Customer Reviews

Adobe Photoshop CS2 One-On-One

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

To say I am "graphically challenged" would be an understatement. For whatever reason, I just have a hard time envisioning what I can do with images and colors. To help solve that issue, I got a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS one-on-one by Deke McClelland. In short, this book is packed.

The book is organized into the following 12 lessons: Open and Organize; Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows; Correcting Color Balance; Making Selections; Crop, Straighten, and Size; Paint, Edit, and Heal; Creating and Applying Masks; Adjusting Focus; Building Layered Compositions; Text and Shapes; Layer Styles and Adjustments; and Printing and Output.

Each lesson starts out with an "About This Lesson" page, which gives you an idea of what you're going to cover. It ends with a "What Did You Learn?" exercise where you match the concept with the description. And in between is the excellent material on how to do what it is that's being covered. Interspersed throughout the text are "Pearls Of Wisdom" which are short 5 to 10 line sidebars that explain a concept or a slant on the material that you may not have realized. And McClelland doesn't just explain how to do things, either. He goes into the concepts behind how graphics and color work, such as how to read a histogram or the difference between 8 vs. 16 bits per channel. So when you get done with the book, you should have a greater understanding and appreciation for the art of graphical manipulation.

But you're not done yet. The book comes with a CD that includes video lessons that follow along with the book, as well as the files you'll need to do the exercises. Unlike most CDs that are included in a book, this is one that actually enhances the value of the material instead of just allowing the publisher or author to charge more for stuff you may never look at.

On the aesthetic side of things, the book is really stunning. High-quality paper and beautiful colors on the examples. The only flaw I can mention is that my copy must have gotten a bad batch of paper at the printers. A small number of pages are flawed (ingrained folds) and a couple of the graphic screen shots are blurred to the point of not being able to read the text. Even with that, there is nothing that takes away from the usefulness and quality of this effort.

If you use Photoshop and want to learn how to utilize it to the fullest, you owe it to yourself to check out this book.

I'm not sure if I can add much to the positive reviews so far. This is an excellent text - do yourself a favor and read all the reviews.

For me, I really appreciated the sidebars and "Pearls of Wisdom" scattered throughout the text. In these, the author gives quick insights like; why one tool works better than another or a keystroke reminder or a technical definition.

This book does much more than just tell you how to do something, it also explains why your image changes when using the various tools. In other words, it goes beyond just getting you from A to B. There are a million different ways to get from A to B in Photoshop, so it's nice to learn a few new ones to add to my current Photoshop knowledge.

I use Photoshop basically for two things. Fixing up photos I've taken with my digital camera or scanned in from the family archives and creating images for my personal web site. I found the chapters about highlights, midtones, and shadows and color correction invaluable, especially when trying to fix up some old color pictures of the family from '70s. =)

Excellent book, visually pleasing, highly recommend.

O'Reilly has a knack of publishing really excellent computer books, and this knack is continued with Adobe Photoshop CS one-on-one. The book is published with colour examples throughout, and the author, Deke McCelland, also presents an included CD of video tutorials. These complement the book superbly.

The author covers the major features in Photoshop, but usefully also explains when you should you a specific feature rather than another one. For example, he usefully suggests that the 'Brightness/Contrast...' option can result in pretty awful results, and explains how to change brightness and contrast in a more satisfactory way. The result is that anyone with this book will quickly move from being an amateur user of Photoshop who just gets by, to being an expert who knows how to get the very best results.

The book is very practical, and not a dry run-through of the toolbox. McClelland uses examples - like removing scratches from a scanned image or improving the focus of a photograph - that may well make the reader load up their own pictures half way through a chapter to experiment. The text is very readable, and broken up well with headings.

This is quite possibily the best guide to Photoshop on the market. Highly recommended.

This was a good introduction to Photoshop book that covered a lot of ground. I think for people just learning to use Photoshop, or want to learn about a particular area they aren't familiar with at all, then this is a good beginning. The author quickly takes you through various exercises allowing you to become aware of Photoshop's many tools and what they do. If there is a problem with this book, it's that you are mostly given cookie-cutter techniques: type in this number here, then that number, then voila--you have a result. Or, select this item, press this button and again--you have a result. But chances are the images you are going to work on will require a more custom solution and I'm not sure this book really prepares the reader with enough in-depth knowledge. However, my feeling is that this book is (or should be) geared more towards someone with minimal Photoshop experience. Then, when you want to get more in-depth into a specific use of Photoshop, the reader can then select a book that covers their specific interest (retouching, compositing photos, web design, etc). The book is a good intro, but chances are, you'll need to complement it with another, more specific and in-depth book.

I purchased this book based on reviews read here as overwhelmingly the reviews were very positive. I have gone through a few chapters - this is my initial feedback... I will post again after going through more of the book.

Firstly, the positives...content and organization with the videos, text and hands-on lessons including the summary at the end of each chapter is very well organized and thought out. This approach addresses different learning styles and provides a good degree of student interaction. The examples, video and picture quality are all first rate. Deke's presentation is very clear and easy to listen to.

My initial concern regards the lack of information when making adjustments to an image (previously stated by another reviewer). In several instances so far Deke instructs you to "change this to 30%" , nudge this up to "4", etc. without telling you why. His examples work beautifully with the image examples but I need to know what will work with my images and how to make the adjustments. The example of entering the different channels in "Levels" produced excellant results but was confusing. I'd prefer Deke taking the time to walk me through the process of why and how-to, not just "put this number in here". This is a major flaw at this point of the book, imo.

After reading the preface I was immediately disappointed to learn that the Actions Palette and Filter Gallery would not be addressed in the book. It bugs me that two such useful resources are not included. I understand that PS is a huge program and cannot be completely covered in one book but I consider not including these two topics to be a major omission.

Starting from scratch, this book + CD had me using Photoshop CS quite effectively within several days.

Several days, mind you, of very hard, concentrated study. But that is required of you whatever path you follow into the useful but complex maze that is Adobe Photoshop.

There are no typos I found, the examples work perfectly and match the text exactly. The flow of chapters is logical and effectively teach you what's available and how to get at it.

If you're prepared to work hard, this book will be something you enjoy and appreciate.

This book rivals the Adobe "classroom in a book" titles for clear, concise coverage of features and practices.

The lessons are very clear, lots of illustrations and "pearls of wisdom" throughout, and Deke doesn't talk down to you like some "guru authors."

Add to this a dozen or more involved, very easy to follow, enjoyable video lessons in which Deke demonstrates the software to you. He does it in a very informal, friendly manner, as if he were in the room with you. I've seen good video training and bad, and this is most definitely GOOD. (The quality of the video performance in a decent DVD-ROM drive is amazing. Total Training does it right.) These are not quickies, either; I spent an hour and a half at Costco watching the first section of videos non-stop while my tires were rotated. =:)

The disc also includes lesson files for EVERY LESSON. It's like taking a class.

If you're wondering what book to get to really run you through the basics and some advanced uses of Photoshop CS2, this one's a bargain. Deke gets you into the software and learning from the get-go, and if you're the slightest bit motivated, you'll HAVE FUN. Even this Photoshop veteran learned a few new tricks, too. ;)

I admit that Photoshop has intimidated me with the range of options and powerful tools it offers. Over the years I have been using more and more Macromedia's Fireworks which has served me well when it comes to web graphics. However, with a digital camera on hand I find myself needing specific skills to manipulate images and incorporate them into photo collages.

This is where the new book by O'Reilly and Deke Press, has filled a gap. I have much respect for New Riders, another publisher whose books adorn my bookshelves. But I have to admit that the "Down and Dirty Tricks" approach, while handy for finding quick solutions, has not been successful in teaching me the fundamentals about Photoshop manipulation.

The "Adobe Photoshop CS one-on-one" book starts with helpful chapters on organizing photos by using metadata. This is a feature of the CS edition of Photoshop which is enough to make one want to update (I am looking for the right price :-).

Then the book continues with explanation of the Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows, which would enhance any image, whether taken by a digital camera or scanned from the old print.

The book goes on with Correcting Color Balance, Cropping and Resizing images, Creating and Applying Masks, Building Layered Compositions, Adding Text and Shapes, and Printing and Output options (I am being selective in listing the topics covered by the book).

The book's descriptive style is enhanced by an included 2-hour training video by the author, Photoshop expert Deke McClelland.

Combining the narrative of the book with the persuation of the video works nicely and produce an easy to follow yet rich in content book. Highly recommended!

Deke has done it again - a book/CD combo that really delivers. I consider myself the perpetual novice; never quite able to develop the computer skills to achieve great results. And, I try book after book (Amazon is happy) but grow weary at either the style or the outright errors.

Thankfully, Deke has written a book that is easy to follow from start to finish. He doesn't suck you in with a few easy chapters only to leave you scratching your head at the end.

I found this book easy to follow, with not a single error. And his approach is different than anything I've seen before. You view a short preview (about 10 minutes each) of what's in each chapter on CD. Then you hit the book. Be prepared to spend about an hour or so on each of the 12 chapters.

As you move from chapter to chapter you'll gain new skills. And, Deke's made it easy to go back and review specific skills that might become a little rusty.

If every "how to" book was as well planned and executed as this book/CD, we'd all get more work (and fun) done quicker with greater confidence.

I'm only about half way through this book but already I can tell it is a different sort of photoshop tutorial, one of the most effective I've seen. As a connoisseur of photoshop books (I have almost everyone out on the market) I've seen them all. If you are looking for a good tutorial, this one is the best one for you. It trumps the adobe photoshop cs classroom in a book and all the others. The videos are great, the sidebars are informative, the exercises will have you up and running with photoshop in no time.