Customer Reviews

Dynamic Learning: Photoshop CS3

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Maybe it's because of the split personality that Photoshop has, being designed for use by both graphics professionals and photographers. Maybe a book that explains Photoshop for graphic artists is different from a book for photographers. I don't think so. And this book is not for photographers.

For a while now I've been thinking that there must be a better way to teach beginners how to use Photoshop. This book, part of a new series by the publisher, looked like it might be a better way. It's not.

First the good points. The book is made up of tutorials that require you to load an image file from the CD included with the book and then perform various operations on the file. The book is written in the simplest, easy to understand language and the tutorial instructions are crystal clear. There are videos tied to each chapter that run on a computer.

Now the bad points. The organization of the book is ill considered, placing information in the beginning of the book that is inappropriate for beginners. The book doesn't provide essential information, particularly for photographers. The videos are a mere repetition of material in the text.

Consider the organization. The book starts out explaining the significant differences between Photoshop CS2 and CS3. But if you are a beginner, the differences are irrelevant. The following chapters deal with compositing pictures. That is one of the last things a beginner needs to know. He or she first needs to know how to manipulate a photograph for tone and color correction.

There is nothing that tells a reader how to get a picture from a camera into a computer, which is a major function of Bridge, an essential element of PS CS3. There is nothing that explains the nature of tonality, the manipulation of which has been essential to successful photography almost from photography's beginning. There is scant instruction on any of the basic controls to manipulate the tone and color of an image.

My first instinct was to give this book the poorest rating possible, but I must confess that some of the chapters on more advanced techniques, like the nature of levels, were quite good (although not good enough to make up for the shortcomings, at least as far as a beginner is concerned.)

As far as I can see, there is no magic bullet for photographers who want to learn Photoshop. A serious beginner might want to start his or her Photoshop learning with Barry Haynes "Photoshop Artistry: For Photographers Using Photoshop CS2 and Beyond (Voices That Matter)", following the book's suggested outline for beginners, and as one's skills developed, to return to the intermediate and then advanced outline. It will be slow going but you will learn what you need to process pictures well in Photoshop. If you've mastered Haynes version of Photoshop you can fill in the upgrade to PS CS3 with Ben Willmore's short and concise "Adobe Photoshop CS3: Up to Speed".

By the way, this volume doesn't cover the latest upgrades to PS CS3, but given the cursory treatment of tone and color controls, that scarcely seems to make a difference to an evaluation of this book.

As mentioned in other reviews, I am currently study every aspect of digital photography as part of my own conversion to the new technology. Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS3 is an important part of that overall process.

Having already attended courses and studied other books, I began to work my way through this particular offering. My overall conclusion is that all the information is here but in a very badly organised product. Make no mistake, this book can be most frustrating. Had I not already received a fair grounding in the subject I might have discarded this book but I persevered and found the approach to various aspects of Adobe CS3 to be easier than some of those taught elsewhere.

Just in case you are not aware, you MUST have already installed Adobe Photoshop CS3 before you are able to run and use the tutorial DVD which accompanies this book. Installing that DVD is straightforward with instructions that are very easy to follow. One installed, you will need to leave the DVD in your computer for further reference.

At the beginning of each chapter we are invited to watch the relevant video tutorial for that lesson. This is where expert Jennifer Smith goes through the various options on her own computer screen which is reproduced in smaller format onto your own screen. Unfortunately, she rushes through each item so quickly, I found it difficult to follow her cursor as it dashed around my screen at a speed which served no purpose. Pause, rewind play again, pause rewind and play again is all you can do against a backdrop of a delivery which is far too hurried and objectives which were forever obscure. The three basics ingredients for any teaching procedure are; Introduction, meat and recap. These were sadly lacking.

Elsewhere, the book itself is in dire need of reorganisation. Lesson 3, for example, includes a résumé of all the tools available to the user of Adobe CS3. So what were we using in Lessons 1 and 2? Surely such essential information should have been put in the very first chapter!

There are also a number of very basic errors which should have been eliminated at the proof reading stage. Proof reading for a book of this type should have included a thorough check of all information to ensure the tutorials were accurate. In Lesson 4, for example, we are told to move two of the 12 pictures to another folder - where they remain. Much later in the same lesson we are then required to organise the remaining pictures into two rows of 6 thus indicating someone has forgotten that only 10 are left. This is very poor. In a word - shoddy! Finally, I respect books and "never" write in them. On this product, however, I had to make a number of written corrections. They all relate to silly little things and give the overall impression of the publishers being in a hurry to publish.

Leaving all that poor organisation and the infuriating errors to one side, I did find the content to be very good. Pity really, because it could so easily have been excellent. If you can tolerate the down side of this book, you really are likely to learn a great deal. Furthermore, some of the techniques described, make a specific task far easier to achieve when viewed alongside some of the more complicated procedures taught elsewhere.

NM

For anyone intimidated by Adobe's Photoshop CS3 mountain of information and how to approach it, there is the helpful book, DYNAMIC LEARNING PHOTOSHOP CS3, which includes video tutorials and lesson files on DVD. Dynamic Learning has a series of books, and Photoshop CS3 is easy to find, just look for the blue frog! Also included is Jennifer Smith, certified Adobe expert, who will instruct you through the thirteen DVD lessons which are explained in much greater detail in the corresponding thirteen lessons outlined in the book.

System requirements for Windows or Mac, how to load the lessons and the lesson files, the importance of resetting your defaults for each chapter and everything you could possibly ever need to know is covered in careful detail. A newcomer to Photoshop could easily follow these instructions. Each and every step is explained down to the smallest detail, in a clear and concise way.

I found it helpful to watch the video first, read the lesson through and then actually do the lesson in the book using all the expanded explanations. (We all know a video is worth ten thousand words.) This allowed me to set my own pace, quickly glossing over what I already knew about Photoshop and to spend more time on what was new to me.

After the start up session, Dynamic Learning digs right into doing a little creation. Instead of the boring part of getting to know your way around the tools and palettes and the layout of your workspace, you get to actually do a project first. I found this interesting and a way to encourage me on to the following lessons.

The tutorials are great, Ms. Smith whisks you through the lessons and a slider makes it easy to back up and go over the instructions as often as is necessary for you to grasp the concept of that lesson.

Each chapter concludes with a self study project and review questions along with the answers right there where you need them. The projects reinforce what you have learned and can be fun, whether you use the provided images in the lesson files and/or substitute your own, which can make it more interesting and personal. These projects also let you evaluate how much you have learned or if you need to reconsider backtracking on the lesson.

Overall, I found a wealth of information spread throughout the lessons regarding color and its importance as to how it conveys when printed, displayed on a monitor or viewed on other devices. And, if understanding color is the life blood of Photoshop, then layers is the muscle to support and manipulate it. Two lessons are devoted entirely to learning the effectiveness and value of layers. If you can master layers, you have unlimited flexibility to generate creative images, your creative images!

In case anyone wants to further pursue their Dynamic Learning experience, there are resources beyond this book and DVD. Training videos and conferences are available as are in person seminars conducted by the authors of the Adobe Suite series. Information is also available for educators on line.

Considering the expense of Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended, the small price paid for Dynamic Learning Photoshop CS3 seems like a worthwhile expense. The books step by step learning process is a great aid to becoming proficient with Adobe Photoshop CS3 and that's why you bought it in the first place.

This book is one of the WORST books I have ever had the displeasure of trying to read and learn software from!!! The book is horribly disjointed....topics are not in any logical order to learn CS3 in.....the first several chapters go into advanced topics such as layer masks, merging images and creative 'smart' filters.......

I am not sure who the authors thought they were teaching...but, its surely not a new user to CS3...prior to chapter 1 the book makes no mention of any assumed level of prior photoshop CS or CS2 knowledge........it covers beginning basics later in the book.....but, a new user is already lost and frustrated trying to figure out advanced functions in the first 4 chapters!.......by page 43 (of 339 pages)...the book is teaching editing smart objects and vector shapes and adding layer effects onto artwork!!!......toss this book!!!!!

I can't imagine another software program that has inspired more third party books than Adobe Photoshop. Which book should you buy? With all the competition, you want the best value for your money. This book is one of a few that I have recently seen which comes with a DVD. The book is in full color and divided into lessons. The DVD contains the files you need to follow the lessons step by step. There are also 13 video tutorials on the disc and a bunch of other resources you can use to learn more than what is in the book.

As you may know, you pay quite a lot to purchase training videos, so getting 13 tutorials with a book is a pretty good deal. You get the best of both worlds--training videos and printed lessons you can follow at your own pace. The videos that come on the DVD included can be viewed with Adobe's free Flash Player. Since most web browsers have the Flash plug-in installed, I was able to drag and drop each video into my open web page to view it. Flash videos are quite clear and easy to look at. They are also very small in size compared to QuickTime and other formats but you wouldn't know it to look at it.

In this book, the lessons try to teach you how Photoshop works by using particular projects. One project teaches you all about using Layers and another is all about making selections. With Photoshop, some of the lessons require many steps. I don't always remember all the steps later. I have come to the conclusion that when I see certain effects that I would use a lot, those are the ones I try to learn most intensely. Like many of us, I have a digital camera and take a lot of pictures. Pictures of people can usually be improved upon whether it is just blurring the background to focus more on the person or adjusting the color so the skin looks more natural. It is also fun to occasionally do something crazy--like adding a duck to a picture of hundreds of penguins (one of the lessons in this book).

The pages are nice glossy paper in full color, making it a pleasure to look at.

Dynamic Learning Photoshop CS3 is a good Introduction to Photoshop CS3 for people that are starting to use Photoshop. If you are middle to an advanced level user you might find the book too basic. The book covers new features of Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended. It provides information for graphics professionals and photographers so it does have some what of spilt personality but I did not find that a problem because I do photography and web design.

I am making the transition from Abode Photoshop Elements to the Photoshop CS3 Extended so some of the features are new to me. I found the book to be at the right level for someone who is new to Photoshop.

The book gives you three different ways to learn with each chapter in the book. You can read the book, you can read the book and follow the projects that come on the DVD, or you can watch the Adobe Flash videos on the DVD. I found reading the book hard to follow without being in front of the computer and following the project steps. The video does give you enough detail to do the project but the chapter videos are fast paced compared to Training video from Lynda.com, Studio Works, or Total Training. The nice thing is you can look back at the instructions in the book without having to re-watch the video. A nice feature is you can copy the video to your hard drive so you do not have to carry are around the DVD or with Lynda.com online training you have to have an internet connection. I like in the video because there are certain items that are hard to describe on paper which make it so much easy to explain visually. One of the items that is a lot easier to understand by video is the vanishing point filter. The author shows how to put a picture on a white product box.

The book also gives some small demos on how the Photoshop works with other Adobe software such as Adobe Illustrator and shows you how Photoshop work together.

I find when I launch the Flash video for each chapter it does not seem to go anywhere. It takes time to load the video so be patient. When I picked up the book to review it did not realize how extensive the video tutorial was. The book seems expensive at $44.99 because of the size of the book for that price but if you realize how much effort the author has but into the video on the DVD the book is a good value. You get a book, project files, and videos for that price. I think O'Reailly the books publisher should emphasize the how extensive the videos are on the front cover of the book.

I found the book a good learning tool as long as you what a book that covers information for graphic professionals and photographers. As some one that is use to Adobe Photoshop Elements and moving to the full version of Photoshop I found the book helpful for me to understand Photoshop CS3.

Dynamic Learning-Photoshop CS3
This new book teaches the workings of Photoshop CS3. The book consists of 13 Lessons (chapters) and an index, in 349 pages. The first lesson describes the new features of Photoshop CS3, of which there are quite a few. Further lessons teach the use of Selections, Layers, Painting and Retouching, Filters, Smart Objects, and creating images for the Web, video, and print.

The book is printed on glossy paper with illustrations and screen captures in color throughout. There are useful tables, such as the one describing all the tools, another on understanding file formats. Lesson 8 has a good Color Primer section which describes the RGB and CMYK color spaces.

The DVD which comes with the book has all the images used the lessons, plus 13 tutorial videos(about five minutes each) corresponding to each of the lessons in the text. This book provides a good working knowledge of the Photoshop CS3 program, for the reader.

This is the best book, for learning Photoshop, that I've found. Even though I have Photoshop CS5, now, I still find myself going back to this book. This latest copy was bought for my daughter because I didn't want to part with my copy!

When you are trying to learn a program it helps to do it with short projects that give you the feeling you have accomplished a lot, and this book does just that.

Even on the first few lessons you get a very good sense of accomplishment and explanations as to why you should do this or that in this particular fashion. Photoshop itself offers several different ways to accomplish tasks, and I felt that the majority of the tasks performed during the exercises were an optimized way to performed them.

The language was very easy to follow and having a video to guide you for part of the lesson was very helpful.

Not a beginner with this stuff. But not primarily a photoshop user.
This book has some good tutorials. The dvd is a bonus. Definitely a great place to start for a beginner...