Introduction

This book was written as a reference for the PHOTO 1250 Advanced Digital Imaging course at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL. For many years I have wanted to write a book on Photoshop but always felt that the market was already saturated with them, yet none contained all of the information in one reference that would be suitable for an advanced course. I had talked to a friend, and Adobe Principal Digital Imaging Evangelist, Julianne Kost about my desire to write a book and my concerns; “yes, you must write one!” she said to me. That conversation took place at a time when balancing life and various jobs resulted in putting the idea of writing a book on the back burner. I still wanted to produce a book specific to the Advanced Imaging class and I once again have that opportunity thanks to the College of DuPage and its Open Education Resource Support Grant Program. In addition to being able to produce this book, I am especially pleased that it will be available to students as a free reference so students do not have to choose between purchasing an expensive book, or managing other financial responsibilities.

Photoshop Mastery: Advanced Theories for Photographers is a culmination of various concepts and techniques that I have acquired in working with Photoshop since version 2.0 [1991; pre-Layers!!!!], and are intended for use by photographers, but can be utilized in other creative fields. This book is focused on the foundations of Photoshop as I am a firm believer that a better understanding of how the application works will make working in the application less traumatic, while also allowing users to make better sense of the overwhelming content available through web searches on how to create an effect or use a tool. In addition to advanced concepts of Photoshop, new technologies are also discussed here in the form of the use of artificial intelligence, mobile, web, and cloud-based workflows for personal use and groups.

A special thanks to Lauren Kosrow for keeping me on track and providing support, and my family Cecily, Maya Rain, and Mariposa Sol Arroyo for having patience and allowing me time to get work done within all of our busy schedules. I also want to thank the College of DuPage Photography students who had generously allowed me to use their work in the production of this book.

I hope you enjoy this book and please remember to create responsibly.