The Art of Digital Photo Painting [Book Review]

After shooting their fist card full of digital pictures many newbie digicam owners then muck around with the ‘look’ of the digital image with whatever software is at hand. The results are often horrendous …

Marilyn Sholin’s book, The Art of Digital Photo Painting, seeks to correct this situation by suggesting methods and techniques to artistically transform the digital image.

Consisting mainly of a series of lessons, the book opens with a list of the hardware you may need — computers, printers, graphics tablets etc, followed by a short list of suitable software: Corel Painter, Nik Color Efex Pro, Alien Skin Snap Art, etc.

This list immediately signals the author’s intent, with which you may or may not disagree: in Ms Sholin’s approach, a digital image is best transformed into a ‘painterly’ picture, emulating the work of the impressionist masters.

Much attention is paid to dealing with Painter, its toolbars, palettes, brushes etc to such a degree that the book could be viewed as a primer to using the software. The author contends that “Painter is the most sophisticated software for digital painting that has ever been developed.” So there!

Having said that, the exercises and illustrations are sumptuous, in a classicist mould. Helpfully, the publishers have established a Web site that holds the images in the book (at a printable resolution) for downloading by readers.

A little sedate to my taste but many will devour the book’s advice with glee.

More Details on The Art of Digital Photo Painting

Author: M Sholin.
Publisher: Lark Books.
Distributor: Capricorn Link.
Length: 159 pages.
ISBN 978 1 60059 101 3.
Price: Get a Price on The Art of Digital Photo Painting at Amazon.