Customer Reviews

Photoshop CS2 Bible, Professional Edition

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Photoshop software leads a double life, appealing both to photographers who use it as a digital replacement for the old chemical darkroom, and graphic artists, who use its many tools to create sophisticated art work. That dichotomy is emphasized in the contents of this book.

It's important to understand that "Photoshop CS2 Bible, Professional Edition" is not the same book as "Photoshop CS2 Bible". And it's not just the hard cover. This is a somewhat shorter book, with more color graphics and aimed at more experienced users of Photoshop than "Photoshop CS2 Bible", with emphasis on advanced techniques.

The book is divided into chapters, each of which covers a group of related tools and functions, like painting and brushes; blend modes and knockouts; and pixelate, distort and render. Each of the chapters goes into these functions in great detail, telling you how to use the function. For example, in the chapter on shapes and styles, one section is devoted to the 8 steps of creating a new shape layer. These explanations are accompanied by excellent color illustrations that show you the procedure. The explanations themselves are clear and concise. I had no trouble learning about the use of functions that I had never used before.

The book appears to be aimed at the graphic artist rather than the photographer. Even the design of the book itself, with lots of colorful illustrations, excellent typography and high-quality paper, seems to be aimed at graphic artists. For example, the chapter on brushes spends time explaining the scattering option, which spreads the positions of spots of color around brush strokes. I can't begin to picture when a photographer might apply such a sophisticated technique. This level of explanation is found throughout the book. On the other hand the book will not lead you through an entire process from creating a new image to saving it for printing. Often it does not give a practical example of how a particular tool might be used. It will be up to the graphic artist to figure that out. This is not the book for someone to learn how to use Photoshop.

Moreover, I found that what the authors consider advanced techniques was rather idiosyncratic. For example, there is no discussion at all of the extraction tool, which the authors say is covered in the basic edition. On the other hand, the discussion of quick mask seemed to me to be quite elementary. The chapter on web graphics discussed the creation of animations but not rollovers. The chapter on Adobe Camera Raw had a simplistic discussion of the use of the raw converter. And there was not even a mention of Adobe Bridge's ability to be used to import images from cameras.

Even though this book is well written and provides a great deal of information on some of the tools and processes hidden in Photoshop, it will probably appeal to a limited audience. That audience will consist of graphic artists who have the time to look through a lengthy but precise book, gleaning tips that they probably would not find somewhere else.

Title: Photoshop CS2 Bible - Professional Edition
Author: Laurie Ulrich Fuller, Robert C. Fuller, and Deke McClelland
Publisher: Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2004
ISBN: 0-7645-4179-X
Pages: 649 pages
Reviewer: Bruce Frank
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Deke McClelland is quite possibly the most accessible and humorous Photoshop guru around, rivaled only by Scott Kelby and Russell Brown. In the introduction to this book, he asserts that he was born in Verona in 1511, and later, with diabolical intent, developed a pathogen code named the "Pernicious Instrument of eXtreme Evil" (you guessed it, "pixel" for short). Then, in the words of the introduction, "When his invention turned out to help rather than hurt photography, he went quite mad. He now inflicts his revenge by writing educational books and hosting training videos."

Although written with his characteristic wit, McClelland always returns to the point, very carefully and thoroughly explaining the precise steps needed to achieve various results in Photoshop, so that even a beginner will be able to follow along easily. Having said that, this book is true to its "Professional Edition" designation - it covers very advanced techniques. For example, one very interesting bit of information I picked up is that Layer Styles (automated effects provided in the Layer Styles palette) can be "deconstructed" - that is, by choosing Layer > Layer Style > Create Layers, you can take over and edit each layer of the effect to your satisfaction.

Attention to detail is one of the hallmarks of this book - in the chapter called "Painting and Brushes," McClelland even covers the hardware a Photoshop artist would probably use (the Wacom tablet), and elaborates on the techniques it can facilitate.

Well written and designed, and with color photos and screenshots throughout, this is a tome (649 pages!) that should serve as a useful reference for years to come. Although this is written to cover Photoshop CS, nearly all of the techniques covered would apply to Photoshop CS2 as well. Supplemental information can be found at dekemc.com.

The features you need, the advice you want, the examples you'll refer to again and again: that's what you'll find in this book. The experience and insights that the authors bring to this book have made it one of my favorites among computer books in general and my total favorite among Photoshop books. I recommend this edition of the Bible to anyone who has already used most of the basic features and wants some expert advice to move them on to the next level. The "Professional" tag is appropriate, but you don't need to be an expert to use the book: that's where it takes you. Don't expect this book to baby you and for every single button and dialog box to be covered, because this is a book focused on the features you use for more advanced projects, and the work that pushes the edge of the design envelope. If you're looking for coverage of everything in the Photoshop menus and tools, get the main CS2 Bible, the one that's like 1500 pages. If you want to learn specific stuff to take your work to the next level, the Professional Edition is the one you want.

I'm using CS3 and this is the best book that I have read on Photoshop and I have many.. You have to get this book...

The emphasis of this book is on creative techniques, graphics and imagery. If you are new to CS2 you will appreciate that it also introduces CS2's new features. When I purchased this book, I also purchased the Photoshop CS2 Bible. I love them both. What I especially appreciate about the Professional Edition is that it takes you beyond the basics, expanding on features of Photoshop that make creative artistry more easily accomplished. Camera Raw, the Channel Mixer, Levels, and Curves all help a photographer produce outstanding images from less than outstanding shots. These features are explained in detail in Photoshop CS2 Bible, Professional Edition. It has helped me tremendously.

it is a good work and you learn a lot.It is a must to have on your side

The Professional Edition appears to be missing any information on at least 2 new Photoshop CS2 features; Smart Sharpening and Reduce Noise. It has sections on Sharpening and Noise BUT does not cover the new CS2 commands. I have not been through the whole book but this situation took me by surprise.

If you want to take your pictures to the next level this is the book for you. Fantastic and easy to follow .. for the advanced amateur and pro.

Good book giving the details on all the CS 2's new features. Two thumbs up!