If you want more control over the CMYK process, I recommend Professional Photoshop 6: The Classic Guide to Color Correction (with CD-ROM) By Dan Margulis. An electronic prepress master reveals how to get the most out of Photoshop Renowned among graphic design professionals for his technical grounding and ability to clearly explain difficult principles and techniques, Dan Margulis has updated his bestselling book, Professional Photoshop 5, to help readers quickly master Photoshop 6 and learn how to take full advantage of its latest tools and capabilities. Rather than focusing on program features, Dan Margulis builds on a solid foundation of classic design concepts and skills. This new edition has been substantially expanded to include coverage of issues surrounding image handling for devices other than offset printers, such as final output on desktop color printers, high-volume copiers, and large-format printers for outdoor displays. This book is considered to be the bible of color printing. The author, Dan Margulis, is a color correction expert and is one of first three individuals to be named as a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame.

Digital Texturing and Painting By Owen Demers, Christine Urszenyi, and George Maestri. This book takes you outside the studio and walks you through the museum of life. This full color book combines traditional texture creation principles with digital texturing techniques to enhance your scenes and animations. In the first half of the book, you will learn about the history of textures in fine art and in the second half, how to apply these principles to your 2D and 3D digital scenes.

ITTEN: The Elements of Color. This book was highly recommended in art school. As an artist, an understanding of color theory and application is crucial. This book provides an excellent starting point by a recognized master in the field.

CSS in 24 Hours. Sams Teach Yourself CSS in 24 Hours, teaches how to use cascading style sheets, but also to decide when and how to apply CSS for different browsers and effects. You'll learn about standards compliant CSS, including theory, practice and implementation. Broken up into 24 one hour long sessions, you'll learn how to apply these tasks to your sites. The book has been updated to cover some of the more popular browsers used today. Other updates cover styling of forms, troubleshooting CSS and other new developments.

stylin' with CSS. Stylin' with CSS teaches you what you need to know to start using CSS in your Web designs. You'll learn how to create interface components (including drop-down menus, navigation links, animated graphical buttons, etc.) without JavaScript. You'll learn how to create code for the newest browsers, while figuring out how to work around the quirks of older browsers. Mastering CSS will help your designe move to a new level.

Publish and Prosper: Blogging for your Business. Blogging is the topic of many a conversation these days. If you've been wanting to learn more about this medium and what it could mean for your bottom line, take a look at this book. It covers the basics of planning, resource needs, and more. One other thing, blogging, once you sort the kinks out, is simple, but it's not effortless.

Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography. According to the author, "We are in the Stone Age of digital photography. We've figured out how to make some tools, but it is just now beginning to dawn on us what we might do with them. This book is essentially a distillation of what I've been teaching over the last 25 years." Unlike many other books in the marketplace, this isn't a Photoshop book, though Photoshop does have it's place here. Where this book is different is that it takes the available photographic tools and techniques and blends them with the methods of an artist. It is a holistic work.

The Art of Maya. By Alias Software. Alias's Maya is the premier tool for 3D modeling, animation, and rendering, used by top studios to create everything from ads to movies to computer games. This book is an official, heavily illustrated, full-color guide to Maya essentials, directly from the creators of the program.

ArtEffects. By Jean Drysdale Green. One of my favoite texture resources. Here you'll find hundreds of fresh ideas to spark your creative juices. The book is divided into five sections that cover the most-used painting mediums: inks, watercolor, acrylics, oils, and pastels. With more than 400 full-color examples, the book is an extraordinary visual reference that shows how materials can be used in combination with each medium.

2D Artwork and 3D Modeling for Game Artists. This guide introduces aspiring game artists to the tools and techniques used in the game industry with a step by step how-to tutorials section for real-world game design.

Al Ward's Photoshop Productivity Toolkit: Over 700 Time-Saving Actions. Written by actions guru Al Ward, the man behind the popular actions site actionfx.com and the actions guru for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP)

Getting a Job in CG: Real Advice from Reel People. By Sean Wagstaff and Dariush Derakhshani. This book is a Maya Press title -- a joint publishing effort between Sybex and Alias. As the maker of Maya software, Alias (formerly Alias Wavefront) is the authority on the 3D and effects industry, and thus has leant its expertise to this title. Getting a Job in CG is the definitive, insider's guide to landing that critical first job in the industry, or getting an upgrade to an even better position. In my 3D section, you can read a review of this book.

Mastering Digital Photography and Imaging. By Peter K Burian, the co-author of the bestselling how-to guide for film photographers, "The National Geographic Photography Field Guide." This book covers all the essentials for digital photographers, including digital camera and scanner technology, capturing techniques, choosing software, image optimization, color management, and output.

Acrobat 7 PDF Bible. Acrobat 7 has been an important program in my software toolkit and was instrumental in the creation of "The Corel PHOTO-PAINT X3 Insider." I used it extensively for inserting pages, ordering the layout, adding bookmarks and much more. I would have been lost without the Touchup Text Tool, which allowed me to fix many problems after the fact.

The Photoshop Elements 4 Book for Digital Photographers. Designed for the professional, this book contains tips that show you how to accomplish advanced tasks, such as layering bracketed exposures. This is a practical volume, which tells you what setting to use, when to use them and why it's important.