Customer Reviews

Photoshop CS4 Down & Dirty Tricks

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have a couple of Scott's books (and love his style) but my Down & Dirty Tricks book just arrived and it's quickly becoming my favorite. He's just nailed all these cool effects that I've sat there and wondered "How'd they do that?". I'm already playing around with some, and having a ton of fun learning.

I'm about a 5 on a scale of 1-10 in Photoshop and I found the steps very easy to follow. The real beauty is that the book has given me techniques and ideas that I can put to work right now - I didn't have to read the whole book to use it. You can dive in anywhere and learn techniques you can apply to your own projects. I haven't looked at it yet but there's a companion web download page too. Just my opinion, but I think even a more experienced Photoshop user can get a lot out of this book (it's perfect for beginners or intermediate users, so if you think you could teach your own class, maybe review it in the book shop first).

Sometimes I see a look I want to replicate, but it's hard to know where to start, I like how Scott breaks it down. There's even a cool chapter on 3D, which I have been afraid to even play with so far (of course it looks easy when it's step-by-step). These techniques will seriously make me look like a Photoshop guru and that will put money in my pocket (which I really need right now).

I usually don't trash other reviewers, but this time some of them wrote reviews that really annoy me.

If you bought a wrench and used it to fix a nail sticking out of a dresser, but found it didn't work, would you blame the wrench? Would you write a review saying what a lousy wrench it is? Or, would you quietly return it and get a hammer instead? It seems to me that several "reviewers" here are blaming the wrench!

As another example, if you like mysteries and buy a romance book by the same author, it isn't fair to say that the romance title is a bad mystery.

When the covers of a book clearly describe what it is about and who it is for, and the editorial review on this page says the same thing but someone buys it withoug reading any of that, hoping for totally different content, it isn't fair to blame the author. Giving a 1-star review says more about the incompetence of the reviewer that it will ever say about the book. Unfortunately (and unfairly) it kills the book's average review. This book deserves a 5-star average. It meets and exceeds the needs of its audience. If you're not in that audience that's OK; it means the book isn't for you, not that it is a bad book.

The covers say that this book is about special effects. Want to learn how to make type appear on fire, look here. Want to figure out how to make a special layout or design, then this book will show you how to do it in photoshop. Kelby has been teaching this stuff for years, both in books, on tours and online. Naturally, that's all written in Kelby's humorous, self-deprecating style and it makes learning fun. It is yet another great book from one of the industry's best authors.

The fact that this author has also written many best-selling books about camera raw, workflow and sharpening, and has built a loyal following for such content is great. If that's what you need, then run to get one of those titles.

However, if you've bought several of his "better pictures" books and liked them but bought this one without reading the editorial material and were then disappointed that is wasn't for you, just return it quietly and tell the bookseller "my mistake". Don't make an online fool of yourself by telling everyone you can't tell the difference between a wrench and a hammer.

I just received my book and it is awesome, I will be applying the "Gritty High" effect on images on my new website just as soon as I'm done writing this review. The "Tricks" are all cutting edge and are very applicable to Little League Images of my kids to professional jobs that I get paid for.
I have been working in Photoshop since version 3.0 and Scott's books are always so amazing and his writing style is, well lets just say its Scott. One last thing, in his acknowledgments the part about "Most importantly" is why Scott is so amazing. HE's HUMBLE, and that is why he is so BLESSED with such a great gift of writing.

I think this book does a great job with the purpose for which it was written, special effects. If you're looking another Camera Raw/Sharpening/Color Correction book, this is not your book.

I would consider myself an advanced beginner with photoshop. So many of the reference books I have show "how" to do something without every really explaining why you would want to do that. By putting it in the context of projects, Kelby does both. You can learn how an effect was done while at the same time getting an idea of when and why you might want to do the same thing with your own images.

It's written at a level that someone new to photoshop can handle w/out being tedious for those who already know some of the shortcuts.

Personally, I love Scott Kelby's sense of humor. I actually enjoy reading his books --not just flipping through them like a I would most manuals.

As with other Scott Kelby books, I pre-purchased it. I've come to expect the best from Scott and this book is no exception. I'm one of those people who need a step-by-step guide when using a piece of software like Photoshop. I've got countless examples in my office of marketing pieces that were designed using one or more of Scott's Down & Dirty Tricks. And they work! I already plan to use some of the tricks in this book in some projects in the next few weeks. This book IS NOT a photography book. Scott has some great books (which I also recommend) on that subject, but this is not one of them. This is about how to take full advantage of some of the amazing things you can do with Photoshop.

I must admit the I too bought this book under the impression that it was going to be more towards the photography side than the special effects. Bad on me for that. Having said that I discovered that what is in the book really did it justice. I read book cover to cover and found it a great source of info. I actually read different sections almost daily just to keep the tricks in the back of my mind. Now about the uproar over the reviews. There is a saying in the military. " One oh crap wipes out a thousand that a boys". I hope that does not become the case with this book. It a good book. Also I do hope that Scott Kelby is not so insecure that 2 bad reviews really gets him that spun up. I think it's more of a sales tactic which is also acceptable (Hey business is business). I give this book 4 stars. There is always room for improvement. Keep'em coming Scott.

I expected a little more from this book. I am an intermediate (probably pushing advanced) Photoshop user, and there was only a few things I learned in this book. If you watch Scott's show Photoshop User TV, you'll learn a lot of these tricks for free. I recognize that if I wasn't at the level I am at, this book would be very useful. I would recommend this book to people who are beginners at Photoshop, but I would suggest checking it out at a bookstore before buying if you have been using Photoshop for a couple years. I personally am very glad that I only paid $30 instead of the listed $45, but I would tell anybody who is new to Photoshop to buy this book!

I have read this book through twice and played with some of the "tricks". What this book does is inspire and teach. It isn't a technical, follow this book to become a good photographer book. It is a here is a group of very creative ideas to try and work with and get inspired book. There are a lot more step for step how to photo books out there than creative inspirational books. This is not the book for those who want to limit themselves to nice pictures, it is rather a challenge to think and create. Thanks Scott.

I look forward to every edition of Scott's Down & Dirty Tricks and have them all. Each one is better than the one before (not including CS3... ;-p). Judging from some of the reviews, some of the reviewers may not be aware that Scott started with Photoshop for (Mac) artists/designers long before delving into how to improve one's digital photography. Even though I'm also a photographer, my first love is Photoshop and how to improve on and achieving those cool tricks to my photography. I highly recommend any and all of Scott's publications. Open the book and start anywhere. Easy to understand and fun to read.

I really have to agree with the posts that rate this as a big disappointment ("Down & Dirty Tricks CS4") Let me quickly add that I am NOT a graphic illustrator with deadlines to meet so that the kind of shortcuts addressed in this book would prove VERY helpful. I've used Photoshop for YEARS, way back in the mid-90's when I started with Elements. Learning to manipulate text and photos was so addictive. I bought every book I could find on the subject and upgraded through CS4 with Adobe Photoshop .. Kelby's stuff was just up my alley in terms of not getting overly technical and allowed me to futz around with many applications, all of which taught me a great deal about the program itself.

With the publication of this new book I realize his focus is now really on the professional, not on the kind of a user I am. There are some interesting and instructive areas in this book, and Amazon made it completely affordable for me .. but this is not a book that I will bring out often. I generally try and go through all my books when I purchase them so that I know what to pull when I'm involved in a project. There just isn't enough creative stuff in it for my level which I rate as about intermediate.

The GOOD NEWS is that Steve Caplin's Art & Design in Photoshop (also carried by Amazon) is a cracker-jack book. It comes with a CD that includes (among a number of other things) a boat-load of new (to me, at least) fonts which you can install for use with your work, some of it totally in sync with the atmosphere you're trying to create .. I've been frustrated in the past by my inability to bring off a graphic simply because I did not possess a good font.. Additionally, the illustrations in the book are clear and concise.. you really can learn a lot.

I'm keeping Scott's book, but doubt I will really use it much.