w i l l wrote:
Can this be done easily just using photoshop....
well, it depends on what you mean by compositing. a bunch of things can be comped in PS with very little hassle, but usually one refers to animation when talking about compositing.
w i l l wrote:
i.e. putting a product into an outdoor scene?
yep, that can be done in PS, even though any compositing package can make your life easier even with such a simple scenario.
w i l l wrote:
What software do the pro's use for this?
it depends, there are quite a few of them: shake, combustion, fusion, nuke.. these are all node based compositing apps, but if one is already familiar with PS's layers, after effects might be a good choice as well.
w i l l wrote:
Could anyone recommend a good book/links etc on compositing?
a bit outdated, but "art and science of digital compositing" by ron brinkmann is a very good one. and the basic principles still apply.