Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace

by Dan Margulis

Discusses the basics of the Photoshop LAB colorspace, describing LAB's role in colorspace conversions, providing techniques to create color variation, and including the use of "imaginary colors."

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Design, Reference

366 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2005

Reviews

[Kbord · Rating 4 out of 5]

LAB color is the "here be dragons" of Photoshop colorspaces. It's an extremely powerful and extremely weird colorspace that proves to be extremely useful in various situations.

This book is very well-rounded. The author admits that some effects can be completed just as well or nearly as well using other methods. The main draw of this book is to get those particular effects much faster than you would through another method.

There are some effects that no other colorspace (RGB, CMYK) can replicate. And then there are some things that LAB is simply not well equipped to handle.

The whole book is a set of tutorials, including the reasons behind why LAB works a certain way (for those who are interested). An accompaying CD contains the files discussed in the book. I only got through the first few chapters, but I found those tutorials easy to follow with pretty good results.

This book is not for the faint of heart, however. The beginning is easy, but this is a book that you'll get more out of if you take time to study it. It's not the kind of book you sit down with and go through all at once. You need time to absorb the new information because it's so radical from how you're probably used to thinking in Photoshop.

The possibilities with LAB are mindblowing.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have intermediate to expert skills in Photoshop this book could change your photographic life. It's definitely not an easy read but anything worth reading rarely is. Most people are familiar with the RGB color space. LAB offers a whole new way to deal with colors and contrast. Once you learn LAB's ins and outs you will recognize that certain types of pictures "scream" to be enhanced in LAB. I think this book is worth reading even if all you take away from it is how to do simple curves adjustments and sharpening in the L channel. However, it gets much more rewarding when you start talking about layer blending and blending channels into one another.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just when you think you've read everything about colorspace and such in Photoshop, along comes this innovative book. Margulis painstakingly demonstrates the very powerful LAB colorspace. Usually not a primary source of editing in the Photoshop users catalog, it is nonetheless, a very interesting feature for those willing to learn it. I have added the LAB colorspace to my repertoire and have liked the results.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb techniques for creating hue variation and saturation. Innovative ideas for pulling masks from LAB channels, and using channel blending instead of selections. Verbose and eccentric. Best Photoshop book I've read in a long time. Wish I'd read it sooner.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only way to go. This book will make you the most bad ass photoshopper on the block. Unless of course you live on MY block.

[Stuart R · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a difficult read for the non professional but still of considerable benefit if you are willing to spend time and effort.

[Rob Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another tough read from Dan Margulis but well worth the effort.

[Paul L · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a pretty informative book, but Photoshop changes - not to mention the existence of Lightroom - make this book is desperate need of an update.

[Lictor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat outdated