CS5 for Nature Photographers-Book

Just upgraded from PSE and I'm loooking for the best CS5 manual.
"CS5 for Nature Photographers" by Ellen and Josh Anon seems like it might be a good choice. Any opinions on this book or suggestions for another? There's also the Scott Kelby book and I undestand there are many video tutorials on his site but videos don't work well for me. I find watching a video and then applying all that from memory difficult and frustrating. I need a strong text. I've also considered the local community college. They offer (4) 3 hour classes but it seems 12 hours of hands on instruction could only cover the very basics of a program as massive as PS.

I want a book that goes over the basics but also gets into the advanced applications as my knowledge and skills improve.

Also I've noticed that most books for example, will show how to make a mask, but not how to decide if a particulat image would benefit from one and then how to apply it. The Anon's book has web support but not really sure what that means.

Thanks for any responses.

Hi neighbor! I'm glad you posted this as I have the same issue. I just upgraded from PSE also and was about to start the process of finding a good book.

Thanks Bruce!

Try Classroom in a Book, if it is available for CS5. I have used the book for CS4 and liked it. comes with DVD of files to work along with. Good Luck, Conrad Rowe

I'm not familiar with the book by the Anon's, but I would definitely complement it with Kelby's 'CS5 for Photographers' book, which goes beyond nature photography in teaching lots of great tips.
As far as layer masking, that call is entirely up to you.
No book or tutorial can tell you when it's apropos, although many nature photographers use it in conjunction with blending two (or more) images for exposures with too wide of a dynamic range to capture in one shot. Hopefully, the Anon book would elaborate on that procedure.
And now that you can use Actions and Channels, there's simply no better purchase for optimizing your images than Tony Kuyper's Luminosity Masks for tonal adjustments.

The Anon book is terrific and the concepts work everywhere, not just in nature work. It's just that nature work is used to demonstrate. I bought this book for CS2 and have bought the updates all the way now to CS5 because I think it's so good. Another very good book is "The Creative Digital Darkroom" by Katrin Eismann and Sean Duggan but I'm not sure it's been updated for CS5. Kelby's book is also good. It is very "folksy" which many find attractive but I've found it's organization makes it hard to search for specific help later. This is important for a reference work. There are so many good books that it's really hard to select one. One of the definitive works also is the CS5 book for photographers by Martin Evening. This is not a cheap book but boy, it is detailed and complete. If you're familiar with Elements then you already have a good foundation and much translates upward well to full blown Photoshop. I'd suggest you go to a good book store and browse. Look for author more than title. Don't think you can go wrong with just about anything from Kelby, Anon, Eismann, Evening and also Tim Grey, Deke McClelland and Rob Sheppard. Rob's are very easy to get going without too much arcane detail. Good luck.
JR

John makes a good recommendation. I have CS4 for nature photogs by the Anons and really like. Kelbzy also has good books and his web site kelbytraining.com has great video tutorials as well

Checkout Martin Evening. He has a couple of books out on CS5. Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: A Professionals Image Editors Guide..... and Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workbook. Kelby's book are really good also. Martin is a little more technical in his writing.
John

I've got the Anon Book as well and it has been incredible helpful! I highly recommend it.

Enjoy CS5... I love it!!

I have both Kelby and Anon. I'd give a slight nod to Anon (possibly because I read it first). The Anons' book has more of a nature photography focus. Hard to go wrong with either.

Bruce, you are right about most books showing you how to make a mask but not showing you what images would benift from one. For that you almost have to find good tutorials from landscape photographers themselves, but unfortunately, you just have to search the web for those. There is no catalogues that I know of. There are, however, excellent nationally known photographers right here on NP. that offer, books, ebooks, and video tutorials through their blog or websites. I have gotten excellent information through people like Jay Patel, and Joe Rossbach. Find out who those people you admire are, and do some digging on their sites. I have learned a geat deal that way.
Joe Rogers

I had the CS3 Anon book and it was superb. It covers a huge array of photography AND Photoshop. If you haven't owned one of the versions before, it's a must-have for your bookshelf. Yes, Scott Kelby's books are great, you won't go wrong there either, but if I were to recommend a best pick to a fellow NPN member it would be Ellen and son Josh, They really care about the environment they are shooting. I also have two of Martin Evening's CS5 books, again, excellent teaching aids. I went through Classroom in a Book, very foundational, worth it if you have the time. Honestly, you can't miss with any of the titles that everyone has posted, we all have our faves. I do think you'll find the Anon book extremely thorough, not just level 101.

Another vote for Anon!

I picked up the Anon book and it's excellent. I've just got into the 2nd chapter and already learned a few things. For example, I never bothered to check the RGB histogram before. They talk ablout the importance of it in a clear, straight forward manner. It's the first manual I've read of this type that explains the why behind the what. Thanks for all the great responses. NPN membership Rocks!

Hi Bruce,

Check out this website: http://www.prodigitalimage.com/

I've taken Steve Berger's classes and they are very helpful. You may not be able to do that because you are out of town, but his books are excellent too. They are written from a teaching perspective and are very instructional.