Desktop Books

As a professional designer and instructor, I have to learn new applications all the time. These training CDs are the very best way to get up to production speed quickly. The QuickTime Movie tutorials make it easy to go back and review any lesson and skip around to the topics that interest me most. The Photoshop CD is a real winner - I highly recommend it!

Me parecio un libro realmente extraordinario, pues yo sabia muy poco de photoshop pero sabia de su gran potencial, y de verdad me agrado este libro pues presenta todo con gran sencilles y facil de entender, ademas de que yo siempre he pensado que un libro es la mejor manera de aprender.

This is the first version of this book that I own (it exists for earlier versions of Photoshop as well). I don't know what I did without it.
As a Photoshop instructor I really need to be in front of my students when it comes to knowledge. This book is really great for me making an impression on very skilled students! (And I get those!)
The book mentions the keyboardshortcuts along with the mouse-and-keyboard and the mouse-only ones. F. inst.: drag a layer down on the create a new layer-icon, or CTRL/Command + J for duplicating a layer quickly.
The book lists shortcuts for vs. 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, Image Ready 3 and 2 for each shortcut. That's useful, especially if you are working in an environment with different versions, as I do.
The author provides us with a written easter egg on page vi (yess, page vi!). Enjoy - and benefit!

Photoshop 7 Learning Studio
Steve Romaniello

Overview.

I really think that this author has a good handle on the teaching of Photoshop as I said in my review of his book, "Photoshop 7 Savvy" which can be found ... I am not going to repeat the book review here, this is about a package that seems to be a new concept.

Do not be fooled into thinking that the CDROM is just a re-hash of the one included with the book. It is a whole new approach. This Learning Studio edition incorporates a brand new way of learning, by way of CDROM, and also includes the 600 page book as a bonus as well.

Sure, it covers the information in the book, but some people have difficulty in reading and relaying that information into a useful process. I found that seeing on screen, what I wanted to do was really beneficial. It turns cold words into colourful, easy to understand images.

The CDROM works well by itself and the inclusion of the book is definitely an added bonus. Of course you could look at it the other way and accept that you get a bonus CDROM with a really useful book.

You can work your way around the index on the CDROM to isolate the area you are interested in and then you are offered even more menus to further pinpoint your search. These menus have even more sections so you don't have to go through the whole lesson again to reach the part you are wanting.

A lot of the lessons have a video presentation as well, so if written English is not your first language, you can learn by listening and watching. You set the pace which governs your learning speed.

The lessons are done using a simulated Photoshop 7 desktop and you will find that there are similarities with the lessons in the book, but somehow, it is easier to grasp concepts which are demonstrated.

This is really well demonstrated when viewing the blend modes, something that is hard to explain in print, and also the shortcuts are easier to learn when shown on a simulated keyboard as you click through them. This CDROM can be running in the background while you work on your images and is then readily available as a help program when needed.

The reference section is really good and you can see at a glance what sort of information you want either as a video presentation or a slide show.

The slide shows all have a voice over which can be turned off, depending on your method of learning. I found that it helps to have the voice on as you follow the instructions.

The CDROM duplicates much of what is in the book, after all, the program is the same, but by following a simulated desktop you get a really good feel for the lessons, contained there, plus, it goes even further. This means that your learning curve is greatly reduced, and when dealing with Photoshop that is a definite advantage.

The Learning Studio is broken up into five sections comprising;

1. Photoshop Core which takes you through Photoshop from it's beginnings and how to set up your monitor and what the tools are, as well as how to use the basic functions.

2. Is all about colour. What it is, how it works with your computer and the differences between CMYK for print, or RGB for net or computer viewing.

3. Relates to the use of Photoshop to correct images use Image Ready to prepare for the web, using filters and also making difficult selections, something that can cause real frustration. The author takes you through some tricky images and because you must participate in the interactive slide show, it gives a better feel for what you are doing.

4.This is the reference section and is really large and easy to use. A row of alphabetical buttons are arranged to make it easy and quick to find just what you need. Once you have found your query, you are offered options on how to perform the steps needed to complete your goal.

5. Is the Hands On section where you get to use the CDROM from the book Photoshop 7 Savvy and go through some of the lessons contained in there. This covers things like painting in Photoshop and also fixing an old and damaged photo. While you can't participate in the simulated lesson, you can have your own image to work on while the short movie is playing.

These movies are all broken into small sections so you get a chance to keep up with the important steps that are being explained. Most of the lessons do require a lot of concentration and the short segments mean that if you need to stop, it is easy to re-start where you left off when you return.

Bottom Line.

It helps that the author is an Adobe Certified Instructor, which means that the knowledge base is very large. If you can't find the answer to problems, or learn from these lessons I would be very surprised.

This is a really good way to learn, and with this suite, you probably don't need extra books. ...

Vicki and Barry certainly know what they're talking about. Clear coverage of the new painting engine allowed me to get stuck straight in.

Great price, too!

Photoshop is often thought of as a tool for editing color images. Black and white gets overlooked. This excellent step-by-step, show-and-tell text is brief, concise, and to the point about what it takes to produce excellent B&W images.

It is regrettable that the authors have not updated the book ... . The book was published in 1995 and covers Photoshop versions 2.5 and 3. While the fundamentals remain correct, Photoshop has evolved into 5.5 and a lot has changed in terms of the tools. An update is way overdue. That having been said, this is still the definitive short course on coping in B&W.

The thing that sets this book apart from most, and make it most effective, is that there are more photos and graphics than words. Most of us are visual learners and my knowledge of using Photoshop has dramatically improved in just a matter of an hour or so. I'm only to chapter 2. I recommend highly to anyone that wants to know how to use Adobe Photoshop CS 2 or CS 3 more effectively.

The Photoshop Down and Dirty Tricks books are my absolute favorites of all PS books and I own them all. Unfortunately Mr. Kelby has gotten so busy that he is no longer doing them, having watched both CS2 and CS3 announce dates expire. Bummer. The NAPP folks would prefer you learn on their website, which is fine and good, but some people prefer books! If you can get your hands on any one of these, do. Photoshop basics never change. These books are fun and informative!

There are a number of books that discuss taking a digital photographis image and using Photoshop to create wild abstract photographuic art. This book is different. It discusses using computer-based image processing in order to improve a hpotograph without substantially altering its content.

The book uses Photoshop version 8, also called Photoshop CS as the processing package. It also presents techniques that can be used with other software packages.

The book is splendidly illustrated with hundreds of four color photographs showing exactly what is being done to modify the images. It shows the commands and procedures that are used to create just what effects. All in all, it probably uses only some 20% of the commands available in Photoshop. It is not a general introduction to Photoshop, but is concentrated in the area of pixel processing. In that area it completely covers the subject in great detail.

I've had Photoshop CS software on my wish-list for a long time, so when I picked up the book Photoshop CS Savvy for review, I had a great reason to finally purchase the software.

With over 700 pages and a CD-ROM, this book can seem daunting, yet it can easily be used by Photoshop beginners like me. In the "Introduction," the author says it like this, "It's for those of us who take photographs, draw, paint, and cut and paste pictures. It's for computer artists, graphic designers, Web designers, and printers. It is intended to help master the software, at whatever level you might be in the learning curve."

One of the first things I noticed was the books' layout. The book is divided into four parts, twenty-seven chapters, two appendices, a glossary, and an index. When dividing 700 pages by twenty-seven chapters, there tends to be a lot of stuff that's not mentioned in a common table of contents. This book goes the extra mile by including a "Contents At A Glance" in addition to the "Contents." The "Contents At A Glance" consists of only two pages, while the "Contents" is eleven pages long and is very detailed. This allowed me to scan through the "Contents" to find something specific to read about. In my case, one of the first things I wanted to read about was "Photo Retouching." I quickly found it in Part III, Chapter 19, page 449.

Before I started using the book as a tutorial, I wanted to give it the review it deserves, so I began at the beginning. Chapter 1, The Foundations of Photoshop, was very interesting. It's interesting to me because it started with a very nice history of imaging. I read about mosaics, painting, Impressionism, printing, photography, collage, photomontage, the Web, and finally a history of Photoshop. This was a very nice bit of information before getting into the meat and potatoes of Photoshop.

Chapter 2, What's New in Photoshop CS, was really good for me because I haven't upgraded my Photoshop since 5.5. So, I had a lot of catching up to do.

Chapter 5, Setting Up Photoshop, provided an in-depth guide to setting preferences and allocating memory. I didn't even realize there was an Efficiency setting in the status bar at the bottom of the window. If the status bar ever drops below 100%, I can increase the percentage of memory (author recommends by 10% increments) until the efficiency remains at the maximum 100%.

Chapter 8, Working with Type, has lots of great information on how to use Photoshop to create type. I know type is normally created in Illustrator, but Photoshop really shines in its capability to produce cool text effects. The really cool thing about this chapter is the Hands On section. Immediately following nine of the twenty-seven chapters, you'll find nine Hands On sections. After you read a chapter or a few chapters, you come across a Hands On section. These sections are tutorials. The book tells you to access the Photoshop CS Savvy CD to select and save a file onto your disk. Now you can perform some cool Hands On stuff with Photoshop.

Although I've had Photoshop for several years, I've remained at the beginner level. After using Photoshop CS Savvy for a few weeks now, I have to say my Photoshop skills have increased tremendously. Am I a Photoshop expert? Not even close, but I am doing a whole lot more with Photoshop than I ever have before. This book will remain on a shelf close to my iMac for quick reference.

All in all, this is a great book. It has tons of great information and the CD has tutorials, software, demo software, and even a cool 45-page pdf Bonus Chapters quick reference guide. If you're using Photoshop CS, I highly recommend purchasing this book.