Customer Reviews

Inside Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) 6

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

In preparing to transition at team of graphic artists and web designers from Photoshop 5.5 to Photoshop 6, I have reviewed several books on the revised application. Inside Adobe Photoshop 6 is the best I have found that will serve as both a comprehensive tutorial and a reference manual.

This book is loaded with samples and how-tos that will help anyone planning to learn Photoshop 6.

The wonderful folks at Adobe have brought us another powerful program, and Gary Bouton and his team have brought us another valuable tool for tackling yet another version of Photoshop.

This book is a must buy for both novice and pro.

I always knew Photoshop was a Power Program and Inside Adobe Photoshop 6 with CD proves this to be true. With over a thousand pages, the authors didn't miss a thing this program can do.

For those of us that are just learning Photoshop, the first chapter provides a good foundation for what can be found in Photoshop. Chapter Three which is approximately 60 pages long goes through Color Management. There are two chapters on images and one on Tools and automation. And all of this can be found in Part I.

Part II contains information on layers and special effects using type. Part III takes the reader through Color Correction, working with pictures and repairing them, using the tools and making surrealistic images.

Part IV brings the reader to the Web itself. Finally, in Part V, there is information on the CD that comes with the book, resources and what wasn't covered in the book. Even though the book is very long, there are graphical examples throughout plus Tips, Notes, and Warnings.

This book is not made for overnight reading but is definitely one that anyone using Photoshop should have on hand. It may not be one that you read from cover to cover, but it will be certain to have the material to answer your questions.

I can't wait any longer to write my review of Gary's new book. No, I have not finished the book yet, but I have been through many pages and words describing Adobe's phenominal new product; Photoshop 6!

As Gary pointed out, Photoshop 6 is a whole new ballgame. It's almost twice as large as Photoshop 5.5, but somehow 'friendlier'. Or at the very least, easier to use.

I noticed that one reviewer complained about errors in the book. I want you to know that every time I saw what I thought was an error, it was my interpretation of what was being said. I bring a lot of paradigms to my reading and studying. A man doesn't give up a whole summer of his life to produce a piece of garbage.

I'm trained in Photoshop because of Gary Bouton and his wife. In the early days I would read every word and do every lesson until I understood it. It has paid off. I don't have time for that anymore and I miss doing it. It was a right of passage for me.

Now, with the new Photoshop, Gary has had to have help. This will give you an idea of the magnitude of this endeavor. It takes what I call a "3 inch" book to learn these new, heavy-hitter programs. I did the same thing with Adobe Illustrator.

If you want to learn Adobe Photoshop, you are going to have to bite-the-bullet, as they say, and knuckle down and study it. I can think of no better book to do it with. I can think of no better author to do it with. Spend your money and your time wisely and purchase this book. In the future you will thank me for this review, and you will thank Gary Bouton and his helpers for all his/their hard work. Thank you Gary, you're still THE MAN.

What a FANTASTIC book! I purchased the book BEFORE purchasing Photoshop 6, and it convinced me I was ready to print my photographs from the computer rather than in the darkroom. Being a new user of digital photography, I searched and searched to find information about scanning, monitor calibration, color correction and printing, etc...only to get tremendously confused. I found this book and it was worth every penny. I was able to understand concepts that totally confounded me when reading info on the web and other publications. The tutorials are incredible and easy to follow. I can't imagine trying to learn this without their cd, including examples. Further, it's a joy to read. I am constantly chuckling at the authors comments. I highly recommend it!!!

I feel it is my duty to write this counter to the poor review this book has recieved. I found this book incredibly insightful. Photoshop 6 is the best multi-platform graphics program out there, so windows or mac matters very little. I also have a problem with anyone commenting on proofreading who makes 5 spelling errors in a 78 word document.

To a graphics professional, this author is percieved as one of the gurus in the field. This book truly lives up to that reputation. The teaching style used does not merely teach how to use a program, but to create your own works, not simply imitate the examples presented in the book. I feel very strongly that this is one of the best books on photoshop out.

I am about a third though this book, as I intend to read it cover-to-cover! It is a helpful, informative and comprehensive book. I have a lot of reading time at my job, so I drag this book into work with me, and am reading a lot of it there. It is helpful and interesting. I feel like I am learning a lot, even when I am away from my computer, and can't be "hands-on" with Photoshop. (It's kind of hard to drag an iMac to work every day, so I just bring the book!)

The tutorials are fun, and I feel like the author is there with me, urging me on. Everything is clear and easy to understand. There is a definite sense of humor in the book which I enjoy, though I understand that not everyone will. I do admit that I am not a big fan of emoticons, or cute little abbreviations like <lol> or <gr> (which mean "laugh out loud" and "grin") and I would not miss them if they were removed from this book. But hey - that is a small annoyance, and does not detract from the immense value and friendliness of this book.

This is a Mighty Fine Photoshop book. I am on the newbie side when it comes to Photoshop, and I am finding it very helpful in pushing me to the "intermediate" stage in Photoshop expertise. The bundled CD is great as well.

The most important thing to understand about this very substantial work is that it is not the usual function by function reference work. Instead, the approach is very hands on and you are guided through the operation of Photoshop by means of very well designed tutorials. Unlike some tutorial materials the instructions are very clear and the author does not make the mistake of assuming that you have digested everything that you learned in previous lessons, but repeats instructions and reminds you where necessary. I found that I did not have to keep referring back to what had gone before, which is a refreshing change!

I am a moderately experienced Photoshop user but even in areas where I thought that I knew what I should be doing I was constantly surprised by new tips and techniques. If there are any criticisms it is that the authors humour and attempts to lighten the mood can sometimes be a little wearing, especially for non-North American readers!

This said this is quite the best Photoshop book I have come across and I cannot recommend it too strongly.

I read reviews of various books, and this looked pretty good. I bought it and started to use it, and was finding error after error, whether it was in a procedure or in a shortcut key process. The book is helpful in its tutorial set-up, but it does not cover the newest changes in 6.0 as thoroughly as I would have preferred. I am disappointed in it, but will keep it for its tutorials. I did figure out a number of procedures on my own. Maybe it was written with errors to test one's knowledge of Photoshop, but I don't think so. I already e-mailed New Riders about this. Try Visual Quickstart Guide by Weinmann and Lourekas- just bought it-excellent.!

Between the errors and the fact that the book does not even get into many of the new tools for Photoshop 6 I'm very disappointed in Inside Photoshop 6. The tutorials spend an awful lot of space on 57 ways to make a drop shadow and neato things you can do with the demo software on the disc. In fact I would say a third of the book is really advertising for other software one can add to photoshop - most of it of very little value.
I used Inside Photoshop 4 to convert to Photoshop from Photo-Paint a few years ago and that was a great book. I have the feeling it was fully updated for version 5 and this edition for version 6 was tossed together quickly with the advertorial content outweighing the editorial content at every stage in the process.

In my opinion this is the best book on any kind of software that I ever read. In fact, I simply forgot that I was reading a book: it was as though the author (with a little help from his friends) was standing there by my side.
This book is like a Beethoven symphony: first the themes are presented, and then the variations begin...Variations that start with the most basic things like scrap files, memory, preferences and color management. And you cannot skip one single phrase as every line is filled with useful tips. For example:
finally someone explains why my KodakCD images looked so ugly, and what's more: what I can do about that...
Just think of a subject, and it is exhaustively covered, and never I had the impression that I was dealing with purely theoretical knowledge. Everything comes straight out of practical experience.
Being new to Photoshop, with this book and its exercises, in a few weeks of dayly practice I am acquiring a sound knowledge not only of what I'm doing, but also of what is happening and why it happens.
Some subjects could be dry in the hand of less gifted writers, but the tong in cheek humour and the -often really funny- exercises keep you on the road.

One of my all-time favourite movies is Dead Poets Society. And because of this book, for me, Gary Bouton gets the AKA "Captain, my Captain".