31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Book Adobe should have Written!, August 4, 2005
I have been working with Adobe Elements for about 6 months now. I started with Adobe's tutorial and then their "Classroom in a Book" series and have created numerous multi hour DVD's from old VHS video I have. As with most books from the makers of software, they leave a lot of how too stuff out, so I started to look elsewhere for more info on how to use all of the great things in Elements. I saw this book and it's rating so I figured I'd give it a try. For the $16 it cost, even if I learned just two new helpful things it would be worth the money. Never having read any other ".... For Dummies" book I had no Idea what to expect.
I am currently half way through the book and I have to say I have learned not just two but a lot of new things. There are a lot of the basics in the book for people just starting out with Elements but it also goes into detail on how to use all of the fancy transitions and effects very clearly. Before this book I had no idea on how to use some of the more complex effects properly. It's is clear that the author is very familiar with Premere Elements and video editing. The book is worth three times the $16 it cost.
The only thing I felt should have been done, but was not, was that the pictures should be in color. Even if this drove the price up $5 a book it would be better. I say this because often the author refers to the color of an item (The yellow line) in the pictures and unless you are sitting in front of your PC with Elements up or you are very familiar with the Elements windows, all you are going to see is a black and white photo.
Bottom line - A great book, buy it, you won't be disappointed.
I will definitely be looking for other books by Keith Underdahl. Hopefully he knows Photoshop Elements too!
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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good indepth book with lots of useful feature info, November 7, 2004
Keith's knowledge of Premiere really pays off in his "Adobe Premiere Elements" for Dummies book.
The book does a good job of going more indepth than the user manual that comes with the product. Capture, Edit, Effects, Titles, DVD and other export types like web, are all covered.
I really enjoyed the numerous examples & gotchas that folks just learning how to edit video would run into. The book has a good balance of tips on video editing, as well as going indepth on how to do specific special effects. Chapter 19 goes thru 10 specific examples: Making people disappear on video, seeing double (twins), freeze frames, old movie, star wars titles, Ken Burn pan & zooms, moving image mattes, lens flares, audio hums and zooming in on video.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great instructions for Premiere Elements *-Note it's not for other versions, January 5, 2010
This review is from: Premiere Elements 8 For Dummies (Paperback)
I noticed some confusion in the reviews of those who had hoped this was for other versions of Premiere Elements. However, as the title dictates, the copy I received is copyrighted for 2010 so you won't find the old info within. If, however, you are like me and looking specifically for something to uncover the mysteries in Premiere Elements 8...this is the right manual.
I gotta admit I was shocked that no manual came with Premiere Elements 8 and that they even wanted to charge for some of the few tutorials that they offered. I consider myself a pretty good navigator through software and I picked up on how to do the editing for my Flip UltraHD camera on the free software that came with it right away...but I'll be the first to admit, I played with Premiere Elements 8 for days and still couldn't complete a decent video using even just a few of the great editing gadgets that I know it contains.
I compared various books that might help me solve this video editing program and settled upon this one because I knew it was written specifically for the version I had, these books in general are written for the total novice so anyone can easily read, follow along, and master the skill, and I knew they always offer tips to help you master your skills in other ways.
And it did.
Not only did it help me create a truly high-tech movie with my camcorder, but it also gave me tips on shooting...such as lighting, sound secrets, and other tips not on just navigating the software but in making better movies in genearal. And they were great tips.
As far as learning Premiere Elements 8, the instructions were super clear, it shows photos of the screen on the pages so you fully understand visually what's being said with zero confusion, it even keeps learning lighthearted with some jokes thrown in.
I think it might be fairly impossible for me to list all that it teaches you to do here but suffice it to say you'll be able to use all the tools, menus, panels, buttons and options, edit clips and join them together, add special effects, cool extras, background music, and upload to whatever you wish: youtube, discs, mobile phones, etc.
Bottom line: It takes you in simple steps from "dummy" to "creative camera whiz".
BOTTOM LINE:It's ashame this is not included in the software. I'll be honest, so much of this I had no IDEA I could do with Premiere Elements 8. I expect the way this is written was better for me in the end than trying to grasp the contents of a thick manual that the creator of Premiere Elements 8 may have put together (well, they did eventually put one together but it was more expensive and I dont understand why Adobe is charging for basic tutorials and a users manual so I'd rather have this one anyway)...this is made for the total novice, yet I think even those more advanced will learn TONS of new things from it due to its vast content.
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