Customer Reviews

Understanding Adobe Photoshop CS4: The Essential Techniques for Imaging Professionals (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Full disclosure: I haven't read the book cover-to-cover, but in my initial pass, I've already found it loaded with the specific information I was seeking. I started in design back in the early 1990s, and have been out of the field for over ten years. While I turned my back, Photoshop left me in the dust, and easing back into hands-on design and production has been a bit of a struggle. Sadly, I've felt like an old dog who can't learn new tricks when it comes to learning the interface and abilities of CS4.

Harrington's book is exactly what I was looking for: a clearly written, well-indexed "how to" to bring me up to speed. While I can't speak to what an advanced user would think of the book (I'd imagine a lot of this wouldn't be a huge leap if you were already an expert user of previous versions of Photoshop), I'm finding it incredibly helpful. I love that he starts with the basics, makes no assumptions, and presses the accelerator to bring me from 0-60 in no time.

I'm looking forward to dedicating a weekend to walking through this manual from cover-to-cover with my laptop booted. The tone of the book is so straight-forward and conversational, it will be like having a teacher standing in my living room, but for a fraction of the price.

The book is not aimed just at graphic artists, but is broad covering uses that many general users would want. The material covered is what I would teach in a 101 semester-long college class. For many who are self-taught, I find that they often overlook the true power of things like layers, text, masking, etc. So the book teaches the "essentials" what I have found student to need to land jobs and be able to work with the top 85% of what the app does. The book streamlines Photoshop to its most useful features.

With that said, I frequently teach these same techniques at Photoshop World and have several pros comment on how fast and easy these techniques are. I started my Photoshop career as a production artist, then worked in broadcast. I know how to fix images quickly and easily, which this book focusses on. We do discuss SEVERAL advanced techniques like layer masking, calculations, smart objects, etc.

Conrad's complaint that only those seeking the most basic instruction is slightly off. The book IS written for beginners, but we teach them the most professional techniques and leave off all the fluff. Photoshop User Magazine agreed and gave the last edition of the book 5 stars. Many pros have "bad habits" and skip past sections of the book that could correct that.

I am glad he finds the videos useful.... There is not another book on the market that gives you 54 free videos (in HD) with the book. I can't control that Peachpit's servers require you to download first. But there is a DOWNLOAD ALL button. We also give you all the photos to go with the Videos (as well as every picture for every exercise in the book and then some). This is not common practice... all told 200+ hands on exercises....

I make no apologies for the target audience... it is for those new to Photoshop (such as HS or College Level) or those who've been away from Photoshop for a long time. The quizzes are straight forward, 10 questions per chapter to see if the core technology is understood. Again, a feature missing from most books.

Camera Raw is covered, with close to 30 minutes of video. The page count of the book is tight... printing costs are high to do a full color book. In order to keep the book affordable.. we have made the book more of a multimedia experience. As you read the chapter, videos are called out.. as well as additional exercises and web links to explore.

I appreciate Conrad's detailed review... I hope my response helps those of you looking at the title. This is for new users thru intermediate folks. If you were to pay a few grand and take a semester class... this is what I'd teach you. I believe you'll learn best by reading, seeing, and doing... that's why there's 6.5 hours of video and 200+ photos included.

If you'd like to try out two free chapters and see some free videos on Photoshop CS4... you can visit www.csfour.com

Enjoy

I'm new to photoshop; actually new to the digital world. My strength are in the wet lab rather than a dry lab, i.e., photoshop. I process and print nothing but black & white film. I've realized that my world needs to change a bit with regards to photography. I bought another (recommended) book on photoshop. I found that book quite daunting due to the fact that I know nothing more than how to open up CS4. This publication was the book that I should have purchased first. With its video tutorial and guiding the learner through the foundations of the digital world, I'm finding the beauty in moving into the a dry lab. Anyone who is a beginner will find this book helpful. Being a teacher myself, I am always looking for the 'why'; this book answers my questions and guides me through the process with ease.

Here's an introductory text on the use of Adobe Photoshop CS4 aimed at graphic artists. It includes a number of special features that may be of use to the tyro.

There are chapters on all of the basic functions of Photoshop from bringing images into Photoshop through the use of layers and text to printing. The method is to introduce a tool, and then provide a brief tutorial using images that are available on the included CD. The CD also includes interactive quizzes on each chapter and access to on-line video training.

The tutorials take the reader step by step through the use of a particular tool and are quite good at teaching the Photoshop basics. However, more advanced applications are not covered, and although the book is illustrated with the Photoshop CS4 interface, most of the changes introduced in CS4, like bird's eye-view and cloning preview, are not included in the book. Only those seeking the most basic instruction in Photoshop will benefit.

The on-line videos are first class and will prove useful to those who learn best by this method. However, as with the book, many of the newest CS4 features are not included. Also beware because while the CD provides first access to the videos, once you get to the index page for the videos, bookmark the page, because the CD gateway will not allow you to access the index page a second time. I was also disturbed that rather than running directly from the on-line file into an MP4 player, I had to first download the complete file to my computer, which left me sitting in front of my monitor for several minutes watching a progress bar for each of the many videos.

The quizzes are lightweight, being simple multiple choice questions, so don't think that you can whip through just the quizzes first and only read the chapters where you get a low score.

If you are a digital photographer, this is not the book for you. There is almost no mention of Adobe Camera Raw, which is a basic Photoshop tool for the photographer.

For new Photoshop users, if you are a graphics designer, you would be better served by using Deke McClelland's "Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One (Digital Media)" and if you are a photographer, by Tim Grey's "Photoshop CS4 Workflow: The Digital Photographer's Guide."

This book like all of Richard Harrington's is easy to follow and packed full of information. The new layout of Photoshop will take some getting used to and this book will help you make the transition easier.

I'm sure this book will be just as dog- eared as the others I have on Photoshop from this author. For those of us who don't use the program everyday but still depend on it to earn an income, we have come to trust Richard as well as other Photoshop authors to get us through the issues as they occur.

If you know Photoshop some of the material may already be understood but we all can use a refresher (even if we have read 40 Photoshop books). Making sense of the new layout will be a timesaver and help you understand the nuances of the program. This is a great book to make us all better artist.

This book is very good for people who are somewhat new to Photoshop. It goes into basics a little more than some other books. Richard Harrington is a very good Photoshop educator.

I am an advanced amateur and I have worked with PS for years. I have not ventured far from my safety zone. This book, coupled with its DVD and online video training is a great value. If you read the book, do the exercises,take the chapter quizzes, and watch the videos, your game will vastly improve.

I received this tome 3 days ago and just finished it now. As an illustrator, I had largely avoided learning Adobe Photoshop properly. I was using Corel Painter for the majority of my digitally painted work, but saw that the editing tools in Photoshop would be extremely useful to know. I never realized however, that the work would flow better if I produced them entirely in PS. It has a well written text with a nice collection of pics with which you can go through the lessons with. The author offers up opinions on many of the functions, so you won't be grasping at straws trying to determine the better filters to use. It only covers imaging however and isn't a complete CS4 book. I would say the new 3d stuff is outside the realm of the the text, but it has everything else. As it happens, I do use Photoshop for many of my 3d needs, so I'm not sure what use the 3d tools would be to me, but I can anticipate their usefulness in something like a Powerpoint presentation. Easy to get through, easy to understand. Good Luck.

I think this is one of the few text's that should be considered for use in academia or for anyone wanting to learn the basics of Photoshop. The book is very well thought out, has just the right amount of explanation, and provides the right kind of examples to illustrate the lesson at hand. If I were teaching Photoshop in a collage atmosphere, I would have this as one of the books as requirement for the course. Hey its just my opinion.... I have read a Lot of Photoshop books (hundreds) This one ranks high on my good reading list.

In this case the book is not the problem,it's very good. The cd that comes with it gives you access to vidios that go along with the book.All this happens at peachpit.com.The 1st time i tried to use them it told me my flash player was corrupted and tried to sell me a program to fix this.I know my program is ok,i have viewed Richard Harrington vidios from Peachpit on u-tube.Now i can't even get access to the program, all i get is "only your original response will be submitted" After 3 e-mails to Peachpit i still haven't gotten any kind of explenation or help.Dose this seem odd to anyone else? Just to be clear, i have no problem with Amazon.com.