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Rating: 
Summary: Digital Wizardry
Review: Digital Wizardry is not a tutorial nor a "How to" book but a "How I did It" book describing the author's step-by-step creation of a selection of complex Photoshop images from the inception of an idea to finished commercial product. This book is geared for the accomplished professional, preferably in the advertising field. However, one must be fully competent in the use of advanced Photoshop skills to utilize the described techniques. For that target audience this book could warrant 4 stars (I don't qualify to judge). For a beginner, its usefulness is limited.Good production quality and nice photos but it should be clearly marketed to an advanced audience.
Rating:
Summary: Digital Wizardry
Review: Digital Wizardry is not a tutorial nor a "How to" book but a "How I did It" book describing the author's step-by-step creation of a selection of complex Photoshop images from the inception of an idea to finished commercial product. This book is geared for the accomplished professional, preferably in the advertising field. However, one must be fully competent in the use of advanced Photoshop skills to utilize the described techniques. For that target audience this book could warrant 4 stars (I don't qualify to judge). For a beginner, its usefulness is limited. Good production quality and nice photos but it should be clearly marketed to an advanced audience.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent tutorial on Photo/Imaging!
Review: Reading Bryan Allen's step-by-step instructions on how he combines photography and computer graphics is like watching a magician explain how a complex trick is performed. The book is facinating reading, and Allen is indeed a genius at how he formulates his ideas and executes his plans to create amazing images. This book is a must for anyone in the photography/imaging field.
Rating: 
Summary: Definite "Eye Candy"!
Review: This is not a "how to" book in any sense, but it can provide inspiration when the "visual arts muse" has abandoned you. I keep this book around for those moments when I am looking for ideas, or when I just can't figure out how to create a certain effect that I can see perfectly in my mind. The broad overviews of what it took to create the different images will drive beginners nuts, but will provide more experienced Photoshop users with enough information to charge "gaily forward" into their own creative endeavors!
Rating:
Summary: Definite "Eye Candy"!
Review: This is not a "how to" book in any sense, but it can provide inspiration when the "visual arts muse" has abandoned you. I keep this book around for those moments when I am looking for ideas, or when I just can't figure out how to create a certain effect that I can see perfectly in my mind. The broad overviews of what it took to create the different images will drive beginners nuts, but will provide more experienced Photoshop users with enough information to charge "gaily forward" into their own creative endeavors!
Rating: 
Summary: All creativity starts with an idea.
Review: You can produce the most technically brilliant shot, with every pixel massaged to perfection, but if the idea behind it is not good, the image will fall short every time. Digital Wizardry is an idea book--one filled with cutting-edge, high-end imagery and written expressly for photographers and other creative people who want to learn Photoshop or take their current Photoshop skills to the next level. Brimming with practical technical information and savvy business tips, Digital Wizardry focuses intensively on the creative process involved in producing top-shelf, stand-alone images that must convey a concept while at the same time dazzle and impress. Bryan Allen, well known in the field of professional photography and digital imaging as a Photoshop "Master," takes the reader step by step through the development and execution of many of his real-life commercial assignments, offering a view into his thought processes. This in-depth coverage of the creative process--from idea through finished image--gives readers an invaluable inside look at the techniques and strategies behind the magic. Digital Wizardry is organized into three easy-to-use sections. The first part, "Start with an Idea," contains chapters on creative beginnings, quality control, and the basic techniques involved in optimizing Photoshop. The second section, "Creative Applications," shows how it is all put together through an in-depth look at a portfolio of real-life commercial assignments. The last part, "Technical and Business Information," comprises chapters on selecting the right hardware, going from pixels to press, supplemental software, and the professional considerations of running a successful business. With its experience-rich approach to learning Photoshop, Digital Wizardry is an invaluable resource readers can turn to whenever they need information or inspiration. FROM THE FOREWORD BY MICHAEL J. McNAMARA, Technology Editor of Popular Photography Magazine "Bryan Allen's Digital Wizardry should stand out among the throngs of Photoshop tutorials lining the shelves in bookstores. . . . Reading this book is like hiring several people--a business consultant to help you get your business started, a Photoshop tutor to teach you the most useful techniques, a pre-press specialist to help you get your images out in the right format, and a graphic designer to help you learn how to turn your ideas into reality. "Through this book, Bryan Allen has found a way to combine his photographic vision, his incredible imagination, and his technical proficiency into a manual that teaches more about the creative process than any other work on Photoshop. The beautiful photos and collages found in this book, combined with the step-by-step descriptions of the techniques he used to make them, prove that while technical proficiency is needed to master Photoshop, imiagination and creativity are needed to become a Master. For that reason alone, Digital Wizardry is an exceptional book that I think should be part of any Photoshop curriculum, and a reference to turn to when you need inspiration."
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