The Photoshop Elements 3 Book for Digital Photographers [Paperback]

Scott Kelby (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321269055 | ISBN-13: 978-0321269058 | Publication Date: October 21, 2004

If you're ready for an Elements 3 book that breaks all the rules, this is it, because it does something for digital photographers that's never been done before--it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly "how to do it." It tells you, flat-out, which settings to use, when to use them, and why.

This book is not a bunch of theory; it doesn't challenge you to come up with your own settings or figure things out on your own. It gives you the same settings used by some of the top digital pros, settings you can use today to get professional results you've always dreamed of.

Plus, since this book is designed for photographers, it doesn't waste your time talking about how to frame a shot, setting your exposure, etc. and there's no talk which camera or printer to buy. It's all Elements, step-by-step, cover-to-cover in the only book of its kind, and you¿re gonna love it!

Besides learning the inside tips and the tricks of the trade for correcting, editing, sharpening, retouching, and presenting your photos like a pro. You'll learn how to unlock the power of all the new Elements 3 features, including how to manage your photos using the new Organizer, how to use the new "pro tools" like the Healing Brush and the Shadow/Highlight controls, and how to master the new "Creation" section to take your photos to an entirely new level. Plus, you'll see it all step-by-step, in plain English, and you¿ll be absolutely amazed at how easy and effective these techniques are, once you know the secrets.

You'll learn:

• The secrets of how the pros retouch portraits
• How to incorporate the amazing new features of Elements 3 into your work today!
• How to color correct any photo without breaking a sweat (you¿ll be amazed at how they do it!)
• How to repair and restore damaged photos
• The sharpening techniques the pros really use (there's an entire chapter just on this!)
• Dealing with common digital camera image problems, including removing noise and avoiding halos
• When to use Quick Fix, and when to do to it yourself (using our step-by-step methods).
• The most-requested photographic special effects
• and much more!

But besides all that, this book has a "secret weapon" that makes it the most important, most useful Elements book yet. The reason is this--although Elements 3 offers some digital photography features Photoshop CS doesn't offer, there are plenty of features that Photoshop CS has, that Elements 3 still doesn't have (things like Layer Masking, Channel Mixer, etc.). But in this book, you'll learn some slick workarounds, cheats, and some fairly ingenious ways to replicate many of those Photoshop features from right within Elements.

There's never been a book like it, and if you're a digital photographer using Photoshop Elements 3, this is the book you've been waiting for.

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press (October 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321269055
• ISBN-13: 978-0321269058
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,087,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Editor and Publisher of Photoshop User magazine, and a book author myself, having penned more than 30 titles.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

121 of 128 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great!, November 6, 2004

By 

JM "Cowboy" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Photoshop Elements 3 Book for Digital Photographers (Paperback)

This book is great for those digital photographers who would like to enhance their photos without taking a class. Having used PS 7, I felt like I needed to take a class on how to remove red eye. With Elements 3, it gives you two options on ways to remove red eye. Does you flash leave you with an overexposed shot?...do A, then B, and finally C. DONE! Well written book and very simple to use.

Being a Mac user, I was a bit disappointed that the book was written for Windows--beware that PSE 3 for Windows has more features than the equivalent version for the Mac. There are some different key strokes between the Mac and Windows version, so Mac users will need to keep that in mind when following the instructions.

Otherwise the book is very helpful and easy to follow.

Update:
I"ve been going back to this book every week and still learning more and more advanced techniques--eye and teeth whitening, sharpening eyes, removing hotspots, and many others. Its almost like a cookbook with very simple directions. Picture quality in the book is great, so you can SEE the difference in the before and after. With advances in printers and cameras, one can truely print at home like a pro.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fairly good book, October 25, 2005

By 

Russell K. MacDonald "Russ" (Richmond Hill, GA (near Savannah)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Photoshop Elements 3 Book for Digital Photographers (Paperback)

I learned a lot from this book, but I found it to be lacking in many areas. The primary approach that this book takes is to teach by example. The examples are laid out very well, and are easy to duplicate. However, many examples that manipulate layers are presented without much explanation about what you are actually doing. This leaves you unable to extrapolate the techniques to new situations that are similar but slightly different.

Kelby also likes to use shortcuts rather than the menus. That would be fine if he would also tell you the menu selection. For instance, he tells you to hit CTRL-J to duplicate the background layer. What he doesn't tell you is that you can do the same thing using the 'Layers' menu. He also doesn't explain clearly why you want this duplicate layer, and how it relates to the layer beneith and above it. I found out by accident that CTRL-J will duplicate any layer and put the copy just above it.

Layers are a very complex subject, and some of the examples are very advanced. For instance, there are examples that link a layer to the one immediately below (by pressing CTRL-G), but not enough information about why you would want to do that or what effect that it has.

He also talks about foreground and background colors, and tells you to hit D to set the foreground color to Black, but nowhere does he explain what the background and the foreground colors are for. Another place, he says to hit X to set the foreground color to white. I finally figured out that what X really does is exchange the foreground and background colors. I still don't understand why sometimes he has you paint with white to expose something and other times it is with black. Apparently, white allows an image from a layer below to pass while black blocks it, but Kelby doesn't explain that.

I think that if you already had a firm understanding of layers, this book would be very useful. However, if you are trying to learn the basics about layers, this book is not adequate.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, February 9, 2005

By 

Andrew Parmley (St. Louis) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Photoshop Elements 3 Book for Digital Photographers (Paperback)

I purchased this book and the effort put forth by the adobe team (The "photoshop Elements 3.0 workbook"). This was an impulse decision to purchase the adobe book, I planned on purchasing Scott Kelby's book only. In comparision, Adobe should have hired Scott to write their book. Adobe's book was very poorly written. It reminded me of horribly written classroom books with hideous examples. I know it is a classroom book, but its one that should never enter a class room. Scotts book is fabulous. Written in a very engaing manor. He lays out all the important elements to learn with this software and mixes some humor in there as well. I feel the need to mention the following fact, this is one Adobe apparently failed to consider: Scott Kelby uses interesting examples laid out in steps that are very conducive to learning! Hands down great book, no, no, Hands down the Book for Elements, period. I'll give you the option, purchase "The Photoshop Elements 3 Book for Digital Photograpers" by Scoot Kelby for a very interesting and informative learning tool, one that you will continue to use over and over again as a reference or buy Adobe's book, for a very dry written, mundane headache you will not even finish reading.