The Power of Black and White by Piet Van den Eynde
Great photography is a feature of all the eBooks released under the Craft and Vision label but this latest publication, Piet Van den Eynde’s “The Power of Black and White In Adobe Lightroom and Beyond : A Masterclass” really steps it up. When I first opened the book, I went through it twice just looking at the incredible photography before I even read a word. Some may see the Adobe Lightroom part of the title and decide to give this eBook a miss if they are not already Lightroom users. Well, that would be a mistake. A big mistake. Even if you never intend to ever convert a photograph to black and white, or you have no interest in Lightroom, you should buy this if only for the pictures. You could take each of them out of this book, publish them in a coffee-table type photobook and it would be a work of art.
Opening image to chapter 1
For those of you that want to learn how to create these kinds of pictures, there’s plenty inside for you. Like all previous Craft and Vision releases, this comes in a very readable format, with the whys given as much attention as the hows, detailed screenshots showing you the steps taken in processing the images, some technical discussion when appropriate for those technically minded, a series of case studies and a look at various third party plug-ins to Lightroom. The chapters covered in the book are below.
- Chapter 1 – Digital Black and White Dos and Don’ts
- Chapter 2 – The Basics of Black and White Conversion
- Chapter 3 – Introducing Lightroom’s Black and White Conversion Tools (includes Case Study 1)
- Chapter 4 – Lightroom Black and White Workflow (includes Case Study 2 and 3)
- Chapter 5 – Pros and Cons of Using Presets
- Chapter 6 – Dodging and Burning with Graduated Filters and the Adjustment Brush
- Chapter 7 – Lightroom Plugins For Black and White Conversion
- Chapter 8 – HDR and Black and White
- Chapter 9 – The Finishing Touches
- Chapter 10 – The Print
10 chapters is a lot for an eBook and that’s reflected in the length. This clocks in at 100 pages and each and every one features great work.
Chapter 7
Chapters 7, 8 and 9 are broken up with additional sections. Chapter 7, looking at plugins, introduces Alien Skin Exposure and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. In chapter 8 on HDR, Piet takes a look at Nik HDR Efex Pro, Photomatix Pro and LR / Enfuse. Chapter 9 goes over some of the different options for toning images.
There’s always a special discount in the first few days of a Craft and Vision release and this is no exception. For the first five days only, if you use the promotional code BWLIGHT4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of The Power of Black & White in Adobe Lightroom & Beyond (A MASTER CLASS) for only $4 OR use the code BWLIGHT20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST April 16, 2011. Click here to visit Craft And Vision.
That’s not the only offer this time however. There are also 3 full versions of Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 that can be won. This retails at US$199.95 but all you have to do to win is buy a copy of this new Ebook before April 16th to be in the draw. An excellent eBook full of great imagery and tutorials plus the chance to win a $200 piece of software. How can you not buy it?
So, what are you waiting for. Click here to visit Craft And Vision and pick up your copy today.
