Customer Reviews

Inside Photoshop 7 (Inside (New Riders))

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I can't quite go the whole 5 stars on this. The reason is that as an artist, I really do appreciate a colorful, extremely visual book on this kind of subject. This book is more in line with a traditional textbook. The text is almost entirely delivered in black and white but there is a CD-ROM to liven things up. This text's main ace in the hole though is that it is extremely well written while having a TON of information you will need for in depth penetration into this most complex program. If that is what you need, this is the book. I notice it is sold at my college as a reference work. I think it would work extremely well as a text, much better than "Visual Quick Start to Photoshop" used by my college (absolutely terrible) and better even than Adobe's own "Classroom In a Book" (previously reviewed). If I were just starting Photoshop, I would start with the "Learn Photoshop Visually Book" (previously reviewed) and then I'd use as my main 2 books, to go deeper into the program, the "Photoshop Wow" book (previously reviewed) and this book. I believe that you could go awfully far with these 3 books, these latter two having CD-ROMs to aid you. I also can't recommend highly enough that you add onto having these 3 books, signing up at the free Online Adobe Expert Center for free online tutorials and the fabulous free online users' forum. I've picked up some tips at the users' forum that are in no book. I consider "Classroom in a Book" optional to these others but worth having if your budget allows. Another fabulous resource is the Photoshop magazine, fully visual, in full color, with full tutorials. I buy mine at Borders but really should subscribe to it. I suppose a text that looked like this magazine is out of the question due to prohibitive color reproduction cost. Too bad as that would really be something.

I bought this book based on rave reviews, and was sorely disppointed.
1. The book tries to be all things to all people, and the author does own up to this in the introduction, stating that "...we're talking a core of reference chapters surrounded by parts in the book which appeal to different audiences." Beginners will be frustrated in that there is no overview describing the Photoshop GUI environment, unclear instructional detail, and lack of a clear instructional path through this weighty tome, and more advanced users will be bogged down by the verbiage, redundancy, unclear instructional detail, and missing contextual explanations of why the learner is doing the steps given.
2. Yes, the writing style is "approachable," "casual," and "fun," but I prefer a less weighty book (literally) that gets to the point. The Hands-On-Training books are a good example of this approach. I don't have time for silly jokes ("Make two-toned bananas by detailing the ends with green. They will also stay fresher this way") and overly informal writing ("No sense in hangin' around now").
3. There are very few illustrations and screen shots to display the tool references and steps, and those that exist are too small, requiring the reader to physically move the book closer and squint. This isn't easy with a 1000-page book.
4. The organization of the information lacks logical progression, and information is repeated throughout the book. For example, the author gives a detailed accounting of the layer and paint modes, taking 3 1/2 pages, in Chapter 1, and essentially repeats it in Chapter 4. It really shouldn't be in Chapter 1, which is aimed at beginners, as it just gets in the way of working through that chapter.

As an intermediate user of Photoshop, I had hoped to find a book that went beyond the basics, giving good explanations not for just how things work, but when and why to use them, along with good working, interactive examples. This book has a ton of information, as previous reviewers pointed out, but it's not clearly enough designed for me to bother with it, except as an additional reference. I will need to look further.

The authors managed to make Photoshop 7 a delight to learn, and the book, an entertaining reading. It has two important qualities that became obvious as I read on: (1) it can sustain my interest to learn more and work the exercises, and; (2) the authors tried their best to help the reader really understand Photoshop principles. The style's upbeat, and the book's organization, clever. Photoshop core principles were presented first then it's practical use as applied to photography, the Web, art, and just plain goofing around. Makes a lot of sense. Although the images were in black and white in the book, they have proven to be good guides. There were plenty of screen shots of dialog boxes, which tool to use and what the images should look like. They help to ensure that you don't get lost. The actual tutorial images were in full color in the CD-ROM, many of them nicely rendered in 3D.

The observations in the previous review, "Several Areas of Ommission" are valid ones, though. I did find one exercise (Inverting and Refining A Shape Layer, page 185) that seem to have missed a step. Figure 5.29 on page 228 didn't quite look like what it was supposed to. But except for a few minor typo errors all the projects thus far were clearly explained and finished as written. I repeated some of them just for the fun of it. Odds are, any book this size (1000+ pages) would likely take its own share of minor errors. Overall, it was very well written.

I am on the last 3 chapters of the book (no skipping) and I can say for certain that the authors were careful to give the reader consistent quality instruction right from the beginning. All the toturials were very interesting. There was not a dull moment! The other advantage of this book was that it was written by several people, who apllied their expertise on specialized chapters. My only complaint is that the they couldn't be reached for clarification on the item on page 185. It has been a wonderful experience learning Photoshop 7 and I am glad I had this book as my main guide.

Alot of material in this book. As a new user of Photoshop I followed several of the step by step explanations only to find there were some steps missing in going from A to B, and incorrect reference to Figures that were used for reference (particularly in Chapter 9). I found this very annoying. When you pick up on the errors the authors attempt at humor then really falls short. Maybe this is a good overall book on a very complex piece of software but I had nothing else to compare it to. I hope there is something better out there or I believe many beginners will give up on Photoshop. I gave up on this book. Again, because of some step omissions the beginner may find himself scratching his head as to what to do. I had to play with the images to find out it wasn't my lack of understanding but poor editing of examples.

Bouton has done it again! He is masterful with Photoshop and unique in the clear way he goes through the tutorials included in the book (which it is full of). Whenever he gives an instruction that needs clarification there is an image included that is large enough to read which is not always the case. Not only can you see what area of the program Mr. Bouton is talking about in any particular tutorial but there are also arrows pointing to the important parts of the screen.

Not only are the tutorials clear and easy to follow but Mr. Bouton has a fun, easy to read style so you will remember the procedures, even if you are reading it away from your computer.

The other great thing about this book that makes it stand out from others is Mr. Bouton's love for 3D graphics. He takes the time to show you how to use Photoshop with other programs to create very professional 3D graphics.

Leslie

This is a MUST HAVE book. I was tired of books that "taught" me how to do stuff. You just follow the steps, at the end you have a nice effect but don't know how to redo it.
This book teaches you ins and outs of Photoshop 7.
If you're serious about learning Photoshop, this is the book for you. Don't let the size of this book scare you.
It's really worth it.

Inside Photoshop 7 is a monster book. It has been evolving with each iteration of Photoshop and the book has grown to 1,000 pages.
It is so full of useful information that it should be included in the box with Photoshop. Whether or not you're a beginner or advanced, there is plenty in the volume to fill gaps in your knowledge and expand your understanding of one of the best graphics tools available today. Even the front cover is explained (how did you do it?) inside the front cover! The new features of version 7 are highlighted but presented within the context of the over all subject : learning Photoshop. There are tips galore, techniques examined and secrets revealed. The "Inside" series continues to be note worthy in the comprehensive depth of their efforts to satisfy the reader.

Inside Photoshop 7 is a book that changed how I use Photoshop. From the introduction to index, I found this book to be well written and understandable for both beginner and advanced users alike. It is not often that you find such a book that will appeal to so many classes of users. The book allows the end user to take advantage of everything that Photoshop has to offer. Not only does it show you how to do something, but it shows you how to efficiently do it. If you need a great howto book or reference guide, get this book!

Gary Burton and 5 contributors have put together a comprehensive step by step reference guide to Photoshop 7.0. The book is well thought out with practical tutorials in a user friendly format and in such a way that anyone can follow along.

My reference to this being a "reference guide" is demonstrated in part one, for instance, the author gives you a detailed list of definitions of Photoshop's Blending Modes and throughout the book this same practice is applied. In part two you're guided through Photoshop's Core Concepts such as, Preferences, understanding Photoshop's Color System Management and the importance of Scratch Disks and so much more. I could simply go on and on, as there is so much valuable information in this book. To top it off, on the accompanying CD ROM are, resource files for the chapters examples, a inside Photoshop e-glossary, fonts, textures, tiles and 6 software demos.

All in all, the author makes sure you walk away with a deeper understanding of how the application works, along with being able to create, touch up, restore and materialize digital imagery like never before.

This is a must have!

This book contains a lot of information on how to operate Photoshop to achieve the desired results but at the same time I think the authors had include a lot of unrelated or unnecessary texts to fill the pages. For example, it takes two pages of text to illustrate how to create a layer set and how to move the layers.