Review: 'Photoshop Masters' by Rob de Winter

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Giving photography workshops and courses is not really possible for us at the moment, especially without the associated events, but it does give my wife and me the opportunity to write more articles. It feels a little strange, though, because of course we would rather not have found ourselves in this situation.

But if we have to spend more time indoors, or sometimes in the garden as in our case, we might as well read books to brush up our knowledge. Or write a review about one.

I recently got in touch with Rob de Winter, a Photoshop expert and Adobe Certified Instructor who has written his first book. As well as being an author, Rob is a teacher, designer, photographer and musician. An ideal combination for passing on knowledge, I think.

The target audience for this book is the somewhat more experienced Photoshop user. But people with less experience can also follow the tutorials easily and be inspired to get started.

Book details

First impression

Contents

In my view, Chapter 3 covers one of the most important aspects, including in Photoshop, namely that a good composition is the basis of every Photoshop project. As a photographer, I can only agree. How do you make sure that your Photoshop composition, which usually consists of several images, ultimately produces a beautiful result?

Using an example, Rob shows how things such as cutting out objects, colour matching, mask adjustments and White Balance adjustment layers help create a well-coordinated whole.

In Chapter 5, he shows, through an experiment, how to create a poster in the style of Temi Coker. Temi designed a poster every day for years and shared it online, which gave him a great deal of Photoshop experience. So here too, the rule is: practise, practise and practise again.

A nice addition is the section “Drawing on your iPad”, in which you can use the Adobe Fresco app and paint brushes to create creative results.

Chapter 7 covers the retouching technique “Frequency Separation”. This technique is often used when retouching faces. For example, you can use it to quickly remove blemishes from skin.

Chapter 9 deals with applying the right colours and colour corrections, and subtly adding shadows to create depth. A particularly enjoyable part is using atmospheric brushes to add mist, dust and clouds to your images. Here we work with what are known as “Channels”.

You can download the atmospheric brushes from the Adobe website, but of course you can also make them yourself.
In Chapter 11, you learn to work with “Blending Modes”. With this technique, you can add things such as fire, paper, light or other textures.

You also get started with dodging and burning. Finally, the last chapter focuses on a fun way to share your work. In this case, Rob uses a photo collage.

Conclusion

Want to learn more about Photoshop image editing?

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