Customer Reviews

Photoshop Most Wanted: Effects and Design Tips

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really find it especially unfair that many people are knocking down the score of this very excellent book because they say that this book isn't for newcomers. I quote from the editor's note right on this website:
"This book is for both the enthusiastic amateur and experienced pro alike - it's full of techniques and advice that will help Photoshop users from intermediate to advanced."

So, please, if you are going to bash this book for its difficulty, think twice, ok?

As for my own review: 4/5 because some of the effects I really don't see why they are wanted at all....

This is a great book covering how to do many different effects in Adobe Photoshop. Among the included effects are wood, metal, glass, lighting, 3D, changing colors such as eye color, video effects, and many other interesting effects.
The book is a simple step by step guide that anyone can follow and even as a web designer I picked up some interesting tricks in this book. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to add to their photoshop "bag of tricks."

Have been a member of Al Ward's website for years and purchased this new book. Just received my copy and I have found it probably THE best supplemental book on Photoshop 6.01 that I have - and I've got about 7-8 of them in addition to the User's Manuals. Very easy reading and the step-by-step instructions to create some fantastic Photoshop images are OUTSTANDING!

Where's the next book, Al, Colin????

Since getting into web design, I've become something of a Photoshop fanatic, ravenously searching for new tricks and techniques to use with the program and incorporate into my work. The foreword by Scott Kelby caught my attention here because I've found his "Down and Dirty" books amazingly helpful. Knowing my way around Photoshop means that I want resources that are going to help me do what I want to do right away, and this book falls in to that catgory. Some of the techniques are repeats of stuff from Kelby's Down and Dirty book for Photoshop 7, but there's enough new stuff here to make this a worthwhile purchase.

Some people have said that this is NOT a book for Photoshop beginners, and I have to concur. You have to know how to find your way around in Photoshop, and be familiar with it's elements and features, in order to benefit from this book. But if you're an intermediate user looking for new tricks and techniques, and if you're someone who learns by doing, this book will come in handy.

The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because it does not come with a CD if containing the files used in the book. No biggie for me, since I can either start from scrach or dowload the files from the web with my DSL connection. But the lack of a CD might be a drawback for some people.

While it's true this book does not come with a CD full of tutorial files. The thing is, you don't really need them. You can, and probably should, create all the material yourself. That way, you get a chance to experiment and try something a little different than what the authors had in mind. This is how you evolve and become a better Photoshop user. I found this book to be very good at teaching how to be creative in Photoshop. Once you've built a foundation, this is the next step. I'm familiar with some of the functions and uses in Photoshop, but, I'm certainly not an expert. However, I had no problem following the numbered steps in each tutorial. I will say, this is not a book for a complete beginner. You should have some experience with Photoshop. Anyone that buys this book will not regret it. There is so much good information here. I will return to it often.

Photoshop novices and veterans alike will benefit from this exciting collection of effects and design tips. Step by step instructions in easy to understand language with crisp color graphics. In the last 48 hrs I've created at least a dozen images containing effects I hadn't been able to achieve previously. My enthusiasm for Photoshop has reached a whole new level. I am positively thrilled with this purchase!

I was so excited when this book came, but after trying my first 3 exercises from this book, I was very disappointed. The authors take for granted that the reader must be a well rounded Photoshop user. I am familiar with the Photoshop basics and have been for some time, but while following their instructions, none of my results resembled those in the book.
If you are a beginner in Photoshop, I strongly recommend skipping this one.

I appreciate the art and creativity of both authors and check their Internet sites frequently. Great book but I was disappointed to pay the high cost of the book and then discover that I needed to download about 73 megabytes of files if I wanted to use the their images in the tutorials! Everyone does not have high speed connections.

this book can't consider features of the newest version of photoshop but it's really interesting because you can use these "tips and tricks" for your works and see how the idea is developed.

It's useless, unfortunately. I can't see myself actually even using anything I learned from this book, ever. It's past the point of inconceivable. It focuses too much attention on a bunch of boring-not-going-anywhere layer styles, credits to Al Ward as far as I can pick up from the insinuating banter at the end of the book. And speaking of the end of the book, what's up with the last two projects? One has to do with a movie poster, "The Pool", which was awful. And another one of a tin-can advertising "Goldfish in a Can", which is the epitome of junk. But it's a great way to end the book though, all your accumulated knowledge from reading and practicing previous chapters and look where it got you. Hah! I didn't even bother sorting through that worthless dribble. I don't know who these other reviewers are that are giving kudos to this rubbish of wasted ink, because this is not the paragon for which all other Photoshop books aspire to be. This is crap.