Jacquelin Vanderwood

June 15, 2001

This book captures the vision of it's author by inviting the reader into the world of a master craftsman. As a fine-art photographer, Caponigro leads us on a tour of the art of photo manipulation and enhancement. Along the way we discover his theories on how a project should be accomplished, the method, and some personal thoughts of his as well. His wealth of knowledge as a photographer and his expertise in Photoshop engender us to strive for excellence. If you want to attain to heights normally not envisioned by reading other Photoshop books, read Adobe Photoshop Master Class. It's the difference between "a person who attends a class to learn painting and a born painter who takes the class to achieve a dream".

Each chapter begins with his personal thoughts in Zen-like fashion. This type of thinking does not fit my beliefs so I customarily skipped over these parts of the book. When you complete Adobe Photoshop Master Class, you'll have a higher degree of understanding of the processes of achieving subtlety than you ever thought you could. You'll learn problem solving as well as strategy. As a fine artist, I was in tune with the problems and techniques for solving variations of light and shadow in a given picture. To create more than the eye can see but what the heart clearly feels, one must be able to understand the processes that it takes to get there and, once beyond that summit, create some beauty where none existed. These pages will get you beyond mere technique into true creation.

The book is full-color and contains a variety of samples of Caponigro's work. The contents of the book are set up two sections: Essential Chapters and Core Chapters. It is 324-pages in length and contains a brief biography of the author.

What's in the book:

Essential Chapters 1 - 13

Architecture
Calibrate & Characterize
Size
Input
Tone
Color
Comparison
Selections
Restoration
Sharpen
Output l
Output ll
The Elements of Photomontage

Core Chapters l - XXVll

Extending Format
Scale
Proportion
Extending Dynamic Range
Local Contrast
Multitone
One Source, Many Paths
Color Accuracy
Color Expression
Atmospheric Perspective
The Language of Night
Focus
Multiplicity
Futurism
The Extended Moment
Reorchestrating Light
Illumination
Shadows
Recontextualization
Skies
Edge
Elimination
Reflection
Symmetry
Tesselation

Also: Epilogue, Index, and Colophon

My personal opinion: As a fine artist and a digital artist, I found the book to be extremely helpful in technique. I didn't care for the Zen-like thinking in the book so I ignored those sections. A lot of Caponigro's work I think is unmistakably erotic and he uses landscape as his tool to create these pieces. To be honest, I think he could have achieved the same artistic outcome without reducing himself in such a manner as to offend the gentler folks as myself. Yes, he is a master at his craft but because of the erotic nature of many of the photos, I would normally not have purchased the book just for this reason.  

Copyright 2001, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved