How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS2 [Paperback]

Colin Smith (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072261609 | ISBN-13: 978-0072261608 | Publication Date: May 12, 2005 | Edition: 2

In this full-color, easy-to-use book, award-winning designer and best-selling author Colin Smith teaches the fundamentals of Photoshop then covers the more advanced features the software has to offer. Learn to use traditional drawing and painting tools ranging from pencils to airbrushes, then discover how to add and manipulate text, retouch photos, create special effects, and more. The techniques professional artists apply to their work are revealed in a special "Behind the Scenes" section.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Maximize all the features Photoshop has to offer with help from this full-color guide. Award-winning designer Colin Smith shows you how to create, edit, and enhance sophisticated images and feature-rich web pages using this powerful graphics tool. You’ll learn to use all of Photoshop’s painting and drawing tools, fix and retouch photos, add special effects, print high-quality images, and much more. A bonus “Behind the Scenes” gallery demonstrates the Photoshop techniques used by professional artists.

• Manage the interface, toolbar, palettes, options, and preferences
• Import, place, organize, and size images and adjust resolution
• Edit, repair, retouch, and organize digital photos
• Draw and paint with the built-in tools
• Create and manipulate text
• Use and manage multiple layers
• Create a variety of colors using channels
• Automate tasks using tool presets, actions, droplets, and other methods
• Create bevels, sheens, shadows, and other special effects
• Use ImageReady to create Web graphics
• Set up your Photoshop file for high quality printing

About the author: Colin Smith is an award-winning graphic designer and author or co-author of 11 graphic design books including Photoshop and Dreamweaver Integration. He is also founder and publisher of the #1 resource site for Photoshop users, photoshopcafe.com.

About the Author

Colin Smith is a best-selling author, trainer, and award-winning new-media designer who has caused a stir in the design community with his stunning photorealistic illustrations composed entirely in Photoshop. He is founder of the world’s most popular Photoshop resource site, PhotoshopCAFE.com, which boasts more than two million visitors.

With over ten years of experience in the design industry, Colin was formerly Senior Editor and Art Director for VOICE magazine. He is a regular columnist for Photoshop User magazine, PlanetPhotoshop.com, and the official site of the National Association for Photoshop Professionals. He also contributes to a number of other graphic art publications, such as Mac Design magazine, Web Designer magazine and Computer Arts magazine.

Colin’s graphic design work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Guru awards at Photoshop World 2001 and 2002, for his work in both illustration and web design. He’s authored or co-authored more than ten books on Photoshop, including the best-selling How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2003) and award-winning Photoshop Most Wanted: Effects and Design Tips (A Press/Friends of Ed, 2002). Colin is also creator of the Photoshop Secrets Video training series (PhotoshopCD.com). He is in high demand across the United States as a lecturer, presenting his Photoshop techniques to Web designers and other graphics professionals across the nation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 2 edition (May 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072261609
• ISBN-13: 978-0072261608
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #724,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Colin Smith is a best-selling author, trainer, and award-winning new-media designer who has caused a stir in the design community with his stunning photorealistic illustrations composed entirely in Photoshop. Colin is also known as a pioneer of HDR photography. He is founder of the world's most popular Photoshop resource site, PhotoshopCAFE.com, which boasts over 20 million visitors.

With over 15 years of experience in the creative industry, Colin was formerly Senior Editor and Creative Director for VOICE magazine. He is a regular columnist for Photoshop User magazine. He has been featured in most major imaging magazines including, Computer Arts, Macworld, After Capture, PSD Photoshop, Advanced Photoshop, Photoshop Creative, Digital Photographer, Web Designer magazine and a host of others..

Colin's graphic design work has been recognized with numerous awards, including, MacWorld Digital Design and 3 Guru awards at Photoshop World 2001 and 2002, for his work in both Illustration and Web Design. He's authored or co-authored more than eighteen books on Photoshop, including the best-selling How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS and CS2 (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2005) and award-winning Photoshop Most Wanted: Effects and Design Tips (A Press/Friends Of Ed, 2002). Colin is also creator of the Photoshop Secrets Video training series (PhotoshopCD.com). He is in high demand across the United States as a lecturer, presenting his Photoshop techniques to Photographers and graphics professionals across the nation. He has been a speaker at such conferednces as Flash Forward, NVision, Photoshop World, PIDE, WPPI, PIDE, DL Expo, Creative Suite Conference, Cre8, Create Chaos, Deviant Art Summit and many more. In 2008 Colin was the featured speaker for a Sold out Multi-City Tour (Flash Summer Camp) Sponsored by Adobe and Lynda.com. Colin has consulted such companies as Adobe Systems, Edison International, Apple and Disney Studios.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The information was well written and to the point, December 10, 2005

By 

D-MAG.org Reviewer (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS2 (Paperback)

This book is my first introduction to Colin Smith. Prior to reading the book I decided to visit his site to see what kind of designer he is, and how he uses Photoshop. His site listed some of his awards and displayed some of his techniques, of which I might add are pretty impressive. After visiting his site I decided to read/skim through the book to see what kind of information he would present. Being that I've been using Photoshop for some time, I wasn't expecting to learn much from the book. I was expecting a bunch of very basic information for users new to Photoshop. To my surprise the book covered everything from the fundamental to the more advanced techniques and tools used in Photoshop.

The information was well written and to the point. The wording wasn't cumbersome which made the reading interesting as opposed to the boring monotony of user manuals. The writing felt more like a conversation as opposed to a read, of the which I enjoyed.

Not only was the information thorough, so was the colorful layout. The colors were used in tandem with the layout making it easy to follow the topical layout. The colors in the layout as well as the colorful images used in the tutorials were eye catching and interest keeping. The colors were useful in conveying the information provided. This also helped as a reference guide, because each topic was emboldened in a purple font making it easy to flip through and find the topics that may catch your interest.

Also included was a behind the scenes gallery with techniques from Photoshop professionals. This section introduces the reader to real world techniques used by professionals in the design industry. I particularly liked this section, because I'm always interested in how others get to the end result. The step-by-steps were easy to follow along and even recreate.

I would recommend this book to the novice and any ongoing Photoshop user. The book was well put together and entertaining. I would have liked it better if the book came with a bonus CD of images or plug-ins. Even still, the easy to use style makes it a welcome addition to any Photoshop library.

Lafe Taylor
Member, D-MAG.org

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to do Everything with Photoshop CS2, January 3, 2006

By 

Darren "Daz" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS2 (Paperback)

This book has 14 chapters packed with fun and knowledgeable facts about Photoshop CS2, ranging from basic to advanced techniques.
It all starts with getting to know Photoshop CS2 Workspace and Organizing Palettes.
Some nice and clean diagrams of the tool box and a good brief rundown of each tool, (ideal if you are an absolute beginner). Intermediate/Advanced users will probably know this. Also a nice section for the beginner is the common color modes and common file types.
Through out the book there are Notes, Shortcuts, Tips and cautions which are pretty easy to see, they are in blue type.
If you are an Intermediate or/Advanced user and just want to brush up on the new features/tools in Photoshop CS2, this book is for you, they are all in here, Spot Healing brush, Smart Objects, Vanishing Point etc.... There is far too much good information in the book to put it all in this review.
The book also involves Image Ready when you take it to the web.
At the back of the book there is a section called, "Behind the Scenes" which is a gallery with techniques from some of the pros, it shows what you can do in Photoshop.

This book is well put together and very easy to follow.
Basic beginners will have no trouble understanding PhotoshopCS2, plenty of clear visual figures.
All in all, there is something for everyone in this book. Very handy for the beginner and intermediate, advance users will pick up some good tips and tricks.
It may lose a point/star for not having a CD-Rom with the book, but that would be from a beginner's point of view. As an advanced user, I don't feel you need a CD-Rom; the easy to follow style of the book makes it a good choice for everyone.

I give it 5 (five) out of 5 (five)
Suggested retail $29.99

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Layers are the key idea, August 13, 2005

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS2 (Paperback)

This book is best suited for someone already using Photoshop, and who knows the basics of it. Smith focuses on more powerful and also more complicated methods available within CS2. [Though as an aside, the moniker CS2 seems so clumsy. Like an HP product label.]

Of these, perhaps one of the most powerful ideas is layers. That you can compose an image out of several layers. Where each layer can essentially be manipulated independently of the others. And the objects in a layer can thence be moved around, relative to another layer, until you get a satisfactory juxtaposition.

It is worth your time to thoroughly study what Smith has to say about layers. Because without layers, an image is often no more than a collection of coloured pixels. Layers are like object oriented programming, to use a rough analogy.