When someone is preparing to introduce me at a speaking engagement, they often ask me how many books I’ve written. You’d think that would be a simple question to answer, but I always have a difficult time and answer “that depends on how you count them”. You see, a “clause” is required for me to feel like I’m being honest in my answer. I’ve had 13 books published to date, but that includes revisions of a couple books, one book that is very short, and an eBook that is also relatively short. So which books actually count?
This got me thinking about the question of whether Photoshop has been used on an image. When I hear the question, I always want to include a clause. Something like “Yes, but just minor adjustments”, in the case of a photographic image that is intended to be true to the subject. Of course, sometimes the answer is more like, “Are you kidding me? I spent a ridiculous amount of time in Photoshop on that one!”, at which point I find myself reminding the person asking the question that I’m more of a Photoshop expert than photographer.
As I gave this more thought, I started thinking that I need to get away from clauses. Maybe with books this isn’t as easy (my bookshelf is pretty packed with foreign language versions of many of my books, after all), but with Photoshop adjustments it should be more simple. I don’t like that working on an image in Photoshop is often perceived as a negative. I understand the issues at play, but digital tools in large part have simply made it easier to do the things photographers have been doing for ages in the wet darkroom. So the next time I’m asked if I used Photoshop on an image, the answer will be “Yes!”.
Well Tim, I don’t know how many books & articles you have written or in how many languages they have been published. All I care about is that you keep writting even if it is only a revision. Most of us photographers, amateurs and professionals, who follow your work as well as that of other authors, buy what you guys write and we buy it for the additional information and the updates to what we already know & are using in our photo workflow, which of course includes Photoshop. Yes, indeed we do process our digital and film images via Photoshop, sometimes minor adjustments and sometimes major adjustments (for effect, etc.) and I am one who is proud of that fact, should anyone care to ask me.
Tim, I really like your books. They are really useful tools for me when I need a quick trip to find out how to do something I haven’t done and don’t want to spend the time experimenting. Any word on a fix to Expressions Media (file size for a PSD over 700 MB)?