How would you like to create your own impressionist landscape, a van Gogh still life, or a surrealist Salvador Dali dream world? Or perhaps a classic Ansel Adams photograph of Yosemite or an authentic-looking 19th century Daguerrotype? You can do all of that and more with Photoshop Fine Art Effects Cookbook.

The book tells you all you need to know to turn your original digital photographs into images that mimic the styles of great photographers and painters. From advice on how to develop an eye for appropriate subject matter to 62 detailed recipes that demonstrate exactly how to create an "original" van Gogh, Vermeer, Edward Weston, or Andy Warhol (among others), this book is an authentic guide to understanding and simulating the work of great artists-and a whole lot of fun.

• Analyzing the styles of great artists: format, composition, angles of view, color palettes, and image textures

• Shooting for digital manipulation, working non-destructively, making your own brushes and patterns

• Creating Daguerrotypes, cyanotypes, stop-motion photographs, cross-processed images, Polaroid transfers, and infrared effects

• Mimicking photographic styles from the pre-Raphaelites and the Naturalists to Jerry Uelsmann and David Hockney

• Exploring painting and printmaking techniques from Rembrandt to Warhol: Dutch portraits, 18th century landscape painting, Japanese woodblocks, Impressionism, Pointillism, Fauvism, Art Nouveau, Cubism, Futurism, Surrealism, and Pop Art

Packed with step-by-step instructions, an inspirational selection of full-color digital imagery, and authoritative information and advice, Photoshop Fine Art Effects Cookbook is the ultimate guide to creating convincing digital masterpieces in the styles of many of the world's greatest artists.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 13 Ratings

Rhondda Boy - 2007-06-11
Reviewer Rating:
I would like to thank John Beardsworth for writing this book as it has given me much pleasure in replicating his creations and following his recipes are so easy. The quality of the printing of the book is superb.I look forward to hours of enjoyment making my own paintings.

Well Done Examples for Photo Enhancement - 2009-09-26
Reviewer Rating:
Like the others I've read in this series, this book delivers just what it claims it will. Using this book, you can follow step by well explained step changing the look of your photos into variations of the old pictorial styles - but updated.

Pictorial was a movement active starting about 120 years ago and lasting up to about the 1920's although some still practice it today. Frex, one may argue that Sally Mann is a pictorialist especially in her latest work using the wet plate processes. Pictorialsm promoted that photography should imitate the look of fine art painters. It was superseded more or less by the photography as pure photography promoted most famously by Ansel Adams and today practiced by masters such as Clyde Butcher.

Taking a photograph and converting it to look like an impressionistic painting may go against the grain of some pure photographers but it's not only fun, but it can leave you with a darn good image. This book will give examples of how to convert a typical standard photo into one of over 60 fine art or pictorial styles. It's a lot easier than trying to figure this stuff out on your own.

The book does better on taking modern digital or digitized photos and converting into other photo styles than it does in fine art painters, but it succeeds in both areas giving the reader either a complete recipe or at worst, a good stepping off place.

The book adds one more valuable volume to this O'Reilly series. Well worth the purchase and a good reference read.

Almost, but not quite. - 2009-02-16
Reviewer Rating:
John Beardsworth is a bit misleading in saying his techniques will reproduce the effects of great artists. In some, he comes close, such as in the Van Gogh sunflowers, but his fauve scene looks more like washed-out watercolor, and the others look like doctored photographs. He is more successful in reproducing the effects of great photographers, such as the darkroom work of Ansel Adams. The best way to use the Fine Art Effects Cookbook is to ignore the results and concentrate on the step-by-step techniques, which he presents superbly, and use those for your own effects.

Great, but drawbacks - 2008-03-05
Reviewer Rating:
While this is an excellent book, the author does leave out a few steps here and there, so those not well acquainted with Photoshop might give up. Also, I would have liked to see more references to the artists whose work is being emulated.

Nice effects but some assembly required - 2008-01-04
Reviewer Rating:
There are a lot of good ideas provided in this book for some very cool effects. However, please know that many of the effects/settings are very specific to the images they use in the examples. Your results will vary greatly with your own photos so it will take quite a bit of tweaking.

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