More from America's Test Kitchen

The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2007

Cook's Illustrated

The Best 30-Minute Recipe

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Book Description

Repackaged to be easier to use and expanded to include a whole new chapter of healthy, light recipes, this revised edition of one of last fall's bestselling cookbooks remains the one and only basic cookbook you will ever need. Beautiful step-by-step photos illuminate every conceivable technique from chopping shallots and skinning salmon to cutting up a chicken and tying a roast. In fact, just about anything you want to do in the kitchen is explained in these pages in America's most popular test kitchen's approachable, no-nonsense voice.

These recipes will keep you busy (and your friends and family happy) for years to come, since we've included hundreds of easy weeknight dishes (like Skillet Lasagna and One-Pot Chicken and Rice), company-worthy dinners (like Beef Burgundy, Roast Leg of Lamb, and Fresh Fruit Trifle), equipment ratings, shoppings tips, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Family Cookbook, America's Test Kitchen.......2007-09-27

I have been a subscriber of Cooks Magazine for over ten years now and have never been dissapointed. I am a professional Chef and find most of their publications to be great sources. My still favorite and mostly used source is the original Julia Child Cookbook based on her TV programs of years ago but this America's Test Kitchen publication,I suspect, I will use a great deal.

Test Kitchen Cookbook.......2007-09-26

I really like this cookbook because it has good pictures and explainations for techniques with which new cooks may be unfamiliar. Putting the pages and dividers in yourself is clear and easy. The pages are a little thinner than I would prefer for a cookbook, but I just use a clear plastic page protector that one might use for a portfolio or scrapbook to keep the page I am using clean. I highly recommend it!

The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.......2007-09-15

Amazon did an outstanding timely job getting me the cookbook. This cookbook is the very best I have ever read. I gave one to my daughter and will be ordering one for myself. Thanks.

The First Word on Cooking.......2007-09-14

The best basic recipes ever published. All tested.

Wish they would issue update pages with more and new recipes

Best for your money.......2007-09-11

I have owned many cookbooks over the years, but this one is my favorite. I have cooked for over 30 years, and I still learn techniques from this book. If you are a new cook or an experienced one, you need this book.

Average customer rating: John Szarkowski Quality Control Issues The Photographer's Eye

The Photographer's Eye John Szarkowski Manufacturer: The Museum of Modern Art, New York ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Evans, Walker | ( D-F ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books Criticism & Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books General | How-to | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books Similar Items: The Nature of Photographs Mastering Digital Black and White: A Photographer's Guide to High Quality Black-and-White Imaging and Printing (Digital Process and Print) Robert Adams: Why People Photograph The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos Robert Adams: Beauty In Photography ASIN: 087070527X Release Date: 2007-03-01

Book Description

The Photographer's Eye by John Szarkowski is a twentieth-century classic--an indispensable introduction to the visual language of photography. Based on a landmark exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in 1964, and originally published in 1966, the book has long been out of print. It is now available again to a new generation of photographers and lovers of photography in this duotone printing that closely follows the original. Szarkowski's compact text eloquently complements skillfully selected and sequenced groupings of 172 photographs drawn from the entire history and range of the medium. Celebrated works by such masters as Cartier-Bresson, Evans, Steichen, Strand, and Weston are juxtaposed with vernacular documents and even amateur snapshots to analyze the fundamental challenges and opportunities that all photographers have faced. Szarkowski, the legendary curator who worked at the Museum from 1962 to 1991, has published many influential books. But none more radically and succinctly demonstrates why--as U.S. News & World Report put it in 1990--"whether Americans know it or not," his thinking about photography "has become our thinking about photography."

Customer Reviews:

John Szarkowski.......2007-07-23

When John Szarkowski recently passed away at the age of 81, the world lost one of photography's most important figures. He was the "Stieglitz" of the 1960s and 70s, changing the way audiences look at photographic images and he shaped the way future audiences will come to appreciate the pioneering work of Arbus, Eggleston, Friedlander and Winogrand. When he took over the reins of curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from Edward Steichen, photography's early twentieth century grand master, Szarkowski promoted a "new" photography that incorporated the everyday moment as it was unfolding on the streets around cities and towns across America.

His great gift to all of us who love photography besides his championing of new talent, was his incredible skill at writing texts, essays, criticism, books on photography. With his talent as a writer, and his background as a photographer, he was able to open a window onto this two-dimensional world of form and tone, shape, texture and composition, explaining the ins and outs, the subtleties, and the intuitions of image makers, their techniques and their medium in all its finesse.

Having simply tried to take a good photograph all his life, he simply knew a good photograph when he saw one. It is what made him such a great curator. His own best known books of photographs, "The Idea of Louis Sullivan" published in 1956, contains photographs of the architecture of Chicago, and his other, "The Face of Minnesota" published in 1958, contains haunting landscape images of his home state. He wrote the way he carefully crafted his own images. He framed each paragraph paying close attention to his ear, to diction and to all the elements of style. It is why I love to read him and why I think he was the greatest writer to take on this visual art form.

Two books of his about photography that in my opinion are indispensable are "The Photographer's Eye" first published in 1966, and "Looking at Photographs" first published in 1973. With these two collections, the reader will gain an historic appreciation of photography from its earliest innovators beginning in the 1830s to the period of high modernism in the 1970s. With Szarkowski as your guide, readers will appreciate how the medium advanced, yet they will also understand how it has remained fundamentally the same picture-making process when it comes to handling two-dimensional space.

In The Photographer's Eye, Szarkowski covers what a viewer needs to take in from a photograph, how it was framed, cropped, what the subject is, what the detail is, the focus and the vantage point. In each of these wide areas, he supplies important photographs from the Museum of Modern Art's vast collection that illustrate these points. He begins with "The Thing Itself" the "what" of photography, the landscape or still life, or portrait that the photographer has aimed his camera at. From there he moves on to how photographers fix on detail, the synechdocal "parts" that make up the "whole" and that produce visual metaphor: the close up of the hands, the side of a face, a rifle, a window, a headlight of a car, a door latch.

He then illustrates how photographers carefully frame their images, how they crop, how they envision the image from its interior picture plane to what is left out, alluded to, outside the frame. And finally, he shows how photographers measure time; freeze moments, single out the present for the past of some distant future. Added to this element of time is vantage, that trick of where to place the picture plane in terms of its perspective, foreground to background, its recession to a vanishing point or points, whether it is head-on and flat, or deep and endless, looming up or slanting down, the world from above, or the world from below.

In Looking at Photographs which is subtitled--"100 Pictures from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art," Szarkowski leads the reader across time, from the earliest best works of the 19th century masters: Timothy O'Sullivan, Fredrick Evans, Lewis Hine, and Jacob Riis, all the way to Robert Frank, Roy DeCarava, Paul Caponigro, and Joel Meyerowitz.

The book is printed so that there is a one-page essay facing each of the 100 photographs it describes. Within that compact structure, Szarkowski is able to move from one idea to another across the history of photography as the reader turns the pages, and he is able to pinpoint for the reader, the attributes that each photographer brings to his medium. In this way the reader learns to read images for their wealth of craft, form and subject matter. It is like having the curator take you on a personal guided tour of the museum's photography galleries.

I learned from reading this book that Timothy O'Sullivan's "white skies" were a result of the wet plate's over-sensitivity to blue light and that "sky areas were thus automatically overexposed, and rendered as blank white." I also learned that O'Sullivan "...accepted the white sky and used it as a shape, enclosed in tension between the picture's visual horizon and the edges of the plate." Knowing this, I can never look at O'Sullivan's work again without understanding how much this 19th century photographic pioneer wanted the figure-ground relationship of sky to land to feature in his compositions. And this is only one example from the book. There are 99 more.

Owning "Looking at Photographs" and "The Photographer's Eye" is like having your own private collection of the world's most famous photographs. The way you look at photographs will be enriched. On your next visit to a gallery or a museum, you will be able to see so much more thanks to the intelligent and thoughtful writing of John Szarkowski. His precise, clear and uncluttered prose style will make your reading experience a pleasure in itself.

Quality Control Issues.......2007-06-09

Great content in general, but the fact that several pages are presented upside down on my copy marred it for me.

The Photographer's Eye.......2006-03-01

SOME OF THE PHOTOGRAPHERS: Abbot Bravo Atget Avedon Belloc Brady Brandt Brassai Callahan Cameron Caponigro Cadtier-Bresson Coburn Decarava Doisneau Cuncan Erwitt Evans Fenton Frank Friedlander Garnett Giacomelli Kertesz Lange Lartigue Laughlin Lyon Moholy-Nagy Muybridge,P>Negre Newman O'sullivan Penn Sander Sheeler Siskind Smith Steichen Strand Weston White WinograndThis book is an investigation of what photographs look like, and of why they look that way. It is concerned with photographic style and with photographic tradition: with the sense of possibilities that a photographer today takes to his work. A wonderful black and white study of the form of photography and covers photographic style and tradition with a beautiful collection of some of the world's most famous photographic images.

SZARKOWSKI'S CAREER AT MOMA is bookended by two of his most ambitious and influential exhibitions, The Photographer's Eye (1964) and Photography until Now (1989-90). These shows, along with the accompanying volumes of criticism, summarize Szarkowski's major concerns as an historian and theorist of photography and demonstrate his impact on the field.

THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S EYE introduced the then-radical notion that artistic merit could be located not only in the work of the avowed masters-Stieglitz, Steichen, the WPA group--but also in news photographs, magazine spreads, commercial work, and anonymous documentary photography. The exhibition juxtaposed, without comment, Cartier-Bresson's masterpiece "Children Playing in Ruins" with a street scene taken outside a Stillwater, Minnesota barber shop. The work of contemporary giant Lee Friedlander rubbed elbows unashamedly with a 1910 bedroom interior plucked from the Iconographic Collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. In the companion book, published in 1966, Szarkowski asserts that the pictures in the exhibition "have in fact little in common except their success, and a shared vocabulary: these pictures are unmistakably photographs. The vision they share belongs to no school or aesthetic theory, but to photography itself." -Christopher Sieving

Average customer rating: Great Photoshop book for photographers Very good book Unbelievable Teacher Always Learning The most important Photoshop book I own

Adobe Photoshop Restoration & Retouching (3rd Edition) (Voices That Matter) Katrin Eismann , and Wayne Palmer Manufacturer: New Riders Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Adobe Photoshop | Digital Photography & Video | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books Digital Photography | Digital Photography & Video | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books Web Graphics | Web Design | Web Development | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books General | Graphic Design | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books Look Inside Computer Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books Computers & Internet | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books Similar Items: Photoshop Masking & Compositing (VOICES) The Photoshop Channels Book Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) ASIN: 0321316274

Book Description

Whether you’re a professional photographer or the family shutterbug, you can’t afford to miss the third edition of the now classic Photoshop Restoration & Retouching. Katrin Eismann and co-author Wayne Palmer have reviewed, updated, and revised every single technique to address the most important features in Adobe Photoshop CS2. Clear step-by-step instructions using professional examples highlight the tools and techniques photographers, designers, restoration studios, and beauty retouchers use to restore valuable antique images, retouch portraits, and enhance glamour photography. With new example images illustrating the tutorials, Photoshop Restoration & Retouching,
Third Edition will show you how to transform faded, damaged photographs into beautiful images that are as clear and crisp
as the day they were taken—maybe even better—and how to turn casual snapshots and studio portraits into the most flattering
images possible. Full-color, step-by-step examples show you how to:
• Correct extreme exposure errors and improve color, contrast, and tone
• Rescue heirloom originals suffering from mold damage, cracks, and torn edges—even replace missing image
information
• Remove dust and scratches quickly and easily
• Transform your photos into beautiful, original works of art by converting them to black-and-white or tinted images
• Use a variety of sharpening techniques and tonalcorrection tools to add life and sparkle to digital photos
• Enhance portraits by removing blemishes, reducing wrinkles, and enhancing eyes, lips, and hair, while maintaining the subject’s essential character
• Apply the secrets that the top retouchers in the glamour and beauty industry use to perfect skin, make-up, and hair

Customer Reviews:

Great Photoshop book for photographers.......2007-10-04

I've been working with Photoshop for several years and have recently purchased this book. I think that the reader should have a working knowledge of Photoshop before using this book because it assumes you understand the basics. Ms. Eismann provides excellent instructions and downloadable photos on which to work. I highly recommend this book for photographers interested in retouching old photos or for those who want to extend their Photoshop techniques.

Very good book.......2007-09-11

I can only be enthusiastic when it comes to this book. The instructions and examples are very down to earth and clear. Just what I was looking for. As a result I then purchased Katrin's other book "Masking & Compositing" or as she says it should have been "Selecting, Masking & Compositing". I have purchased several books on Photoshop CS3 now and have read them all from cover to cover. Katrin's M&C book was written for CS - but I found it very instructive even when used with CS3.

Unbelievable Teacher.......2007-08-29

Katrin Eismann is nothing short of a genius. I have her DVD, and what she can do for someone serious about learning restoration and repair is second to none.

Always Learning.......2007-08-16

I took a one day Adobe Photoshop CS2 class. The instructor recommended this book for extra training. Photoshop is a program you can study for years and still have tons more to learn . This book gives you a great headstart. It's easy to follow and contains a great deal of usefull information. It's the kind of book you read cover to cover but it's also a good reference book. It's nice to be able to go at your own pace.

The most important Photoshop book I own.......2007-08-13

I have been in graphic design for 8 years, since Photoshop 5. I have purchased/read/borrowed every major book made for Photoshop from Peachpit and New Riders. From cheesy technique books, to instruction manuals, quick start guides, classroom in a books, and this is hands down, The most important Photoshop book I own.

Books:

1. Portraits
2. Professional Model Portfolios: A Step-by-Step Guide for Photographers
3. Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats--A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners (A 30-Minute Meal Cookbook)
4. Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel
5. Ray Gun: Out of Control
6. Reclaiming Your Life from a Traumatic Experience: A Prolonged Exposure Treatment Program Workbook (Treatments That Work)
7. Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada
8. Rene Magritte: Catalogue Raisonne - Supplement, Bibliography, Indexes
9. Robert Capa: The Definitive Collection
10. Russell Lee Photographs: Images from the Russell Lee Photograph Collection at the Center for American History (Focus on American History Series,Center ... History, University of Texas at Austin)

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