Private Resources

We’re happy to welcome to you to the section of our site that caters to those who have purchased Modern Photoshop Color Workflow. The resources provided here are copyrighted and should not be shared with others or reposted anywhere; the photographers, professional and otherwise, who contributed their efforts to this project deserve that courtesy.

The resources fall into two categories. First, the text links below let you download all the original images from the indicated chapter. In a few cases, we have downsampled them but this should not affect your study. Also, these downloads contain miscellaneous other items. In two cases, PDFs that were originally part of the chapter but deleted as being of too limited interest to justify their complexity are included.

Second, we offer you video support, categorized by chapter. Experience has shown that it is easy to develop blind spots to some points in the book text. The videos sometimes rehash corrections made in the book, sometimes go off in different directions. Every chapter except one has at least one corresponding video. UPDATE 9 MAY 2020. The videos have been removed from this site. We have moved them to youtube. Currently they are not searchable and we have not yet added direct links on this page. However, you can access them here.

We intend to update these resources over time. The Notes & Credits section of the book, which begins on Page 431, lists what we intended to have here as of press time.

We maintain an Errata and Omissions page in which all known issues with the book and support files are listed; you are welcome to add others if you find them.

Click to download the Book Resources:

Our Videos:

Installing the PPW Panel

For those wishing to use the panel, the installation procedure ie easy—but if you want to watch somebody else go through the steps, here you go.

Chapter 01

Emerald Lake

Dan reworks the chapter’s only image, a shot of a glacial lake, from scratch.

Chapter 02

Out of Many, a Single Swan

Dan unites eight different corrections of an image (don’t ask why he has them) into one composite that reflects the strengths of its parents, but not their weaknesses.

Chapter 03

The Initial Color Evaluation

Here is the toughest part of the PPW: analyzing a file for color defects that might get magnified later, and using curves to get rid of them.

Chapter 04

The Apply Image Command

Marco Olivotto presents a 20-minute summary of what the most important command in channel blending does.

Chapter 04

Luminosity Blends and Curves

Chapter 4 is about adding contrast without changing color. Dan does this with two images, only one of which appears in the chapter.

Chapter 05

The Color Boost Action

Why we should always aim for too much color, and having achieved it, how to tone it down gracefully.

Chapter 06

Variation and the Brick Wall

The Modern Man from Mars action is unlike any other known correction method. It seeks not more intense color, but rather variation. Dan explains what that means, how the action operates, and how it uses a false selection.

Chapter 06

The MMM + CB Options Window

The basic PPW color enhancement uses a combined MMM/Color Boost, which is powerful enough in its own right. The PPW panel adds many interesting options.

Chapter 06

Creative Uses of MMM

Alessandro Bernardi discusses how to experiment with MMM, using the fashion work in which he specializes, where the client often isn’t sure exactly what effect is desired.

Using Shadows/Highlights

The PPW recommendations for this are so simple that we didn’t see any point in a video. It’s the only chapter that lacks one.

Chapter 08

The Darken Sky Actions

A simple way to add depth in skies for dramatic effect.

Chapter 09

A Face Is Like a Sky

Why skies and portraits play by different rules, and how to manipulate the PPW to accommodate them.

Chapter 10

Bigger Hammer Basics

The action we use for strong enhancement of highlights and shadows is as volatile as it is potent. Here’s how it works and how to control it.

Chapter 10

Bigger Hammer Options

The PPW panel adds options to the Bigger Hammer action, drastically increasing the number of images it can be used on.

Chapter 11

The Choice of Layer Mask

An introduction to multiplication through a layer mask, and how to choose the source channel.

Chapter 12

When and How to Blur a Mask

This is how the PPW handles images that divide into light and dark halves, as when the shot was taken in sun-and-shade conditions.

Chapter 12

The Water Break

Dan re-corrects one of the more interesting examples from Chapter 12.

Chapter 13

Helmholtz, Kohlrausch, and You

An anomaly in the human visual system, that we think neutrals are darker than a machine would, forms the basis of a fascinating action.

Chapter 14

Automating Camera Raw

Dan illustrates a fast and effective workflow for opening a lot of raw images.

Chapter 15

Sharpening for the Connoisseur

The PPW’s most complex action allows sharpening to be as easy or as timeconsuming as you like. Dan goes over the options, and illustrates the concept of a halo map.

Extra: PPW Team

The Development of the PPW Panel

Marco Olivotto, Alessandro Bernardi, Giuliana Abbiati, and Dan Margulis discuss how the panel came about, what went into creating it, and what its objectives are.