Customer Reviews

Adobe Photoshop CS3: Up to Speed

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There are a lot of good books becoming available on Photoshop CS3, but if you are an experienced user of PS CS2 who has switched to CS3, you probably don't want to spend your time wading through information on PS that you already know. "Up to Speed" is aimed at you.

Ben Willmore covers just the features that have been added (and deleted) between PS CS2 and PS CS3. Moreover, he usually doesn't spend a lot of time telling you how to apply a feature if it's one whose application will be obvious to an experienced user. On the other hand, some of the new functions may not be so intuitively obvious and in that case he provides examples of the possible applications.

Willmore's writing is clear, concise, and understandable. That means the busy photographer will not have to spend a lot of time learning what the new features do, although most readers will benefit from reading everything the author writes. I thought that I understood everything about the new features from what I had read on the web or in general books about CS3, but there were several points I either never saw or missed. For example, selecting a group of pictures in Bridge by control-dragging a box around them isn't the only way to select adjacent pictures, but it does save a couple of seconds, and I had missed it.

Occasionally, Wilmore will pause to review a fundamental concept to clarify how a new feature will work. His short explanation of how curves adjustments work was one of the most lucid I ever read. Even though Willmore suggests that people comfortable with curves can skip his introductory section, don't skip it unless you are really comfortable. (It's only five pages!)

Willmore is not afraid to criticize Adobe for features that he thinks make no sense or are confusing. For example he says about Camera Raw's ability to process JPEG's, "I can't believe Adobe has released a feature with such a poorly thought out workflow."

I've heard a reader's complaint about the fact that the book has fallen apart. At just over 150 pages, the book is too thick to saddle stitch and too thin to use better binding methods. Despite that, readers should expect a book to hold together, but experienced users should not be deterred from reading this book, even if it falls apart. It's still the best book to help make the transition to PS CS3 for the experienced user. The audience for this book doesn't want something thicker. On the other hand, one might be tempted to say that a book this thin shouldn't have a cover price of almost thirty bucks. But the time experienced users will save by not having to sort through familiar material may make it a bargain.

Unfortunately, Adobe has already issued an update to CS3 that adds other features to CS3 that aren't covered in this book. Hopefully, Peachpit Press will provide protected content on their website explaining the new features the same way that they have provided a PDF update for Scott Kelby's Lightroom book.

For anyone upgrading from CS2 to CS3 (or even from CS), this is the one book that will get you fluent faster than any other book. Don't let the relatively slim size of the book fool you. Ben packs in all the information so that you can figure out how to take advantage of the new interface, with the new Palettes, the Dock, and how to most efficiently use it. The new Bridge interface and features is covered in depth, as is Camera Raw 4, the new look for layer, improvements to Curves (after all these years), Vanishing Point, the Quick Selection tool, and all the rest. I got Ben's last version of this book when CS2 came out and it helped me master the new features in a few days, rather than weeks. If you've read the articles, seen the NAPP videos (great, at photoshopuser.com, but lacking the detail of this book) and you are ready to get seriously into CS3, this book will take you there.

As everyone has reported: the book is terrific, the binding is trash; however there is a fix. After my book fell apart in several places, I carefully separated and arranged all of the pages. A trip to my local Staples store (any other major office supply store would likely work as well) to have the book spiral bound nicely remedied the problem. (Additional cost - less than $4.00)

A good quick presentation of the new features of the Photoshop CS3 upgrade. Much better than the Adobe Classroom in a Book Adobe Photoshop CS3 volume. You need to be knowledgeable of CS2 to use this book.

Photoshop is a deep product, and if you have been working with it for a while you likely already have a number of very thick How-To books. Being reluctant to purchase yet another thick, expensive Photoshop book, I picked up this. Fantastic! Covers all the new stuff in depth, and better than some of the other books I have. (I didn't experience any quality issues as mentioned in other reviews.)

As a previous reviewer noted, the binding seems to be lacking in this book. Fortunately, Amazon's customer service came through again (as I knew they would) and replaced my book in a very timely manner when I let them know it had fallen apart.

The content of the book is excellent. I upgraded from CS to CS3, so there were a few features the author discusses that don't apply to the CS version, but he writes in such a clear manner, sometimes even describing the features that were new in CS2, I still had no problem getting up to speed in CS3.

I highly recommend the book, keeping in mind that if you read it, it will most likely fall apart. Even though that is a big frustration for me when reading a book, the information inside is so valuable, it's worth the chance.

As usual Ben Wilmore brings you up to speed quickly. High quality content is what we have come to expect from Mr. Wilmore and in the past Peachpit has provided a quality home for quality content, but not this time. I read one review that suggested the poor quality binding was due to the publication having the wrong number of pages! The publisher had at least one other option, they could have used a spiral binding if they couldn't do anything else. And for that reviewer who seemed to wonder if the readers were more interested in the construction than the content; I'm interested in both, I paid for both. Peachpit needs to fix the binding problem and offer a replacement to those who have already purchased.

This book is aimed at an audience familiar with Photoshop2 and Bridge and in that capacity it is excellent. There are so many big changes with the upgrade to CS3 that I think it would have taken me forever to stumble through them on my own. The book was very helpful. However, this is not a book for new users of CS3. It is limited to the upgrade changes from CS2 to CS3.
My only complaint about the book is that the binding on my copy is horrible. The darn thing is falling apart.

It's great having a book that concentrates only on the new features of Photoshop. Clear writing, well illustrated. The only caveat is that some of the features seem to be based on the beta version and have been improved in the released version. Ben Willmore is a great resource for serious photoshop users.

This book is exceptionally well organized, wonderfully written and beautifully illustrated. It is tightly focused on the differences from CS2--->CS3.

Each difference is carefully explained. New feature treatments include illuminating and fully illustrated how-to's. Willmore is a master Photoshop teacher, and he writes as well as he teaches.

As for the book's design, it is a gorgeous piece of work, a model of how software books should be designed and illustrated.

In my opinion, if you are moving from CS2 to CS3, and don't have this book, you are hurting.