Tuesday, January 22, 2013

REVIEW: From Oz to Kansas: Almost Every Black and White Conversion Technique Known to Man by Vincent Versace

From Oz to Kansas: Almost Every Black and White Conversion Technique Known to Man by Vincent Versace is a book that at first made me say WTF?!!! Why on Earth would I give a crap about all the B&W conversion techniques when I’ve got Silver Efex Pro? I LOVE Silver Efex and it gives me exactly what I want. Done. End of Story. Or is it?

Copyright © Vincent Versace – ALL Rights Reserved
Copyright © Vincent Versace – ALL Rights Reserved

I didn’t really “get” Welcome to Oz the first time I read it, but over time I found myself referring people to chapters of the book. When I read  Welcome to Oz 2 the light bulb went off and I came to appreciate the message behind Versace’s book. I had gotten a little lost in the details and the banter, but hidden in the book was a message that has changed how I work. Given my respect for that book and his work (see above and his website), I decided to snuggle up with From Oz to Kansas and see if I could be enlightened.  

Conclusion

Gary Parker by Ron Martinsen - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Gary Parker by Ron Martinsen - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Apply what you learn in this book to your Duotone and even your color images

I’m a computer programmer by trade and reading this book reminded me of a lesson I learned in 1992 as a programmer:

Sometimes you have to read the “why” behind what you do even when it doesn’t make sense at first. It may seem pointless and a waste of time, but there will come a day when knowing why will help things click. When that happens you’ll be on a whole new level and amazing things will happen.

Reading this book helped me to make more sense of the controls I use in Silver Efex Pro and B&W Effects. It helped me to think differently about how I tackle my B&W images. It also gave me another series of tools I can use to solve my B&W conversion challenges. All this is goodness, and it’s why I think you should give a crap about this book.

If Black & White photography is important to you AND you are an experienced Photoshop user, then I recommend that you read this book.

Click here to order your print or Kindle copy today.

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

I really expected to see more than just a conclusion. A review should consist of more than just "Great book; buy it." Was most of the analysis removed because it was originally posted in 2013?

ronmartblog.com said...

See the v2 article instead