Most Helpful Customer Reviews
133 of 133 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superlative Content for the Serious Beginner, June 27, 2007
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-On-One (Paperback)
§
It has been a long while since I have been as enthusiastic about a book as this one. Deke McClelland has targeted my demographic with a practiced eye: people who use Photoshop and who want to use it more -- but who are completely intimidated and lost in the bowels of that "vast and ungainly behemoth." It helps that the author, who clearly loves this tool, maintains a refreshing irreverence toward it.
The book is organized in a "Read - Watch - Do" way. The "watch" part comes from the 3 hours of instructional video that is included with the book DVD. The DVD also contains example files and other material that McClelland shows how to use to set up your copy of Photoshop in the most useful manner.
The instructional videos blew me away with their information density. There is incredible content here. So far going through the book, I found it valuable to watch each more than once. The video material does not repeat the written instruction -- it complements it.
The book itself is beautiful and well-organized. It has a wide format that lies flat to make following along while at the mouse or keyboard easier. It is 500 pages long but is not overwhelming, like a reference. All the material is encompassed in 12 lessons. These 12 lessons teach the basic skills needed to use the tool effectively whether your focus is the Web or print.
A note of interest to those who have not upgraded to CS3 yet: I noticed in sharing this book that people with CS2 will be quite comfortable following along. The author clears away whatever obstacles may come up for you.
One last note: I know the editorial review above says there are only 2 hours of video with the book, not 3 as I stated. I have no idea why they rounded off 2 hours and 54 minutes that way. I guess they figured, as I do, that the features of this book could be understated and still be worthy of superlatives.
§
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
108 of 112 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lavish Intro to Photoshop CS3, July 12, 2007
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-On-One (Paperback)
"Adobe Photoshop CS 3: One on One," is a lavishly-produced book providing an introduction to the main features and tools of Photoshop CS 3. It is part of a series of "One-on-One" books published by Deke Press/O'Reilly and is geared towards the beginner-intermediate user and is designed to mimic hands-on instruction from computer graphics master, Deke McClelland, and it is as close to a personal set of lessons from an accomplished professional as can be imagined. Each tutorial sets out step by step instructions and explanations using simple comparison images, program screenshots, and clearly-expressed text. The text is enhanced by a companion DVD correlated with the step-by-step process of the tutorials.
A dozen lessons cover the major elements of Photoshop, from manipulating luminosity, making color corrections, selections, masking, layered compositions, text and shapes, and more. The book contains hundreds of full color photographs and screenshots. Every step of each tutorial is expressed in clear, concise prose, punctuated with professional insights and the author's mostly self-deprecating humor. McClelland is candid in his assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Photoshop tools used in the tutorials.
The tutorials are complemented by "Pearls of Wisdom" spread throughout which are topical tips on how professionals like McClelland use Photoshop tools in the real world. There are sidebar "Extra Credits" providing bits of advanced instruction, or reference to Web sources were extra material can be found. Many of the tutorials include separate, but related, sections emphasizing concepts and theory like color channels and the math and logic behind various Photoshop tools. There are simple "tests" at the end of each chapter designed to help reinforce the lessons in the tutorials for the introductory user.
The author acknowledges that Photoshop is a complicated program, difficult to learn, and can be intimidating, nevertheless, he does a fine job motivating the reader to continue through the instruction (even though a particular process may have up to 23 steps to complete!) I think this book is a standout among the many Photoshop guides available. Certainly, it's production values equal or exceed those of any competitor.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Serious PS CS3, July 24, 2007
This review is from: Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-On-One (Paperback)
This book provides excellent instruction in the use of Photoshop CS3 for those who've never used Photoshop before. The book includes a CD, with quick time movies, and images to use in conjunction with the lessons in the book.
The book's method is to introduce each chapter with a movie of about fifteen minutes. The author then provides tutorials on each subject, such as say, masking, that require the reader to upload one or more images into Adobe Photoshop CS3, and then to perform a series of steps to process that image, with emphasis on the use of the tools covered by that chapter. McClelland writes clearly and is easily understood, and the book is profusely illustrated, with screen saves that show almost every step along the way. To benefit the most, you must follow the tutorials from beginning to end, working at your computer. This is made even more important by the fact that Photoshop techniques that don't fall into a major category, like moving all or part of an image, are introduced in the chapters on the major categories, like creating and applying a mask.
One of the main problems of any Photoshop book is that that a single image will usually involve several different functions, like tone adjustment, color correction and sharpening to optimize. Yet the material must be presented one step at a time, so that it may take many hours of work before one understands how to process a single image. This is even more true in this book's case, where McClelland will discuss a single process in progressively more complex variations in a single chapter. The beginner who is anxious to show his work may find it difficult to labor through all of the exercises before he can present a picture.
A second problem is created by Photoshop itself, which is a tool for both photographers and graphic designers. The author often presents matters that are of little interest to the former, but of high concern to the latter.
Moreover there are certain tools that are of special interest to photographers that are not covered in great detail, like the use of Adobe Camera Raw, Adobe's front end to Photoshop.
If you are a photographer interested in quickly learning to get images processed, you might be more interested in one of the PS CS3 books aimed specifically at photographers, like Tim Grey's "Photoshop CS3 Workflow". If you are already an experienced Photoshop user who just wants to learn what's new in CS3, Ben Willmore's "Adobe Photoshop CS3: Up to Speed" is for you. What's clear is that you probably will need to read many books before you feel you are getting the most from Photoshop.
Finally this book does not cover the 4.1 update to Camera Raw.
If you want to learn PS CS3 in all its variations, this is an excellent book, providing one recognizes that it will require a commitment of time and effort. If that is your goal, this book will do a fine job.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
