Customer Reviews

How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements 6: Create stunning photomontages on a budget (How to Cheat in)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

How to Cheat in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 is a wonderful look at how to create some of the effects I've been wondering about. The manual is very easy to read with loads of beautiful images to compliment the intrustional text, making learning even easier. The step by step instructions are easy to understand and its just a matter of following the steps to create your own digital manipulations that make your photos look great.
I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in photography, digital art, or scrapbooking.

This book concentrates on techniques for creating photomontages, and it does it really well. Although it's a fairly specific use of Adobe's `baby' photo editing application, the subject is covered excellently by two authors who clearly know their stuff.

The book is based around Elements 6 for Windows (all the keyboard shortcuts refer to a Windows keyboard). I'm not sure whether there'll be an update when the upcoming Mac version is released but as a user of the current beta on a MacBook I didn't find it too much of a problem to use all the techniques, and they can equally be applied to CS3 if you're lucky (or rich) enough to be running that on either platform. However, the authors make it clear that the techniques work equally well with all versions of Elements from 3 onwards.

This is not necessarily a book for newcomers to Elements - it does assume some basic knowledge, although the first sections cover some more basic photomontage techniques such as selection operations, layer masks, and levels, but if you want to learn how to use the application you're better off looking elsewhere.

I like the layout a lot -- each work-through is presented on a double page spread which is great for working with the book alongside your monitor.

The book is split into 12 sections divided into individual work-throughs with the first 4 covering some basic techniques, leading through to the creation of some pretty complex images.

It's great for dipping in and out of and includes `interludes' at the end of each section covering various topics of interest to digital artists, photographers and general Elements users, and `hot tips' alongside each work-through highlighting related Photoshop techniques.

A CD is supplied which is nicely put together with high quality psd images as starting points for the work-throughs and QuickTime movies to illustrate many of the more complex techniques. Where these are provided for a work-through a symbol appears on the page. The CD is generally easy to navigate and includes some useful extras.

There's a dedicated web site with readers forum to discuss the content of the book with the authors and other Elements users - it's nice that the authors seem to dedicate their time to answering queries and providing assistance to their readers.

Although I've not really done a lot of photomontage work before, this book has fired my imagination and introduced me to some useful general techniques for use in both Elements and CS3.

Look out for some of my photomontages on Flickr soon!

How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements is a book that can be picked up and immediately put to good use by the novice or experienced user. This book will have a place in in my "go to" stack. David and Steve take a light hearted approach that gives the basic steps to a project technique in a single two page spread. If you need more detail the project file tutorials are included on the CD. There are also some nice goodies on the CD. Almost all of the projects covered can be completed in other PSE versions - the authors note when a tool is only available in PSE6. The command use is geared to the PC user - a simple conversion. If you are looking for a photo montage project book, choose this one.

How to Cheat in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6: Create stunning photomontages on a budget (How to Cheat in) (How to Cheat in) is a wonderful book. And a must have for both the beginner and advanced user of Photoshop Elements. The lessons are quick and easy to learn, and each lesson carries on to the next. The videos and website are also a great add-on to help with any questions one may have.

I found this book east to understand. Great tips, and I loved it. I had tried to download some tutorials off the internet and found them hard and confusing.
This book gave step by step and clear instructions.

I can't even get through the first exercise! There is nothing that explains which tool is which on the screen. There is no audio to tell you what to do. You have to read, then act. And if you don't pick the right tool, you have to redo everything. I am so frustrated right now I could scream!

Great step-by-step instructions. The illustrations and presentation of material are clear. The book layout is very inviting. This book gives you instant gratification. You can create and modify digital images quickly. The results are stunning. Highly recommend this book.

I haven't had a lot of time to put this into action yet, but have read a lot of it already. It's written in plain English and looks as if it will be easy enough for an old timer like myself to follow the instructions.

It became apparent on Page 10 where the authors referenced the "Magic Selection Brush" instead of "Quick Selection Tool" that they didn't look at Photoshop Elements 6 when writing their book "How to Cheat...". As a new user of Elements 6 I put the book down after this frustrating experience. "How to Cheat..." is an appropriate title, for this wasted purchase. Two stars is generous.

This is the eighth book on elements that I've worked through. It is the worst of the bunch. The directions are very unclear, with a lot that you have to figure out for yourself. The screenshots are nearly impossible to read because of size and color. The CD is not very straightforward it its labeling. It takes some fishing to find the right pictures to work on. There are a fair number of pictures with no apparent use. It is definitely not a book for a beginner.