Customer Reviews

Inside Adobe Photoshop 5

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If you buy this book to help you with Photoshop 5.0 LE that came with your printer or scanner; you WILL have trouble following the examples. The text pertains to the FULL version of Photoshop, not the limited edition. Sometimes you can work around that, but many times the advanced features are crucial to the lesson.

Gary Bouton and the "Inside" team decided it was time to put aside all the warmed-over Photoshop how-to materials and get down to some person to person mentoring. __ Inside Photoshop 5 is not another heavy book that simply rehashes the manual. (Although it is over 700 pages) The manner and tone of this book will teach you the solid techniques of Photoshop in a friendly way. You'll learn the processes from start to finish, in terms you can relate to and understand. This isn't a text book. Gary approaches every aspect of Photoshop as if it were a client assignment in your own studio. You learn how to approach projects and, most importantly, why. It's deep, well written, and easy to read. __ If you get one Photoshop book for version 5, make it this one. (1998 Editor's Choice AWARD, DT&G Magazine, The Design & Publishing Center at Graphic-Design.com )

This book is a good choice as the first book to start learning Photoshop. The author does not waste time explaining layers, paths, and menus. Instead, it guides you through the sequence of increasingly complicated tasks by telling you which buttons to press to achieve the desirable effect. Initially I was very excited with the book since I had a wonderful feeling that I could do some image editing already after an hour or so after I started working with Photoshop. However, I was somewhat disappointed when after 500 pages or so I realized that many of the tools which I see on the screen were never mentioned in the book, and that I still do not always understand what is the meaning of the steps which I am doing, and what is the function of the buttons I am pressing (since the author never cared to explain). There are also some missing files on the enclosed CD, and some mistakes in the text. Hence, it is a good book to start with (if you never worked with the program before), but not an ultimate guide to Photoshop.

This is a good Photoshop book, but it's not the best one to use to learn Photoshop, not is it the easiest to follow. My biggest complaint is that the instructions tell you to click this or press that key, but no explanation is provided as to why. I have to make extensive use of the on-line Help and frequently refer to other Photoshop books to understand key concepts.

I also find the organization of the book a bit haphazard. Lessons present concepts in a disorganized fashion -- for example, some info on a specific selection tool, some more info on layers, and one or two "advanced" concepts (not properly explained, either) thrown in just to keep things confusing.

Finally, compared with most Photoshop books, this book is quite unattractive. There is almost no colour in the book, and what there is is pretty plain. I enjoy Photoshop books with photos that inspire me -- this one certainly doesn't.

There are some good lessons in the book, and overall there is a good amount of information, but if I were learning Photoshop from scratch again, I'd pick another book to start with.

I am a software instructor, assigned to teach a class on Photoshop. No problem, thought I. I'll simply buy a book and figure it out. Well, I bought three books before I figured out that this wasn't going to be a fast and easy assignment. Thankfully, I had a chance to work through the first half of the Bouton's book before I had to actually teach anything. And thanks to IP5 the class came off without a problem. This is a tutorial book. Each exercise takes you by the hand and walks you through the assignment step by step. As a total beginner, this is what I needed. There may have been one or two errors, but I didn't notice them. I discovered some corrections on the Boutons web site when I visited there. Overall, I've received an excellent Photoshop education through this book and would reccommend it to anyone who is starting out. I would also reccomend the Adobe Classroom in a Book. This book was the other excellent resource I used in my beginner's education. I read that book prior to IP5, and I think that may have made IP5 even easier to use. I should also mention, that even though this book uses a tutorial approach, the authors have done a good job of explaining everything they have us do, thus we're not just jumping though hoops, we're actually learning WHY we do things. I should also mention that I am using Photoshop 5.5. I didn't know that there was going to be a new edition of this book (it's out now at this writing), but I didn't have any trouble with the cross-platform issue. Buy it and enjoy!

I don't understand the low ratings from some of the latest reviewers. This is an excellent book. You can come to PS knowing nothing and you'll be intrigued right away. Yes, you need to STUDY like you are in school again and these folks really spell it out for you. Great book -- has helped me tremendously.

O.K. here it is... over the years the Bouton's books have instructed me in the use of Adobe Photoshop better than all other books combined! Yes, they have errors in them, but guess what - so has every single instructional book I've ever bought and read; bar none. For those who doubt my troubled efforts to learn away from Gary Bouton's tutelage take my current problems with Adobe Illustrator 8. I've bought 3 books on the subject; all touted with 4 to 5 stars. "This is the only book you'll ever need" they proclaim. Guess what I learned? It's not the book's name, number of pages,CD-Roms or number of stars people give it. It's the author! Surprise!!! To give you an idea how strongly I feel about this, please Gary please, write a book about Adobe Illustrator 8. By the way, the Bouton's have a great helpful website. And, oh yes, any errors in their books are shown and corrected on their website. I gave this book 5 stars because that's all that's allowed. Remember, only the name Bouton is what matters. Gary, you can send my check to the usual place. :-)Paul

The title of the book speaks for itself. This book is written by someone who knows how to translate software talk into common english. I tip my hat to the writers for a job well done. Now, it would be nice if they could write a book for Illustrator 8.0.

I've never seen the term "Limited Edition" used in the way it is here. The book might be very good, but people looking for help to to learn Adobe Photoshop 5 Limited Edition will not find it here. The book is ONLY about the full version of Adobe Photoshop 5.

I purchased this book a year and half ago while taking a photoshop class to supplement classroom in a book. I am starting to go back to this book and try to learn. However, the pictures and examples are aesthetically repulsive that it is hard to get inspired doing the work or getting ideas to be creative. The book is extremley fat in a bad way that it seems intimdating to pick up and go over. I just sat down and tried to do one exercise and I could not figure out what the other was trying to explain. I think people have different ways of learning and some may be more patient than I. I wish I could sell this book because it doesn't get much use.