Tom Ang's book is by far the best Photoshop book I've seen. It is simple, clear, and useful. The book claims to be for digital photographers, but anyone who manipulates images will find this informative. It passes all the tests one would have for a great software guide. What are those tests?
I first look to see if the basics are covered. Ang does a great job quickly covering the most common keyboard commands and explaining how to approach using the software. He tells you why you'd want to use each command, and offers alternatives (always a nice touch). Anyone who has used Phtoshop for a long period of time will appreciate shortcuts and time-savers. We're off to a good start.
The next test is to see if the examples are useful. Again, this book excels. Each example is well-chosen and the digital manipulations demonstrated are practical not only for digital photographers, but also web publishers and those that work with images on a daily basis. Simple tasks, such as darkening or lightening an image, adjusting colors and contrast, or eliminating unsightly artifacts can be accomplished many ways in Photoshop, and Ang covers multiple approaches to reach similar results.
A final test is to see if there are any new tips or tricks that an experienced user may not have heard. Ang again succeeds on this front, giving ways to improve image tone by unsharp masking, or using the sponge tool to desaturate a color image to increase color detail. Very nice. Designers who use Macs, too, will appreciate dialog boxes in the examples looking familiar for a change.
The techniques in this book can be applied to other software programs, such as PhotoPaint, PhotoDeluxe, Painter, etc. without much difficulty.
This is the kind of book you'll find yourself reaching for frequently to find suggestions for making that digital image look better, and actually find the answers to your questions. Your photos will never look the same. They'll be sharper, with better color balance, with artifacts removed, ready for print or the web.
Photoshop for Photography
The Art of Pixel Processing
Tom Ang
2003
From Watson-Guptill Publications