Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography [Paperback]

Mikkel Aaland (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0782141404 | ISBN-13: 978-0782141405 | Publication Date: August 22, 2002 | Edition: 1st

Photoshop Elements is Adobe's newest image-editing software. Based on the immensely popular, and much more expensive Photoshop, Elements provides low-cost ($99 or less), powerful, easy-to-use tools for creating professional-quality digital images. Photoshop Elements X Solutions gives any Elements user solutions for frequently encountered problems. Its stunning full-color imagery will teach and inspire. Topics include: making the most of new Photoshop Elements X features; improving portraits, landscapes, real estate, and product shots; creating panoramas; working with type; and creating the best prints.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... one of the most cheerful, easy to follow layouts I've ever encountered in a software-oriented book." -- Sue Chastain, About.com Graphics Software Guide

"If you are into photography, digital photography and image scanning, this book is a must for you." -- From a review in MyMac.com, written by Russ Walkowich, January 30, 2003

"If you aren't an expert Elements user after reading this book it may be time to take up stamp collecting!" -- from ePHOTOzine, the UK's leading online photography magazine

From the Author

With the release of Photoshop Elements 2, I am sure Adobe has another hit on their hands. For a fraction of the cost of the full version of Photoshop, Photoshop Elements is one of the best software deals around -- and it's only getting better. Adobe improved an already great product with new features and enhancements to old ones. I did the same with Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions: adding entire sections focusing on the new features found in version 2, and refining and improving many of the step-by-step instructions. The CD includes over 100 of the images from the book for practice, as well as a host of useful plug-ins and applications. I'm extremely proud of this book. Once again, I had the privilege to work with the Adobe Photoshop Elements creative team -- and a host of other unpaid, enthusiastic beta users -- to help the product to market. What was particularly rewarding was Adobe's receptiveness to everyone's input. Once again, Tonbo and Command Z, the designer and producer, did a fantastic job laying out the color images and text to make the information readily accessible. Once again, Sybex, the publisher, committed an extremely qualified and dedicated staff to the book. I'd also like to acknowledge and thank the many readers of the first edition, whose valuable comments and suggestions were integrated into this new book. I encourage anyone with questions about the book to contact me.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Sybex; 1st edition (August 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782141404
• ISBN-13: 978-0782141405
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #740,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Way To Learn Photoshop Elements 2!, February 24, 2003

By 

Richard Hirschman (Stow, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography (Paperback)

This is a wonderfully written and super informative book. Recently I bought Photoshop Elements 2 and just dived right into it with this book, without first checking the manual or other sources. It was an easy and fun way to learn the program. As a psychology professor, I often determine if instructional texts are written with the student in mind. Mikkel Aaland certainly did that every step of the way in this book, such as, repeating the same steps as they occurred in each subsection, so the reader doesn't have to look back in the book to find the steps. From what I can tell, this is not often done in instruction books on digital photography or computer programs. When I wasn't sure why Mikkel Aalnad did what he did in the book, even though I was able to do it, I checked the manual after completing the steps in the book. The explanation in the program manual typically made a lot of sense to me, after using a particular tool or technique from the book. I found it much easier to understand a tool or technique, once I had gone through the steps and had seen the result. One example of this is the use of a layer with a gradient mask and relating the gradient to black and white colors. I don't believe I would have been able to understand the sketchy way all of that is presented in the program manual without first having done it and seen the results using this book. This is a must have book for someone starting out with Photoshop Elements. More advanced users will also pick up some valuable techniques from the book.

112 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Information for a relatively small prices, September 17, 2002

By 

Barbara Rhoades "Jackie of all Trades" (O'Fallon, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography (Paperback)

PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS2 SOLUTIONS
The Art of Digital Photography
AUTHOR: Mikkel Aaland
PUBLISHER: Sybex
REVIEWED BY: Barbara Rhoades

BOOK REVIEW: Photoshop is a powerful program and this book gives the reader many suggestions on how to enhance their photographs. The CD is almost as good as the book. There are 15 different software downloads to help Photoshop create pictures to almost perfect perfection.

"Photoshop Elements2 Solutions" has all the normal things a teaching book should have. How-to's on cropping, straightening, resizing, changing colors and fixing "bad" spots on pictures. It also tells how to improve backgrounds, add motion blur or depth, swapping images, moving items from the picture, and creating panoramics.

The author hasn't forgotten a section on text and even has a chapter on the web. Optimizing images by compression, using printers and photo services, and a reference section on layers, effects, tools, etc.

Here is a good book to have to help make your use of Photoshop that much easier. It is written in a step-by-step fashion with plenty of sidebar notes and visual aids. The ... price gives you a lot for your money.

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Russ Walkowich MyMac.com Book Review, February 11, 2003

By 

Tim E Robertson "Publisher MyMac" (Battle Creek, Mi United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography (Paperback)

Author Mikkel Aaland is a well-known pioneer in digital photography and writer, not only of books on photography, digital photography but on other subjects as well. If you've ever watched the Screensavers on Tech TV, you've seen Mikkel Aaland working his magic with Photoshop Elements, so you know that he knows exactly what he's talking about in the book. He has updated his first book, Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions, to provide the reader with the latest information, tips, and step-by-step instructions to make full use of the improvements within PSE 2. If you are into photography, digital photography and image scanning, this book is a must for you.

Written for both PC and Mac user, this full color work first guides the reader through the basics of PSE 2, from setting preferences to where to go for help when using the program. Using his knowledge and skills, Mr. Aaland then walks us through the process that he uses to make ordinary images great ones; from deciding which tasks come first, controls, layer adjustments with masks to resizing and framing your images.

He approaches chapters with the eye of an experienced photographer, as shown in Chapter 3 where he goes into depth on Better Faces, the idea being to intensify the focus on one's eyes, eliminating red eye, getting rid of wrinkles (a must for us baby boomers!) and using simple techniques and tips to get the reader going in the right direction. You'll find yourself making faces more symmetrical, fixing hair, adding hair and even changing the color and tinting hair. Mr. Aaland even offers tips on producing better portraits and where to find more information on working with photographs.

The book continues with dealing with outside shots, product shots, transparent layers, texture, scale and perspective, even how to set up your own mini photo studio. Want to learn how to do composites, seamless pasting, improve your real estate photographs, balancing light? You'll be walked through the process one step at a time. One whole chapter is devoted to the Photomerge capabilities of PSE 2, including photomerging a collage.

With the photographer in mind, Mr. Aaland shows you how to add a photo credit, use type as headline or fill type with an image. You'll learn how to add additional effects to type, warp it, liquefy it, and even shape it. Chapter 10 will bring you to the lessons you need to learn to prepare images for the Web, including design components such as navigational graphics, backgrounds and photo galleries. The final two chapters of the book deal with understanding JPEGs, saving and emailing, compression and conversion of GIFs to JPEGs, and using desktop printers and other photography services. The appendix that is included in the book covers Layers, Effects, Selection Tools, Viewing and Navigation Tools, Brushes, Filters and Liquify Filters.

When you also consider the CD that comes with the book, which includes practice images, filters, demos of applications and utilities, and even a demo of a Photoshop Learning Studio, this book is well worth the cost. (Note- the original edition of this book had a CD which caused some problems for users of OS X. Sybex has corrected those problems and the new CD now works properly with OS 9 and X)

You can't go wrong with Mikkel when it comes to working with digital imagery. Highly recommended.

MacMice Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Russ Walkowich
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