing one color to another (red car - green car) was facinating! (No WAY could you do that with film and photo chemicals!)

Excellent book!

10 years after the original, a new edition opens your mind to the possibilities of using the Lab color space.The new edition is substantially updated. One of its welcome new features is the readability of the text. The new edition is substantially clearer and understandable than the original edition. I credit this to the use of a dozen or so of capable beta readers who frequently challenged Mr. Margulis.This is not a beginners manual, as the author assumes a good understanding of Photoshop. If you are new to the Lab color space, the first 8 chapters may be all you will ever need. If you are an advanced user, the balance of the book will be a challenge, but very rewarding.

Direi che è il libro per riuscire a capire a dovere il metodo Lab: la bibbia dell'argomento.E' un libro che deve essere comunque studiato, non è una lettura banale. Vi sono poi gli esercizi che aiutano a capire meglio i vari passaggi.Consigliato a tutti coloro che vogliono utilizzare Photoshop in maniera migliore

un libro che ti prepara e ti spiega come funziona la gestione dei colori con il metodo LAB.Margulis è un maestro eccellente, il libro, anche se in inglese, è perfettamente comprensibile.è tuttavia adatto a chi ha un minimo di conoscenza di photoshop, altrimenti diventa difficile da seguirenel complesso sono davvero molto soddisfatto!!!

I bought the First Edition of this book from over a decade ago. I bought this to catch up on Margulis' thinking after a decade of evolution. If you are like me who wants to know HOW Photoshop works deeply and not just 'how to do things', then Margulis is one of the very few authors that is worth attempting to read and understand.