Photoshop 7 Killer Tips [Paperback]

Scott Kelby (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0735713006 | ISBN-13: 978-0735713000 | Publication Date: August 3, 2002 | Edition: 1

The hottest collection of cool tips and hidden secrets for the pro that needs results FAST. Professional-level material, with content that appeals to multiple-book-buying professionals. Photoshop 7 Killer Tips is a HUGE bang in a small, accessible package. When it comes to Photoshop, time is money. This book is all about speed; showing the Photoshop professional how to get more work done faster, while actually increasing quality. The whole concept is to help make the reader faster and more productive than ever in Photoshop 7. In an ever-tightening and competitive marketplace, this kind of book is sorely needed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book is like a nutritious dessert. For many people, the sidebar tips sprinkled throughout most software books are the best part, so much so that they read all of them first. Photoshop 7 Killer Tips is a whole book of cool sidebar tips--without the sidebars. It won't replace a good user manual and it may not have the best organization, but it'll certainly help make you a speedier and happier Photoshop user.

Tips cover a range of topics: type, layers, blending modes, Web graphics, color correcting, selections, and much more. They include undocumented shortcuts (like Shift-Delete to bring up the Fill dialog box) and so many why-didn't-I-know-this-sooner hints (like typing d, s, or c when in a Save dialog box instead of the respective buttons). Each tip can shave a few seconds to several minutes off of your work time, and impress friends and colleagues to boot.

Scott Kelby is a funny guy, but his writing isn't filled with the obnoxious kind of silly jokes that clog up text and make it take that much longer to get to the important information. Instead, he puts the jokes in out-of-the-way places like section headings and chapter intros. And, as opposed to most other books, these jokes are actually funny--a kind of snarky, Mystery Science Theater 3000 kind of funny. For example, he writes, "Is this book for you? Are you kidding? This book is so for you that it secretly freaks you out."

And that's true. Anyone with even the most basic knowledge of Photoshop will feel a zing of excitement when they start reading these gems. You'll think, "Gosh, what a great idea. What will they think of next? A whole box of donut holes? Just the muffin tops?" And even though Kelby recommends reading this in front of your computer, Killer Tips will also come in handy in other rooms where people enjoy reading material while, ahem, sitting for short periods. Why waste a minute when you can learn how to make a "reusable diagonal guide"! --Angelynn Grant

From the Back Cover

The hottest collection of cool tips and hidden secrets for the pro that needs results FAST. Professional-level material, with content that appeals to multiple-book-buying professionals. Photoshop 7 Killer Tips is a HUGE bang in a small, accessible package. When it comes to Photoshop, time is money. This book is all about speed; showing the Photoshop professional how to get more work done faster, while actually increasing quality. The whole concept is to help make the reader faster and more productive than ever in Photoshop 7. In an ever-tightening and competitive marketplace, this kind of book is sorely needed.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (August 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735713006
• ISBN-13: 978-0735713000
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,579,102 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

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your average PS book - It's a Slap Your Forehead Book!, September 8, 2002

By 

Leslie A. Davidson "Avid technical reader" (Southern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Photoshop 7 Killer Tips (Paperback)

If you are looking for a 'How To' book, you may want to pick up one of the other fantastic Photoshop books recently published (my current favorite is Bert Monroy's - Wow! a must have for anyone looking for in depth Photoshop tips!).

This book is a real treat! Even advanced users will find tips in here that will make them slap their heads and say 'Jeesh, I wish I had known that years ago!'

I admit that at first, going through the very first few pages, it seemed there would not be much for someone already familiar with Photoshop. Then I read a tip about finding the center of any document. This is something that can be done fairly easily, but it takes a few minutes and time wasted is money lost!

It turns out (as some of you probably know) all you have to do is have snap to guide turned on, create a new layer, fill it with your foreground color, drag a guide from the horizontal ruler - it automatically will snap to the center - and finally, drag a vertical guide - it too will snap to the center. Time saved and a perfectly positioned center of your document has been created in less then 30 seconds!

Photoshop 7 Killer Tips is FULL of what I call Golden Nuggets just like this. It is a lot of fun to pick up the book and open it randomly. It never takes more then turning two or three pages before one of those slap your forehead tips presents itself.

Have fun while you build your PS skills! Leslie

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Photoshop Tips, August 12, 2002

By 

Barbara Rhoades "Jackie of all Trades" (O'Fallon, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Photoshop 7 Killer Tips (Paperback)

PHOTOSHOP 7
Killer Tips
AUTHOR: Scott Kelby and Felix Nelson
PUBLISHER: New Riders
REVIEWED BY: Barbara Rhoades

BOOK REVIEW: Photoshop 7, Killer Tips is a wonderful book chock full of quick tips on using Photoshop. Each is given half of one page so the information is in concise form. You won't have to read a chapter to find out how to do the tip. Also, each tip contains at least one graphic to visually explain what is going on.

The down side of this book is the way the Chapters are named and the tips indexed. If you are looking for a specific topic, you better know how the authors think because the Chapters have such names as Greased Lightnin' and Fast & Furious. While these names are cute, they do nothing to help a reader locate what they need.

Also the names of each tip in the Chapters are not listed in alphabetical order. For example, the first tip in Chapter 5, Fast & Furious is Zoom Out for Sharper Web Images and the second to last is Exercising Your Influence on GIFs. Neither Zoom or Exercising tells you what the tip is about; you have to read the whole name. So even if they were in alphabetical order, it wouldn't help.

The bottom line: Get the book if you want to do some reading to locate your needs. It has all kinds of wonderful tips; it is just not labeled well.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Photoshop 7 Killer Tips Review, November 14, 2002

By 

"thegrafixguy-grafixworld" (Portland, Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Photoshop 7 Killer Tips (Paperback)

All we can say for Photoshop 7 Killer Tips is... GET IT NOW! Do not hesitate, do not wait. Just go out and buy it now - PERIOD!

This book will teach you tips that will save time on your very next project. The book is for both beginners and advanced users, however advanced users will be heard frequently saying "DOH!" while reading, as the book covers things we now do the hard way (aka bad habits) every day in Photoshop.