mediamanipulation

photoshop for wedding photographers dvd with scott kelby is a very good resource for these

and other types of effects.

http://www.photoshopuser.com/

i disagree Ivan, if I'm not mistaken some the painters thought that photography was just

inferior painting (some still do, but thats their loss) which to say i think is yours is also,

why not use a pinhole camera and throw away the crutch of the overused lens (no soup for

you!) or the "i shot this and didn't use digital" hate to tell you but as soon as you scanned

it (drum, flat or slide), you went digital baby, and you posted a jpg ( look up the jpg

compression format and see what it does!) the title is photo.net, not "realistic photo.net"

or "surrealistic photo.net" I think there is room and appreciation for both! (photoshop is a

darkroom no doubt, but its much more than than that is you bother to look, plus no

poisonous chemicals to have to breath :) ) there is a lot to learn about photography and

artistic approach, and there is some marvelous work here if you look around...

almost forgot, as far as books go, anything by bert monroy is great i have gone to some

seminars and got to spend a few hours in his classes he is a genius but his images are

completly rendered in photoshop no scanning or photos, he wrote the first manual for

photoshop! for books more aimed at photography and photoshop cs the two i like the best

this year are kevin ames "the art of photographing women" and "how to wow photoshop

for photography" by jack davis and ben whitmore. my 2 cents hope it helps

i would also consider joining napp "national association of photosop professionals"

great website, subscription to monthly magazine filled with reams of info, tips and tricks

related to photoshop, plus a multitiude of retailer discounts. you can find the mag at

most bookstores and magazine shops.