7-Point System for CS3

Posted on June 17, 2008 by S Running
Design, Tech

Judging from the title, I was expecting it to be a beginners-only book. As it turns out, the book assumes you already have a comfort level with the finer workings of Photoshop. The underlying concept of the book is that all other Photoshop books simply dissect the various components of the application and tell you how to use them. Do you have a dark image? Use levels to lighten it. Have a blurry image? Use Unsharp mask. Want to get rid of a blemish? Use the rubber stamp tool. The issue that Kelby addresses is that many digital artists don’t know how to assess a photo and determine what needs to be done to it overall and in what order. In simpler terms, the question becomes how to make a good photo a great photo. As a master Photoshop user, Kelby audited his own process as he worked on hundreds of images. He realized that the majority of photos required a combination of the same seven steps. In the book, Kelby breaks down each of those seven steps and applies them to real photos using detailed tutorials.
The 7-Point System is actually a complete course in a book. Readers are “required” to work their way through the entire 21 chapters, with each chapter detailing all the things you need to “fix” the tutorial image. Chapters take about 10-20 minutes to complete. Initial chapters walk the reader through each detail of the correction, for instance, how to do an appropriate amount of Unsharp Mask followed by a Fade Unsharp Mask to Luminosity. In later chapters it simply will say, “then do Unsharp Mask as before.” This technique keeps the pace of the book up so you don’t get bogged down in repetition.

If you are a Photoshop user, your first instinct when looking at the book might be: “yeah, I already do all this stuff.” Perhaps, but the book tells you how to most efficiently use the various tools and techniques. It also helps cut down on lots of trial and error work when it comes to correcting images (should I lighten in RAW, with Curves, by Dodging, etc).

This is certainly one of the most enjoyable Photoshop books I’ve purchased for some time. Even if you consider yourself to be an advanced user, you would benefit from checking it out.

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