Customer Reviews

Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual: The Missing Manual

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Adobe Photoshop is one of the most complicated and powerful computer graphics programs available for general consumer use. Because of the growing popularity of digital photography, photographers of all skill levels are plunking down up to $700 for the program so that they too can "Photoshop" their images, however, many of these buyers will find the their initial attempt to use the program frustrating and the results of their efforts less than they expected. As a result of the complexity of the program a veritable industry consisting of Photoshop associations, conferences, instructional videos, podcasts and books has developed over the years. Lesa Snider King's new book, Photoshop CS4 The Missing Manual is a very worthy addition to this collection.

As is the case with all the Missing Manuals, this book takes the reader through a well structured, in-depth inspection of the program's capabilities. The author has provided some excellent examples that allow the reader to read through the book as a tutorial or simply to refer to it as a reference text. I've used Photoshop from the first CS version to the latest CS4 and have a number of books on the subject yet I was able to pick up a number of very useful tips in the first 250 pages by working along with the examples in the book. In addition, the author has sprinkled some general graphic tips throughout the book that are very useful to those without a background in design.

I think that this book is an excellent resource for Photoshop users of all levels. For the beginner it will provide an excellent tutorial, while the more advanced user will find it a useful reference. It has found a permanent place next to my computer.

Are you relatively new to digital-image editing? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Lesa Snider King, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that is intended to make learning Photoshop CS4 tolerable and even enjoyable by avoiding technical jargon as much as possible and explaining why and when you'll want to use certain features in the program.

King, begins by giving you the lay of the land and shows you how to work with panels and make Photoshop workspace your own. Then, the author covers how to open and view your documents efficiently, and how to set up new documents so you have a solid foundation on which to build your masterpieces. Next, she dives into the most powerful feature in all of Photoshop: layers. The author also explains how to select part of an image, so you can edit just that area. She continues by diving head first into the science of color as you explore channels and learn how to use channels to create selections. Then, the author explains a variety of ways you can crop images, both in Photoshop and in Camera Raw. Next, she shows you how to combine your images in a variety of ways, from simple techniques to more complex ones. The author continues by covering draining, changing, and adding color, arming you with several techniques for creating gorgeous black-and-white images, delicious duotones, partial-color effects, and more. She also focuses on the color-correcting images, beginning with auto fixer-uppers, moving on to the wonderfully simple world of Camera Raw, and then into the more complicated realm of Levels and Curves Adjustment layers. Then, the author covers how to retouch people; as well as, practical techniques how to slim, trim and beautify the faces and bodies that grace your pictures. Next, she covers all kinds of ways to sharpen images in order to make them look especially crisp. The author also explains the many ways of choosing colors for your documents, and shows you how to create a paining from scratch. She continues by focusing on using the mighty Pen tool to create complex illustrations and selections; as well as, how to use Photoshop's Shape tools. Then the author shows you the basics of typography and then moves on to how to create and format text in Photoshop. Next, she covers the wide world of filters. Next, the author shows you how to print your images. Finally. the author focuses on how to prepare images for the Web, and walks you through the various file formats you can use , how to protect your images online, and how to use Adobe Bridge to create Web galleries.

This most excellent book is all about working smarter and faster. In other words, the most important thing to remember about this best-selling book is to be patient and try not to get frustrated.

'Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual' is a 750+ page book that will show you ALL the ins and outs of using Photoshop CS4. Tailored towards the newbie Photoshop user, the content here is anything but newbie! With 19 chapters of content and in FULL FULL FULL color, this is a great learning tool to getting through all the ABCs of Photoshop!

McKinnon Overview

01. The Basics
02. Opening, Viewing, Saving Files
03. Layers
04. Selections
05. Channels
06. Cropping, Resizing, Rotating
07. Joining Images
08. Draining, Changing, Adding Color
09. Correcting Color and Lighting
10. Photoshopping People
11. Sharpening Images
12. Painting in Photshop
13. Drawing with Vector tools
14. Creating Artistic Text
15. Filters
16. Photoshop and Print
17. Photoshop and the Web
18. Actions
19. Plug-Ins

This is an easy book to put a stamp of approval on and it's another gem in the Missing Manual line of books, one of the greatest technical publishing lines out there today!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I gave this book 5 stars because it is everything I expected it to be. A photoshop for beginners, which is what I exactly was at the time I purchased it.

I was a bit disappointed at first because the flow of the book did not seem to take me in a direction that I thought was not teaching me how to use Photoshop in the best manner, but by the time you get near the middle of the book, the author ties everything together nicely.

This book is a great starter for those who are getting into Photoshop for the first time. Once you master the basics taught to you in this book, I recommend doing a google search on the words "photoshop tutorial" and visit some websites where photoshop experts give you step by step projects to work on. This book combined with that will enhance your skills in no time.

I had never used Photoshop before so I thought this would be the best place to start. And I did learn a lot about Photoshop from this book and it is a great book for the novice. But as a photographer, the 'candy' came on page 354 (of 750!): "Camera Raw ... is hands down the easiest place to fix your images". This is a plug-in that comes standard with Photoshop but is a stand-alone program. Pages 354 - 362 cover the basics of Camera Raw and the section ends with referring the reader who wants to know more to other books. After reading this section I can already see I will be doing most of my work in Camera Raw and only opening Photoshop itself for some fine-tune work on some of my photo's. So 8 pages dedicated to the area where I will be spending 90% of my time leaves me a little unsatisfied.
If you know nothing of Photoshop and want to make your own pictures, do web design, etc. then this is a great book to teach you this fantastic program but for photographers who don't care a lot about drawing or adding text, I would not recommend this book. Instead look for something specifically written for photographers that includes a discussion of Camera Raw.

It would have been nice if I had known this book only covers the program Photoshop, one of a suite of programs sold as Photoshop.

First, let me say that I am an advanced computer user, but a novice in terms of using Photoshop. So I was in the position of having to teach myself the entire program from the ground up. While there are video tutorials available from some really good places, I never really liked learning that way and prefer a great manual instead if one exists. Luckily, I bought this manual after buying a couple of other ones, such as Photoshop CS4 Digital Classroom.

This book is exactly what you need if you are learning from the ground up. It provides a VERY well instructed process for each and every chapter in the book that takes you from the basics, such as introducing you to the User Interface to the more advanced functions of Photoshop. Each and every step is explained well and there are many photos that are referred to showing what they are talking about. Each photo is explained and there are descriptions of all functions they are referring to. Truly, if you follow my advice and read this book without skipping any steps you really can't go wrong. Also, I would encourage everyone not to skip certain chapters, even if you think they may not be useful because most likely some technique will be useful at some point later on.

I would also like to point out they cover Brushes very well in this book too, something that some books skip entirely or simply gloss over focusing more on those that are photographers. So, those looking at learning the art aspects of Photoshop certainly are not left out. There is even a real good chapter all about making creative text styles. That is another reason why I prefer this book to some others, it simply is one of the most comprehensive books I have read that is also concise.

You may notice there is no disc, but there is a web site for the Missing Manual books where you can download the files instead. I would advise to go ahead and download them for some of the examples they get to later on in the book. However, I will say it is not a BIG requirement you can get by without them.

This book is very thick, so don't be intimidated by the size when you get it. Just learn one chapter every couple of days and you will get through it OK. When I compared this book to another one I bought, Photoshop CS4 Digital Classroom, I much preferred this one. This book as I said is simply one of the best and most detailed around for learning Photoshop due to how well it is conveyed and laid out. The Photoshop Digital Classroom simply did not cover as much detail and is half the size or less than Photoshop CS4 Missing Manual. Yes, it is true the Digital Classroom book does have video tutorials on the included disc and has examples that give more than just what the book offers, but even after using that book I still felt the Photoshop CS4 Missing Manual was the better of the two by a good margin.

Bottom line is this book is the best I have found for anyone that wants a VERY good intro to Photoshop and learn from novice to intermediate skills. Once you have finished this book, you can then look at others which may focus completely on an advanced topic.

Hope this helps and good luck in your learning.

I think this is a really well written book. I use it more as a reference book than something to read just straight through. The author writes very clearly and gives good step by step instructions. It has already helped me get through two topics that were always very difficult for me to understand, specifically layer masks and printing. I have referred to is several times more since then.

Missing Manuals are known because they are written by real writers. Material has always been presented in a clear understandable format. You'd think it couldn't get better than that but somehow Lesa manages to step it up a notch.

This is not only a great hands on workbook and read but covers everything I want in a reference book. It's so well organized. I love the colored tabs at the top of the pages. Rather than just displaying the chapter title they list the subject covered on that page. This makes it very easy to thumb through the book to find things quickly.

Terms are described in such detail that I've finally stopped grumbling about needing a dictionary. And the background information Lesa provides makes it easy to comprehend the why behind what to do. A good example is the chapter "How Color Works". Friends and I have had an ongoing discussion about color. Artists view it one way and photographers another. Until this book we hadn't found an explanation detailed enough to satisfy both sides.

I'd recommend this book for all skill levels. Photoshop beginners will easily understand it and love the "Up to Speed" parts. More seasoned users will love the depth it covers and are sure to pick up a few new tricks.

Being new to photoshop I was looking for a book that held my hand throughout. Unfortunately, this book fails. While it is written an an easy to follow manner, the beginning of the book states that the samples referred to are downloadable so that you can attempt to follow step by step. Now on chapter 4, the book has provided several samples, NONE of them are downloadable. The downloads start in chapter 4/5 and are sparse at best. The book will even state - "position you mouse over the liitle boys face"; however, there is no little boy in the downloads. Very disappointing. The book could have been a strong 4 stars IF they had a complete list of downloads.

I really should be taking a class but I don't have the time, so this is the next best thing. I think this book is the best possible book you can get for a program that has a steep learning curve. My 21 year old art student son opens this book and instantly applies the instruction with ease. I'm a bit slower but at least I can eventually figure stuff out. It's got great pictures which is very helpful.