The Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers by Derrick Story focuses on those aspects of CS4 most important to the photographer. The result is a concise 190-page book that you really could carry around in your laptop bag. It covers important topics such as importing images, rating and keywording images, basic and advanced RAW image techniques, touch ups and printing. And, despite its small size, I picked up a lot of tips.

But even more useful are a series of 18 ‘Photoshop Recipes for Photographers’ that cut right to the chase with step-by-step guidance on topics such as brightening teeth, darkening or lightening facial features, softening skin, brightening eyes, retrieving a blown-out sky, creating a virtual custom matte, panorama merging, and more. These recipes alone justify the (US)$24.99 list price of the book, which I highly recommend.

The Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers is published by O’Reilly Media.